Oleh Liashko

Oleh Valeriiovych Liashko (; born 3 December 1972) is a Ukrainian politician, journalist, and soldier who was a long-time member of the Verkhovna Rada and leader of the Radical Party. In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election, Liashko lost his parliamentary seat.

Liashko joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In 2024 he was appointed commander of a battalion specializing in unmanned systems.

Early life Liashko was born in Chernihiv on 3 December 1972, When Liashko was two years old, his parents separated, and his mother was forced to send him to an orphanage. Liashko studied in three boarding schools in Yablunivka, Komarivka and Borzna. He worked as a shepherd at the Progress collective farm. On the same day, the party changed its name to Radical Party of Oleh Liashko (shortened to the Radical Party).

In the 2012 parliamentary election, he was re-elected to the Verkhovna Rada after winning single-member constituency number 208 in the Chernihiv Oblast (as candidate of the Radical Party) with 55.57% of the votes. During this term he was Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Finance and Banking.

During the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, he introduced a bill which classified participants of the "separatist rallies for joining Russia", as well as those who obstruct the movement of soldiers and military equipment, to be saboteurs and accomplices of the occupiers. At the time of "military aggression" the death penalty should be applied to them. The bill provided for the introduction of a visa regime with Russia, denunciation of the agreements made with Russia, the prohibition of the Communist Party of Ukraine and the Party of Regions, called for the EU to ban the entry of Crimean residents with Russian passports and other events.

During the 2014 pro-Russian conflict in Ukraine and two days before the 25 May 2014 presidential election, Liashko claimed responsibility for the storming of a local government building in Torez (by "Soldiers from the Liashko Battalion 'Ukraine'") that killed a pro-Russian separatist and supporter of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic while critically wounding another. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have condemned the activities of the Liashko Battalion "Ukraine" and Liashko's actions in Eastern Ukraine. Amnesty International, while noting "abuses perpetrated by both sides of the conflict", pointed to Liashko as "one particularly errant MP" who published videos of his actions on his website. According to Liashko, his actions should be seen as citizen's arrests, and he accused Amnesty International of being "obviously biased".

Liashko was the candidate of the Radical Party in the 2014 Ukrainian presidential election. In the election he received 8.32% of the vote, ranking in 3rd place. However, he decided not to become a deputy in the Kyiv City Council.

In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election, he led his party to win 22 seats.

On 14 November 2016 he was physically attacked by Yuriy Boiko after calling him a "Kremlin agent".

In the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election, Liashko gained 5.48% of the votes, this time ranking in 7th place.

In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election, Liashko lost his parliamentary seat.

Liashko unsuccessfully ran for a parliamentary seat (Chernihiv) in the sole additional election to the Verkohvna Rada held on 25 October 2020 at the same time as the country's 2020 local elections. Liashko took 31.78% of the vote, while his closest rival, from Servant of the People won with 34.10%.

Military service In early October 2022 Liashko joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In 2024 he was appointed commander of a battalion specializing in unmanned systems. On 8 May 2026, Oleh Liashko was appointed commander of the 432nd separate unmanned systems regiment of the 11th Army Corps of the Vostok Command. In 2024 he was appointed commander of a battalion specializing in unmanned systems.

In 2026 he was awarded the Order of Merit, with his battalion being recognized as one of the most effective combat drone units.

Relationship with Rinat Akhmetov In 2013, Oleh Liashko described Rinat Akhmetov as the guarantor of Ukraine's independence. In 2016, a special investigation conducted by Radio Liberty recorded the facts of secret meetings between Oleh Liashko and Rinat Akhmetov. In February 2018, the former director of a Mariupol factory belonging to the Metinvest group, Yurii Zinchenko headed the executive committee of the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko. On 9 May 2018, the journalist of Ukrayinska Pravda Oleksii Bratushchak published the blog "Liashko becomes Akhmetov's talisman", in which Liashko was directly accused of cooperating with Akhmetov. Liashko makes frequent appearances during broadcasts of the TV channel Ukraine, which belongs to Akhmetov. As media expert Nataliia Lyhachova, Chairman of "Detector Media" NGO stated: "According to our monitoring, there is almost no day when Liashko does not appear there for any reason". Since the outbreak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Liashko has been more critical about Akhmetov in his public statements.

Personal life Liashko's private life is surrounded by rumours that he is gay, something Liashko has always firmly denied. In early October 2010, a video shot in 1993 was leaked onto the internet in which a young man who looks and sounds like Liashko talks about having sexual relations with another man, a certain high-ranking official. And he stated "Personally, I have a traditional sexual orientation". Liashko had stressed in May 2011 he had nothing against sexual minorities. In an interview in September 2015, he stated that being LGBT "is the choice of each individual. I cannot condemn". The couple have one daughter, Vladyslava.