Participation in the Revolution of Dignity and state reform Kovalenko took part in protests on
Euromaidan before the violent dispersal of students on 30 November 2013. She initially made hourly broadcasts for Radio Era, then took part in patrolling the Maidan and surrounding areas. She participated in the development of a plan to defend office buildings from the assault by security forces. She later became a deputy captain of the 11th Self-Defense Hundred. In mid-January 2014, she organized and led the 39th Maidan Women's Self-Defense Hundred. At the time of its creation, the hundred had more than 150 participants. At present, 39 hundred have been transformed into an all-Ukrainian public organization, "Women's Hundred", which has about two thousand members. Since March 2014, she was the chairman of the All-Ukrainian NGO "39th Maidan Self-Defense Hundred".
Political career Kovalenko ran in the
2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election as a self-nominated candidate in the 206th constituency (
Chernihiv) as an independent. The CEC denied Kovalenko formal registration. And this denial had to be revoked through the courts of two instances. For this reason, Kovalenko has only two weeks left to campaign. Despite this, she received 9% of the vote (second place after local oligarch
Vladyslav Atroshenko). From 2014 to 2015, Kovalenko worked as an adviser to the
Minister of Defense of Ukraine and served as an adviser to the
Minister of Information Policy. Kovalenko was also a consultant to the Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Security. She was also an adviser to the Head of the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine. She was a member of the club of the diplomatic representation of the
NATO Liaison Office in Ukraine, "Women at the Head of Reforms". She was a member of the committee responsible for the restoration of television and radio broadcasting in the territory of the ATO. She was elected as a member of parliament, but later resigned, becoming deputy head of the
Office of the President of Ukraine instead. She was member of the
Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) Committee on Social Policy and Protection of Veterans' Rights. As the head of the Women's Hundred NGO, she conducts public and political activities in the areas of gender and cultural policy, and is the coordinator of the Anti-Corruption Movement of Ukraine NGO.
Governor of Chernihiv Oblast On 13 October 2020, Kovalenko was appointed
Governor of
Chernihiv Oblast. On 4 August 2021
President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Kovalenko from the post after she had tendered in her resignation on 28 July. ==Family==