By Ann Cahill, Europe Correspondent

Ukraine issued an arrest warrant yesterday for its ousted pro-Russian president over “mass murder” and appealed for $35bn (€25bn) in Western aid as Moscow denounced Kiev’s new reformist interim government as “Kalashnikov-toting people in black masks.”

With an ally claiming presidential powers and the whereabouts and legitimacy of the nominal president unclear, newly freed opposition icon Yulia Tymoshenko may feel her chance to take Ukraine’s leadership has come.

Ukraine was plunged into new uncertainty after a deadly political standoff — as a top opposition figure assumed presidential powers.

Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine’s ex-premier freed as the tide turned against her nemesis, president Viktor Yanukovych, is a steely and telegenic figure hailed by the opposition, but also a polarising one dogged by suspicions of personal enrichment and opportunism.

The whereabouts of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych were unclear today, a day after he left the capital and his arch foe Yulia Tymoshenko was freed from prison and returned to Kiev to address a massive, adoring crowd.

Hours after her release from prison, former Ukrainian Prime Minister and opposition figurehead Yulia Tymoshenko appeared before an ecstatic throng at the protester encampment in Ukraine’s capital today.

Former Ukrainian prime minister and opposition icon Yulia Tymoshenko has been released from prison, her spokeswoman has confirmed.

Protesters in the Ukrainian capital claimed full control of the city today following the signing of a Western-brokered peace deal aimed at ending the nation’s three-month political crisis.

Ukraine's opposition leaders have signed a deal with the president and European and Russian mediators for early elections and a new government in hopes of ending a deadly political crisis.

Top Western diplomats headed to Kiev today to try to defuse a stand-off between Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s government and thousands of demonstrators, following a night in which police in riot gear dismantled protesters’ encampments outside government buildings.

Phones in-flight

Thousands of protesters poured into Kiev’s Independence Square last night, the centre of Ukraine’s pro-West Orange Revolution, to demand that the government reverse course and sign a landmark agreement with the European Union.

Ukraine’s parliament has delayed a key vote on the release of jailed former premier Yulia Tymoshenko, a move that threatens to derail the ex-Soviet republic’s push toward the European Union and shift it back into Russia’s orbit.

Ukraine’s president signalled that his main rival, the jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, could be released from prison and sent to Germany to get treated for her back problem.

Ukraine's jailing of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was a politically motivated violation of her rights, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled.

Ukraine’s president has pardoned a former interior minister and a close ally of imprisoned former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Ukrainian authorities have formally notified jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko that she is a suspect in the murder of a businessman and politician in 1996.

Ukraine’s parliamentary election has been branded unfair by international observers who said the result reversed earlier democratic gains the country made.

Ukraine's parliamentary election has been branded unfair by international observers who said the result reversed earlier democratic gains the country made.

Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych's party claimed victory in an election vote tainted by the jailing of the country's top opposition leader.

Ukraine’s jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is urging her country to defeat President Viktor Yanukovych’s party in next month’s parliamentary election.

Ukraine’s highest court has upheld the guilty verdict against the country’s ex-prime minister who is in jail on abuse of office charges.

Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s appeal hearing against her seven-year jail sentence on abuse of office charges has been postponed yet again.

Ukraine’s jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has gone on trial charged with evading millions in taxes 15 years ago, despite strong Western protests against the prosecution.

The European Union Ambassador to Ukraine has been prevented from visiting former Ukrainian premier Yulia Tymoshenko in a hospital where she is being treated.

Two high-profile EU representatives arrived in Kiev today to observe the legal proceedings against jailed former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

I’ve no problem admitting it.

A beautiful white tiger that became a symbol of Yulia Tymoshenko’s Ukraine presidential campaign has returned to the spotlight by giving birth to four cubs, including a rare albino one.

Former Ukraine prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has been moved from prison to a hospital for treatment for a severe back condition under the supervision of a German doctor.

Ukraine has called off a regional co-operation summit of Central and Eastern European nations after it was boycotted by most heads of state over the treatment of jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Ukrainian leaders to allow jailed ex-Premier Yulia Tymoshenko “proper treatment” for her ailments, as more top officials announced they would boycott the Euro 2012 football championship co-hosted by Ukraine.

Yulia Tymoshenko, the braided darling of Ukraine’s Orange Revolution who went on to be prime minister, is wasting away in prison – weakened from a hunger strike, bruised from prison beatings and afraid she will be force-fed by her political foes, her family said.

Facing deepening Western criticism, Ukraine’s president today ordered a thorough probe into the alleged beating by prison officials of jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, serving a seven-year jail sentence on abuse-of-office charges, yesterday dismissed new allegations against her of involvement in the murder of a parliament deputy almost 16 years ago.

FORMER Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko will boycott her own appeal against a seven year sentence for abuse of office, her legal team said yesterday, branding the court case a farce.

Ukraine is becoming a dangerous mix of authoritarianism and corrupt capitalism, writes Tatiana Zhurzhenko

A SUMMIT intended to bring Ukraine into Europe’s mainstream foundered yesterday after the EU said it would not sign a landmark political and trade deal until Kiev resolves the case of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.

WITH 188 days to go to the kick off of the European Championships, it’s now more a case of pretty vacant than anarchy in the Ukraine, as the co-hosts look to follow a major renovation project with some running repairs to their public image.

UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino has admitted there were times when he wondered whether Ukraine would prove itself fit to host Euro 2012.

FORMER Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko was jailed for seven years in a trial widely condemned in the West as politically motivated.

Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has been found guilty of abuse of office and jailed for seven years in a case widely condemned in the West as politically motivated.

HOPES are high that the EU will agree to initial the comprehensive free trade agreement with Ukraine at a summit in Warsaw this week, marking an important step towards the country’s membership of the bloc.

THE Ukrainian women’s group, Femen, took its distinctive brand of protest to the trial of ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko when two activists climbed atop a police wagon outside the court and bared their breasts.