Yulia Marushevska

It was Marushevska's idea to film a stand-up video on Hrushevskoho Street, where two men had been killed in the protests. "I wanted to tell the world what was really going on in Ukraine," she later explained. "One day I woke up and I read in the news about two men who were killed during the protests. It affected me very much because I never seen a situation where innocent people were being killed just because they showed that they don’t want such a government." The Kyiv Post stated that she was motivated partly by guilt "because she felt that she wasn't doing enough to help the EuroMaidan Revolution and partly out of frustration with foreigners' ignorance about why demonstrators were camping out on Kiev's freezing streets to change their government." She told the Kyiv Post, "People know nothing about Ukraine. Ukraine is terra incognita for the world."

She has expressed remorse that in a country as rich as Ukraine "so many live a poor life", with 30-40% of Ukrainians living below the poverty line. "If there isn’t enough money to cure children from cancer but always enough money to buy new furniture from the best Italian designers, it's really sad. The problem is this disrespect – people lived on this small amount of money without having a dignified life."

Marushevska clashed with the head of the State Fiscal Service, Roman Nasirov, who has been implicated in corruption. Marushevska resigned as custom head on 14 November 2016, saying "The government doesn't have the political will to conduct the reform of the Customs service. Kyiv doesn't have a vision of the reforms". Other sources stated that she resigned after her anti-corruption reform efforts were sabotaged not only by Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman alone, but by President Petro Poroshenko as well. In December, Nasirov said that he was investigating Marushevska for corruption. She stated that his accusations were politically-motivated and that officials interested in preserving the status quo had blocked her work, including attempts to dismiss corrupt officials.

In June 2015, a 24-year-old Marushevska joined the Odessa regional government team led by Mikheil Saakashvili, a former President of Georgia who was appointed a Governor of the region. Marushevska was then appointed chief of Odessa Customs in October 2015 and resigned from that post in November 2016 because she felt the then Groysman government made custom reforms no longer possible.

On June 9, 2015, Mikheil Saakashvili, the Head of the Odessa Oblast State Administration (Governor), announced the inclusion of Marushevska in his transitional team. According to Mikheil Saakashvili, Marushevska had previously spent a year of training at Harvard and Stanford universities. On June 23, he announced his appointment of Marushevska as head of a newly created Investment agency of the Odessa regional government.

On 16 October 2015, President Petro Poroshenko announced that Marushevska would serve as the head of Odessa customs. Commenting in May 2016, Saakashvili said, "Nobody took her seriously when she was appointed. ... But she has this grit to really change things."

In an interview with The Daily Beast, published on February 21, 2014, after the death of about 100 people in protests in Kiev, Marushevska stated: "When you see this violence on the street, you understand these people [the authorities], they are like not humans, they are from another reality. I don't know how to influence them. I understand the only language they know is the language of power, the language of money." She also said that the conflict in Ukraine is about "the opportunity…to have a chance to develop. If we lose, we will lose not only economic possibilities. We will lose hope."

She told Voice of America that "we are not just fighting for another president, we are fighting for a normal human life, on a normal social level, with normal values." "People are not planning to leave Independence Square because they feel responsible now," she said in March 2014. "I am optimistic about the future. I believe we will build a normal, prosperous, democratic society but I am realistic about how much work we have ahead. Maybe we will have to become even stronger because this is only the first step. There are hundreds of steps ahead."

On March 26, 2014, Marushevska spoke in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. She expressed gratitude for the support of the international community for the struggle of the Ukrainian people and underscored that her people’s fight is not with the Russian people but with Putin's government. She said, "I hope that one day the Russian people will win its fight against corruption and for freedom." On the same day she took part in a panel discussion at the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, where she talked about the Ukrainian news media's reaction to her video, which some considered propaganda.

Marushevska spoke at the ICC Auditorium at Georgetown University on April 2, 2014. Moses appeared with her, and talked about the role of social media in the Ukrainian protests. Georgetown's student newspaper, the Hoya reported that "Attendees came away impressed by Marushevska's poise in delivering her message, and her ability to convey the emotions felt by everyday Ukrainians." On April 8, she spoke at Stanford University. She was interviewed on Charlie Rose on April 10. On April 13 she spoke at Christ the King Ukrainian Catholic Church in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. On April 16, she participated in a panel discussion, Rights, Repression, and Revolution: A Tale of Two Countries – Ukraine and Venezuela, at Harvard University.

She spoke at the Oslo Freedom Forum on October 21, 2014.

Yulia Marushevska (Ukrainian: Юлія Марушевська , born 2 October 1989) is a Ukrainian activist and civil servant. A graduate student in literature and history, she appeared in a short video, entitled I Am a Ukrainian, which went viral after being posted in February 2014. In the spring of 2014 she gave talks about the cause of Ukrainian freedom in the United States and Canada and was interviewed by news media from dozens of countries.

Yulia Marushevska was born on 2 October 1989 in the village of Shcherbani in Voznesensk Raion, Mykolaiv Oblast, southern Ukraine. She was raised in the village of Sadove in Tatarbunary Raion, Odessa Oblast. "I grew up as an ordinary, Western child," she told the Stanford Daily in an April 2014 interview. She is a Ph.D. candidate in literature and history at Taras Shevchenko University in Kiev.