Obertas began skating at age 5. She initially competed with Dmytro Palamarchuk representing Ukraine. They won the 1998 and 1999 World Junior Championships. They also won the 1997 and 1998 Junior Grand Prix Final. They then began competing on the senior level. At the 2000 World Championships, Obertas/Palamarchuk were 10th after the short program but during the free skate Palamarchuk caught an edge (right skate) while executing an overhead lift with Obertas – she was uninjured in the resulting fall but he hit his head on the ice. No medical attention was immediately offered at the event in Nice, France. Palamarchuk lay on the ice for several minutes before getting up and leaving the ice on his own but then lost consciousness and was taken to hospital – no damage was found but he was kept overnight for observation. The pair ended their partnership shortly afterward. Obertas moved to Russia as her mother had remarried and the family decided to settle in Saint Petersburg.