German doctors say Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko has agreed to be treated by them in a hospital in her homeland, as mounting international pressure over her case clouds Ukraine’s final preparations for the Euro 2012 football championship.
Several EU leaders have threatened to boycott matches in Ukraine unless its government allows Mrs Tymoshenko to receive proper treatment.
Germany urged Ukraine’s president Viktor Yanukovich to allow former prime minister Tymoshenko to travel there for treatment. But the country rejected that request and Mrs Tymoshenko (51) went on hunger strike last month.
Dr Karl Max Einhaeupl of Berlin’s Charite clinic said that “Mrs Tymoshenko gave her preliminary agreement that on Tuesday, May 8th, she will be taken to [a clinic] in Kharkiv” for treatment by a German doctor assisted by Ukrainian medics.
“It will be joint step towards resolving this issue,” he added.
Ukraine says Tymoshenko has not been mistreated, and sharply criticised talk of a boycott of Euro 2012. A newspaper close to Yanukovichs party yesterday compared todays Germany to the Third Reich.
DAN McLAUGHLIN