On April 21, 2026, the HACC investigating judge denied a motion by defense counsel for MP Yuliia Tymoshenko to annul the suspicion notice against her.

The defense argued that the criminal proceedings had not been properly registered in the Unified State Register of Pre-Trial Investigations, and that investigators had "artificially" inflated the charge classification to obtain authorization for covert investigative actions. They also claimed that the audio recording examinations had been conducted using Russian software developed by companies that cooperate with the FSB and Russia's Ministry of Defense. 

Tymoshenko herself delivered an emotional statement, characterizing the case as follows: "Elections are coming, and they simply need to take down the opposition." She insisted she does not know the MPs referenced in NABU's recordings and described her meeting with MP Kopytin as a premeditated NABU provocation. She maintains the audio recording of the conversation was fabricated.

The prosecutor held that the suspicion notice is fully substantiated and noted that this issue had already been reviewed multiple times by courts during preventive measure proceedings. He rejected the allegation of falsified recordings, explaining that the voice modification of a witness is a lawful security measure to protect a person cooperating with the investigation. The prosecutor stressed that the charges rest on a body of sufficient evidence.

As reported earlier, the case concerns the alleged offer of unlawful benefits to members of parliament in order to influence the outcomes of parliamentary votes.