Vasyl Tsushko was born in the small village of Nadrichne, Odessa Oblast in the Ukrainian SSR ; he is of mixed Ukrainian-Moldovan ancestry and is fluent in Romanian language. In 1982, Tsushko finished the IzmailVocational school of Mechanics and Electronics of Agriculture. From 1983–1985, Tsushko served in the Soviet Army. After completing the army course, he went to study at the economic faculty at the Odessa Agriculture Institute, from which he graduated in 1988. From 1998–1996, Tsushko was the head of two soviet farms. From 1994–2002, Vasyl Tsushko served as a national deputy of the second, third, and fourth convocations of the Verkhovna Rada. In 2005, he graduated from the National University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, with the qualification of a lawyer. From May 1997, he was a member of the Socialist Party of Ukraine and the first Vice-president of the Committee of Bank and Financing of Ukraine. He was chosen as the head of the Odessa Oblast Government Administration on February 3, 2005. Tsushko was chosen as the Minister of Internal Affairs on December 1, 2006 after his predecessor Yuriy Lutsenko was dismissed by the parliament. On May 26, 2007, Tsushko suffered from a heart attack and was later hospitalized under critical condition. According to some Internet media, he suffered from an overdose of methylxanthine. After worsening health, he was later flown to a hospital in Germany. Tsushko's friend, Tetyana Montyan, stated that his heart attack was a result of poisoning. The Interfax news agency reports that Vasyl Tsushko's condition deteriorated while in the medical clinic in Germany. On September 30, 2007, Tsushko announced that he would resign as Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, due to the need of his health rehabilitation. On July 24, 2010 Tsushko took over Socialist party leadership from Oleksandr Moroz but Moroz was re-elected as leader in August 2011. Tsushko headed the Ukrainian Economy Ministry from March till December 2010 and was appointed as head of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine on December 14, 2010. He was dismisses from the Antimonopoly Committee by the Verkhovna Rada on 26 March 2014. In the 2014 Ukrainian presidential election Tsushko received 0.05% of the vote. In 2020 Tsushko held the post of deputy chairman of the Socialist Party of Oleksandr Moroz. Tsushko is married and has a son and daughter. He is interested in historical literature.
