You're reading: Yatsenyuk shows his apartment, reveals no luxury

No golden loafs of bread were revealed as Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk showed his apartment to the nation on April 22.

In a three-minute long YouTube video posted by Yatsenyuk’s office, the prime minister demonstrates the apartment that he has recently moved in with his family.

Yatsenyuk moved to the apartment from his house in a Novi Petrivtsi village, some 30 kilometers outside Kyiv to save time on traveling to work every day. The family purchased the apartment 10 years ago, the statement under the video reads. The video was watched over 190,000 times in just one day.

The living conditions of top officials have been of high interest in Ukraine ever since former President Viktor Yanukovych’s secretive billion-dollar mansion of Mezhyhirya. Opened for public viewing after Yanukovych fled on Feb. 22, the estate turned out to be a tragic mixture of bad taste and incredible wealth. While the urban legend of Yanukovych using a golden toilet turned out to be false, a golden loaf of bread was discovered, instead, in the mansion that spread out over 140 hectares and had almost every other imaginable luxury from yachts to a golf course and hunting range and numerous buildings.

Remembering the toilet rumors, Yatsenyuk led the cameraman to the toilet first.

“See, not golden at all,” Yatsenyuk says with a chuckle as he points at a toilet seat. 

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk shows his kitchen – spacious and clean. (Courtesy)

The grand tour was continued with demonstration of the prime minister’s kitchen – spacious and incredibly clean. On the refrigerator door, a paper with medical test results of one of Yatsenyuk’s kids was hanging.

In the living room one of Yatsenyuk’s two daughteres, 10-year-old Sofia, was found lounging on a couch with an iPad. Another daughter, Khrystyna, 15, didn’t appear on the video, although Yatsenyuk did show her bedroom and was heard talking to her behind the scene, asking if it had been cold in her room after he saw a heater there.

Sofia Yatsenyuk, 10, waves to the camera from a couch in the prime minister’s living room. (Courtesy)

Yatsenyuk’s wife, Teresia,  didn’t show up on the video either, but a framed photo of her was spotted on a shelf in the living room. Also, the prime minister mentioned her as he spotted his white shirts hanging in the kitchen – the wife ironed them, he said.

Near the shirts, a EuroMaidan ribbon was attached to the drawer’s handle. Another EuroMaidan ribbon was seen in the prime minister’s bedroom.

“Our best memories,” Yatsenyuk said, touching the ribbon.

Yatsenyuk’s Facebook followers complimented his openness and commented on the apartment.

“Cozy and not pretentious,” commented Natalia Vakula, while Mikhail Konoval was skeptical, noting that “what’s important is not how the prime minister lives, but how the people of Ukraine live.”

Kyiv Post lifestyle editor Olga Rudenko can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter at @olya_rudenko.