Ukraine's former prime minister has called for the president to be impeached over alleged high-level embezzlement amid an increasingly heated presidential race.

Yulia Tymoshenko urged lawmakers Tuesday to initiate impeachment proceedings against President Petro Poroshenko following a media investigation detailing alleged embezzlement schemes in the nation's military industries.

Opinion polls have shown Poroshenko and Tymoshenko trailing comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who plays the nation's president in a popular TV series, in the run-up to the March 31 presidential election.

The investigation, conducted by investigative reporters at Bihus.info, claimed that the embezzlement scheme involving state-controlled defense factories cost the state 250 million hryvnias (about $9 million). Poroshenko ordered law enforcement agencies to quickly investigate the allegations and suspended a security official, whose son was allegedly involved in the crime.