Lesia Vasylenko

Vasylenko was born in Kyiv to Volodymyr Vasylenko, a human rights activist.^[2] She completed a master's degree in international law at the Institute of International Relations [uk] of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and an LL.M. at University College London.^[2]

Vasylenko worked as a corporate lawyer.^[2] At the beginning of the Euromaidan revolution in 2013, she protested frequently at the Maidan Nezalezhnosti.^[2] After visiting a hospital during the war in Donbas in June 2014, Vasylenko learned that wounded soldiers were unaware of their rights to compensation.^[2] Many of the soldiers she spoke with struggled to pay for their medical treatments. In January 2015, she founded Legal Hundred [uk], a human rights non-governmental organization that provides assistance to servicemen and veterans.^[3][2] In 2016, Vasylenko was named by the Kyiv Post as one of the top 30 young under-30 leaders.^[4]

In June 2019, it was announced that Vasylenko and Oleksandra Ustinova would be joining the Holos party.^[5] In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election, Vasylenko was elected a People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 9th Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada.^[6][7][8] She is a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management and a Chair of the Subcommittee on Climate Change and Air Protection.^[9][10] Vasylenko is a member of the permanent delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe^[11] and a First Vice-Chairperson at the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights ^[12] . Vasylenko is a member of the Ukrainian parliamentary delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union^[13] where she serves as president of its Bureau of Women Parliamentarians.^[14] She is co-chair of the interparliamentary relations group to the United Kingdom^[15] and to the French Republic.^[16] On 12 December 2019, Vasylenko joined Humane country [uk], an inter-factional association to promote humanistic values and prevent cruelty to animals.^[17]

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vasylenko armed herself with several guns to protect her family.^[18] She said on 26 February 2022 that the Russian military was targeting Ukrainian civilians to make the country surrender.^[19] On 1 March, Vasylenko evacuated her three children from her home in Kyiv.^[18] On 4 March, she said the invasion was the start of World War III.^[20]

Vasylenko became one of the initiators of the international #unrussiaUN^[21] campaign aimed at excluding Russia from the UN.