Yulia Marushevska: Revolutionary leader embodies hope of Ukrainians for bright corruption-free future

Name: Yulia Marushevska

Age: 27

Education: historian, linguist; Taras Shevchenko National University, Stanford University

Profession: Ex-head of Odesa Customs Service

Did you know? Her motto is “Never ever give up.”

Yulia Marushevska, 27, was a figurehead of Ukraine’s EuroMaidan Revolution before she became a leading light in the country’s fight against corruption as head of Odesa customs.

Marushevska shot to fame when she starred in the “I am a Ukrainian” YouTube video, which has been viewed nearly nine million times. In it, standing in the center of Kyiv in the light of protesters’ campfires, she explains the goals of the EuroMaidan Revolution, drawing the attention of people from around the world to Ukrainians’ struggle for freedom.

“I know we did everything properly,” she told the Kyiv Post, describing her feelings about the video shot on Hrushevskogo Street three years ago. “That wasn’t my personal achievement. That was a historic moment. It showed the pain of those who were protesting at that time.”

Soon after the video was posted, Marushevska was interviewed by several international news media, including The Daily Beast, CNN and Voice of America, adding to her fame.

One of her admirers is the United Kingdom business magnate and philanthropist, Sir Richard Branson.

“She is passionate, bright and very articulate about the need for the West to maintain and increase its support for the country,” Branson says of Marushevska.

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In the wake of the revolution, as the interim government was formed, Russia annexed Crimea and started its covert war in the east, and Ukraine prepared to hold presidential elections, Marushevska returned to studying political science at Harvard and Stanford universities, and completed her postgraduate studies at her alma mater, Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv.

“I was learning about the processes for reforming a country,” she said. “Obviously, I reckoned on participating in at least some of that. I logically wanted to continue what we started with the EuroMaidan.”

In September 2015, Marushevska became a member of the team of Odesa Governor Mikheil Saakashvili, and after a month, she was appointed head of the notoriously corrupt Odesa customs.

“I wasn’t a politician, but a public servant,” she said, describing her job as the head of Odesa customs.

In November 2016, she resigned, but high hopes remain in Ukraine and abroad that she will be able to continue to battle shady schemes in Ukraine, and go on to reform the country. But she is realistic.

“Public servants have limited possibilities. Now we need to understand what we can change, and what we can’t,” she said. “It’s essential that everyone takes one change and carries it out from the beginning to the end.”