Vyacheslav Kyrylenko participated in the Revolution on Granite and went on to become a prominent politician. He attended Taras Shevchenko Kyiv University and became a doctor of philosophy sciences. After the revolution, he was the Head of the Ukrainian Student Union from 1992 to 1993. From 1998 to 2014, Kyrylenko served as a member of Ukrainian Parliament in the 3rd through 8th convocations. He served as the Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine from September 2005 until August 2006, and then became the head of the “Our Ukraine” party on March 31, 2007.
From 2014 to 2016, Kyrylenko was Ukraine’s Minister of Culture. He was one of several Ukrainian Ministers of Culture to believe that culture was important in regards to national security. He was one of the authors of the project “on national cultural product” which was later used in ‘The long-term strategy for the development of Ukrainian culture – the strategy of reforms’, which were governmental strategies to help build up the sphere of ukrainian culture and protect Ukrainian cultural traditions.
Kyrylenko remains an important figure in Ukraine through the events of the modern day. On February 26, 2019, Kyrylenko spoke at the International Forum “Occupied Crimea: Five Years of Resistance”, where he spoke hopefully about the celebrations that will occur upon Crimea’s return and emphasized that the Ukrainians and free world united in opposition to Russia’s seizure of Crimea.