Trim Stab:
I appreciate your skepticism on the virtue of the "West's" approach to Ukraine's various internal political struggles, and the usual problem of "choosing sides" as regards someone else's political struggles. What little I know of Ukraine politics suggests to me a fairly corrupt political environment, with dirty hands aplenty regardless of which party holds one's affiliation.
But hold on, my friend.
She has never been elected by anybody and has no mandate to speak for the Ukraine.
Isn't she a former prime minister? Doesn't that require being elected?
Yulia Tymoshenko entered politics in 1996, when she was elected to the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) in constituency #229, Bobrynets, Kirovohrad Oblast, winning a record 92.3% of the vote.
She tried to run for president and lost, too bad for her.
She also got tossed into jail, which is a fine place for any politician.
Any number of blowhards in my own country talk about defending America, or whatever, and she is a leading member of
a political group in the Ukraine. She has every right to sound off about such things, and we consumers of political noise will add such grains, pinches, or buckets full of salt as needed to said utterances.
Sounding off is what political people do. Is she blowing a lot of hot air? Sure, at least in part if not in total, since she's a political sort.
(And a rich one to boot).