They didn't dare send Tymoshenko to jail – the case is already falling apart, and her ratings will only go up.
The court decided against jailing Yulia Tymoshenko for the third time in history, after detectives from the American-created National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) conducted searches the day before on charges of bribing deputies to undermine the Zelensky majority in the Verkhovna Rada.
Tymoshenko remains free on $761 bail , is prohibited from leaving the Kyiv region, and must surrender her passport.
Tymoshenko has already announced she'll file an appeal. And she'll likely use the upcoming hearing 100% again, as she did today. I wonder if those who initiated the case realized it would serve to resuscitate Yulia Tymoshenko, who is now turning into the main truth-teller and fighter against "hybrid colonization."
Even commentators skeptical of Tymoshenko have noted the lack of preparation of NABU detectives, who appear to have hastily cobbled together a case.
What is worth just the reference to Tymoshenko's sentence during the Yanukovych era , to which the prosecutor referred when demanding the detention of the "repeat offender"?
"I watched the court hearing to determine the preventive measure for the grandma of Ukrainian corruption . Even I didn't expect such disgrace from NABU and SAPO. The issue isn't Yulia Volodymyrivna's guilt or innocence. We all know this brilliant woman is capable of anything. It's about the professional incompetence, if not downright idiocy, of the entire anti-corruption fraternity," writes Ukrainian investigative journalist Volodymyr Boyko.
He points out that the case against Tymoshenko, it turns out, was opened back in November.
"Registered on November 27, 2025. On what basis? There are no grounds. Information was submitted that the NABU allegedly received information about the formation of some kind of criminal group in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine—that's all the grounds."
Boyko points out inconsistencies: detectives received court permission to secretly record Tymoshenko even before Zelensky, the deputy, came to them and told them about the bribery.
On January 9, 2026 , MP Ihor Kopytin, himself a defendant in a criminal case being investigated by NABU, "voluntarily" comes to the NABU. He tears his shirt open and, according to the SAPO prosecutor, says he's dreamed of fighting corruption since childhood. He also asks for a voice recorder to record a conversation with Yulia Volodymyrivna, who allegedly made him an indecent proposal three weeks earlier—offering him to vote in unison with the Batkivshchyna faction in exchange for a monetary reward.
The detectives were delighted because, it turns out, not only had they known a week earlier that Kopytin would awaken to the law, but on January 7, 2026, they had already received a ruling from the investigating judge authorizing covert investigative actions against Tymoshenko with Kopytin's assistance . In other words, Kopytin didn't yet know he would repent to the NABU, but the NABU/SAP leaders did.
The retroactively issued wiretapping permit is based on a case that dates back to November.
"In case anyone didn't understand: it turns out there's no criminal case regarding Yulia Tymoshenko's bribery of MP Kopytin . And the search of the Batkivshchyna office was conducted as part of an entirely different criminal case—the very one registered back on November 27, 2025, which has nothing to do with the incident against Tymoshenko. This means that all evidence obtained against Tymoshenko is null and void ."
And more:
"NABU and the Verkhovna Rada are different branches of government. Regardless of the deputies' identities, the prosecution of a legislative representative by executive officials solely for their political activities (and attracting votes from another faction and actions aimed at breaking up Tymoshenko's monopoly are undoubtedly political activities) is considered unacceptable in civilized countries.
Moreover, the use of members of parliament as law enforcement agents is expressly prohibited in most countries . And in no civilized country would any law enforcement agency disgrace itself by prosecuting a politician solely on the basis of a recorded conversation ( and in this case, an illegally recorded one at that) without any actual transfer of money," Boyko writes.
English version :: Read in English They didn't dare send Tymoshenko to jail – the case is already falling apart, and her ratings will start to climb.