Yulia Klymenko

Yulia Leonidivna Klymenko (Юлія Леонідівна Клименко; born 5 October 1976) is a Ukrainian politician currently serving as a People's Deputy of Ukraine on the proportional list of the Holos party since 2019. Prior to her election, she served as Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade between 2015 and 2016.

Early life and career
Yulia Leonidivna Klymenko was born in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on 5 October 1976 to a family of engineers and builders. She studied at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy from 1993 to 1997, graduating with a specialisation in economic theory, and later earned a Master of Business Administration from the International Management Institute, Kyiv. Klymenko completed her postgraduate education at the Institute of Real Estate Management in the United States.

Following her graduation, Klymenko worked in the private sector as director of several companies, including Cantik Enterprises, Dragon Development, Slavutych, and the PFTS Stock Exchange. She was also a member of the board of directors at the Economic Strategy Centre, Transparency International Ukraine, and an official of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority.

Prior to her election, Klymenko had also held jobs at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and at East Capital, in Sweden. She was an adviser to the Kyiv School of Economics for matters of business education from 2018, and additionally serving as the school's vice-president.

Political career
On 5 December 2015 Klymenko founded a party known as the Platform of Initiatives. It was later reorganised into Holos. From 2015 to 2016 she also briefly served as Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade under Aivaras Abromavičius. Klymenko became head of Holos in 2019, serving as the party's chief of staff during the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election. During the same election, she was the second candidate on the party's proportional list. She was successfully elected, and became first deputy chair of the Verkhovna Rada Transport and Infrastructure Committee.

Klymenko voted in favour of the removal of Arsen Avakov as Minister of Internal Affairs, and has expressed support for the removal of pro-Russian politicians from office following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. She voted for a ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), and has referred to Iran's supplying of Shahed 129 drones to Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine as "terrorism and genocide of civilians."

Klymenko left Holos on 16 June 2021 to join the Justice parliamentary group, formed by Holos deputies who were opposed to the leadership of Kira Rudik.

Personal life
Klymenko is married, and has six children.