Moscow: Yulia Timoshenko, a former Ukrainian prime minister, is in hot water after media reports that she vacationed in the United Arab Emirates over the recent holiday season while her nation was still embroiled in a protracted conflict with Russia.

In light of the news of Timoshenko's New Year getaway, a Ukrainian MP has urged her party to expel her.

Mariana Bezuglaya, the deputy chair of the Defense and National Security Committee of the Ukrainian parliament, posted on Facebook on Friday, "I am addressing the Fatherland Party with a call on Yulia Vladimirovna Timoshenko to be expelled from the parliamentary faction and the party."

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The senior MP also shared a picture that appeared to show the former leader relaxing on a Dubai beach. Timoshenko, who led Ukraine as its prime minister from 2007 to 2010, is currently in charge of the Fatherland Party and its faction in the Verkhovna Rada, the country's parliament.

The Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainskaya Pravda published a series of images earlier on Friday that appeared to show Timoshenko and her family unwinding in Dubai. According to reports, the former prime minister vacationed in a UAE villa that belonged to the five-star Kempinski Hotel. On January 5, according to Ukrainian journalists, the politician was captured on camera at a closed-off, private beach.

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In a different article, Ukrainskaya Pravda claimed that the former prime minister had spent about a month in Dubai between December 27 and January 23. They did this by citing an unnamed source within the Ukrainian border guard service. Before the conflict between Moscow and Kiev began, her daughter and her family relocated to the UAE, the paper continued.

Both Timoshenko and her party did not respond to Bezuglaya's call for comment regarding the reports.

Timoshenko, who was imprisoned under President Viktor Yanukovich on suspicion of abusing her position, actively backed the Maidan uprising after her early 2014 release. Later that year, her Fatherland Party aimed to start a vote on Ukraine's NATO membership.

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The announcement comes as Kiev works to restrict Ukrainian officials' travel abroad. On January 23, President Vladimir Zelensky issued an executive order prohibiting all members of the executive branch, the presidential administration, and the legislature from leaving the country for any reason unrelated to their official duties.