Viktor Yanukovych the sister of his former cook of the Mezhyhirya Residence. Polezhay also lived in the Mezhyhirya Residence and left Ukraine with Yanukovych in 2014. "Ukrayinska Pravda" claims that during Yanukovych presidency his wife Lyudmyla lived separately in Donetsk. After the start of the War in Donbass she reportedly moved to Crimea. In March 2012, Yanukovych stated it was "a problem" for him in 2002 to speak Ukrainian but that "once I had the opportunity to speak Ukrainian, I started to do it with pleasure". Until 2004, Yanukovych was known as "batia" ("Dad") among his family members, but since that time
Oleksandr Turchynov he worked at Kryvorizhstal, a large Ukrainian steel producer. From 1987 to 1990, he served as head of the agitation and propaganda division of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Komsomol (Communist Youth League) Committee, which was led by Serhiy Tihipko. Tihipko and Turchynov became political advisers of Leonid Kuchma, then head of Dnipropetrovsk-based Pivdenmash missile manufacturer. Kuchma and his entire team, including Tihipko and Turchynov moved to Kiev in 1992, after Kuchma was appointed Prime Minister. In 1993 Turchynov was formally appointed an advisor on economic issues to Prime Minister Kuchma. Turchynov is an old ally of Yulia Tymoshenko, another prominent Ukrainian