Fresh out of jail, Ukraine's former PM to run for president

Ukraine’s former PM Yulia Tymoshenko is to run for president.

15:39 28 March 2014

Fresh out of jail, Ukraine’s former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, one of the country’s most polarizing figures, is set to run for president in the upcoming May elections.

The announcement was made on Thursday, as the nation’s interim PM warned of hard-hitting reforms.

Tymoshenko, who was released last month following the overthrow of her political rival, President Viktor Yanukovych, vowed to protect Ukraine.

"I will be the candidate of Ukrainian unity," Tymoshenko said. "The west and center of Ukraine has always voted for me, but I was born in the east, in Dnipropetrovsk."

She first run for president in 2010 and narrowly lost to Yanukovych.

She added: "I will do everything to ensure that our second European revolution does not lead to distrust, depression and disappointment. I will everyday work to earn the trust that is afforded to me by the people."

Yanukovych is variously admired as an icon of democracy and detested as a self-promoting manipulator with a questionable past.

In October 2011, she was convicted of embezzlement and abuse of power. She was given seven years in prison and ordered to pay the state $188 million. However, some have viewed this conviction is politically charged.