Vakarchuk founded the band Okean Elzy (“Ocean of Elza”), in 1994 as an undergraduate at Lviv University. At this university he earned a Ph.D. in the field of supersymmetry. After graduating Vakarchuk moved to Kyiv.

Vakarchuk also plays an active role in social and cultural projects, and is the founder of the charity foundation “Lyudi Maybutnyoho” (People of the Future). The main projects of the foundation were “Knyga Tvoryt’ Lyudynu” (A Book Creates a Man), “Osvita Krainoyu” (The Country’s Education), “3-D Proekt. Dumay, Diy, Dopomagai.” (3-D Project. Think, Act. Help.). Together with the members of the band he actively supported the preventive campaign IOM and MTV Europe’s “People Are Not For Sale.” In 2003, Vakarchuk became an Honorary Ambassador of Culture in Ukraine. In 2005, he became a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme.

In 2005, Vakarchuk answered all questions correctly and won the grand prize (1 million hryvnias) for the first time on the Ukrainian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, called Khto khoche staty milyonerom? – Pershyi milyon. He donated his winnings to orphanages in Ukraine.

In the early 30 September 2007 parliamentary election, he ran as an independent candidate on the Our Ukraine–People’s Self-Defense Bloc’s list (as No. 15). In the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) he was a member of the parliamentary committee for freedom of speech issues. He was also a member of groups of parliamentary contacts with the Russian Federation and other countries. Vakarchuk did not submit any legislative acts during his deputy’s term. He submitted two amendments, one of which was accepted by the Verkhovna Rada. In early September 2008, he renounced his seat in the Verkhovna Rada due to the political situation. On December 16, 2008, the Verkhovna Rada accepted Vakarchuk’s renunciation. According to Vakarchuk, he renounced his seat because “I was really frustrated by the level of mutual fights, at the absurd Hobbesian world of all against all, rather than changing the country for the better.”

In 2008, Vakarchuk released a solo project “Vnochi” (In the Night). This album was released under the name of Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, but it includes appearances by all members of Okean Elzy and other various guest musicians. Another solo project followed in 2011, “Brussel” (Brussels).

In support of their album “Zemlya” in spring 2013, the band embarked on a stadium tour throughout cities in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, the US, Canada, and a number of countries in Western Europe.

In December 2013, Okean Elzy performed during the Euromaidan protests.

In 2015, Vakarchuk took part in the Yale World Fellows international fellowship program at Yale University.

Vakarchuk stated multiple times in 2017 that he had no political ambitions. However, in 2018 he joined Stanford University as a visiting scholar, focusing on politics and leadership. Later that year he appeared at several politically-themed conferences, speaking alongside established Ukrainian politicians. This led the public to view him as a potential candidate for the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election, where he became one of the frontrunners according to opinion polls. But by late 2018 he was overtaken by other potential candidates, and in October 2018 he stated “Who can change the political culture is more important than who becomes the president.” In the election Vakarchuk did not back any of the candidates. According to an early March 2019 poll by sociological group “RATING”, 64% of the electorate would have liked to see Vakarchuk among the presidential candidates.

On 16 May 2019, Vakarchuk announced the creation of a new political party, Voice (Holos), with the aim to participate in the July July 2019 parliamentary election. Vakarchuk assured on 19 May 2019 that if elected to parliament, he would not stop playing music, but political activity would be a priority. He also claimed that he believed that currently the Ukrainian parliament is the place “where real changes are being made” so he did not participate in the presidential election of the previous month.. Vakarchuk was elected to the Verkhovna Rada in July 2019. His party gained 5.82% of the vote. On 11 June 2020 Vakarchuk registered in parliament a request to terminate his parliamentary mandate. He insisted that he did not plan to end his political career but would be working on extra-parliamentary activities for his party. On 18 June 2020 parliament rejected the draft resolution on the early termination of Vakarchuk’s parliamentary mandate (the resolution was supported by 175 deputies, while 226 votes minimum were required). The next day Vakarchuk left his party’s faction so the party could terminate his mandate via a party congress. His party did indeed did this on 26 June 2020. Vakarchuk was replaced in parliament by Andriy Sharaskin [uk].