Iryna Andriyivna Vereshchuk (, ; born 30 November 1979) is a Ukrainian social activist, politician, and former People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 9th convocation. On 4 November 2021, Vereshchuk was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories. Early life and education Vereshchuk was born on 30 November 1979 in Rava-Ruska, Nesterovskyi (later Zhovkva) Raion, Lviv Oblast. In 1997 she finished Rava-Ruska secondary school with honour (Gold Medal). From 1997 to 2002, she studied at the Military Institute at Lviv Polytechnic, which she graduated from with a speciality of "International Information". From 2002 to 2006, she studied at the Law Faculty of the University of Lviv, where she majored in Law. From 2008 to 2010, Vereshchuk studied at Lviv Region Institute of State Administration of the National Academy for Public Administration under the President of Ukraine. In accordance with her academic results, in summer of 2009 she underwent an internship at the Cabinet Office of Ukraine, and then was added to the employee pool of Ukraine's Cabinet. In 2011, she became a postgraduate student at the Lviv Region Institute of State Administration of the National Academy for Public Administration under the President of Ukraine. On 11 November 2015, she defended a thesis on the topic: "Organizational and Legal Mechanism for Improving the Administrative and Territorial Structure of Ukraine" (using reforms conducted by Poland as an example) and received a degree of Candidate of Science in State Management. Career and political activity After graduating from Military School, Vereshchuk served as an officer in the Ukrainian Army for five years. From May 2007 to June 2008, she worked as a lawyer at Rava-Ruska City Council. From June to October 2010, she was deputy head of Zhovkva Region State Administration on humanitarian issues and foreign policy. She was elected mayor of Rava-Ruska on 30 October 2010. At the time she was the youngest female mayor in Ukraine. She governed the city for five years. Vereshchuk was a candidate in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election. As an independent candidate she gained 4.46% of the votes (6th place) in Ukraine's 122nd electoral district (centred in Yavoriv) and lost the election to Volodymyr Parasyuk (who won with 56.56% of the votes). On 17 February 2015, she left her post as mayor of Rava-Ruska due to what she called constant pressure from "pseudopatriots". During 2015 and 2016, Vereshchuk studied in