During his studies at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv Kyrylenko was one of the initiators a political student strike at the October Revolution Square in Kiev, which was held from October 12 to 17, 1990, which eventually led to the resignation the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of UkraineVitaly Masol. In the years 1992 and 1993 Kyrylenko was head of the Ukrainian Student Union and became a member of the People's Movement of Ukraine, He soon became the head of the youth wing of this party and stayed that until 2002 while meanwhile becoming a Doctor of Philosophy at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. In 2002 Kyrylenko became the Deputy Head of the Ukrainian People's Party. During the 1998 Ukrainian parliamentary election Kyrylenko was elected into the Verkhovna Rada ; he has been re-elected into the Verkhovna Rada since. In 2005 Kyrylenko became the Minister of Labor and Social Policy in the first Tymoshenko Government and a Vice Prime Minister later that year in the Yekhanurov Government until the 2006 Ukrainian parliamentary election. In December 2006 Kyrylenko was elected as Head of the Parliamentary Faction "Our Ukraine" and on March 31, 2007 was elected the head of the People's Union Our Ukraine. During the 2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election was Kyrylenko the top candidate of Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc on its party list. The alliance lost 9 seats but its percentage of total votes slightly improved. In 2008 Kyrylenko was replaced as head of Our Ukraine party of its Honorary PresidentViktor Yushchenko. In December Kyrylenko resigned from the post as head of Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc in protest against the reformation of the coalition that supported the second Tymoshenko Government with Bloc of Lytvyn. According to Kyrylenko the restructure posed "a serious threat to the economy and social sphere". On December 23, 2008 Kyrylenko formed the parliamentarian deputy group For Ukraine! in the Verkhovna Rada. In November 2009 Kyrylenko started to cooperate with the Party of Social Protection In order to participate in the 2010 Ukrainian local elections. In November 2009 the Party of Social Protection changed its name to For Ukraine! and Kyrylenko was elected party leader of it In November 2009 Kyrylenko was awarded the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise V degree. In December 2011 Kyrylenko signed an agreement with the head of the party Front of ChangesArseniy Yatsenyuk on joint opposition activity and merger of their parties after the election. Kyrylenko was placed at number 4 on the electoral list of Batkivshchina during the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election. He was elected into parliament. Kyrylenko was instrumental in the attempt to repeal the national 2012 Law "On the principles of the state language policy". On 23 February 2014, the second day after the flight of Viktor Yanukovich, while in a parliamentary session Kyrylenko moved to include in the agenda a draft that would repeal the 2012 Law "On the principles of the state language policy". The motion was carried with 232 deputies voting in favour, the draft was included into the agenda, immediately put to a vote and approved with the same 232 voting in favour. Repeal of the 2012 Law "On the principles of the state language policy" was met with great disdain in Crimea and Southern and Eastern Ukraine provoking waves of anti-government protests, ultimately culminating with the Crimean crisis. The acting President Oleksandr Turchinov announced on February 28, 2014 that he won't be signing the law into action, but this reaction came too late to curb the unfolding crisis. In September 2014 Kyrylenko became a founding member of his new party People's Front.
