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| Ukraine crisis: Yulia Tymoshenko to run for president | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has announced plans to run for president in the upcoming May elections. | |
| Ms Tymoshenko, 53, was released from prison in February following the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovich. She was imprisoned in 2011 for abuse of office linked to a gas deal with Russia. | |
| Ms Tymoshenko has already served twice as prime minister and ran for president in 2010. She is seen as a pro-European leader. | |
| She rose to the forefront of Ukrainian politics during the 'Orange Revolution' that overthrew Mr Yanukovich's first administration in 2004. | |
| The announcement comes just hours after the International Monetary Fund pledged a $14-$18 billion rescue package for Ukraine to help the country's acting government meet its debt obligations against the backdrop of Russian intervention. | |
| The IMF deal is set to unlock support of $27 billion from various countries over the next two years, but it will come with strings attached, including serious austerity measures and higher energy prices. | The IMF deal is set to unlock support of $27 billion from various countries over the next two years, but it will come with strings attached, including serious austerity measures and higher energy prices. |
| In a statement, the IMF warned Ukraine is facing "difficult" challenges following the "intense economic and political turbulence of recent months". | |
| In an address to the Ukrainian parliament, interim prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk warned Ukraine is teetering "on the brink of the economic and financial bankruptcy" and signalled more pain ahead. | In an address to the Ukrainian parliament, interim prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk warned Ukraine is teetering "on the brink of the economic and financial bankruptcy" and signalled more pain ahead. |
| Mr Yatsenyuk said new structural reforms, including raising taxes and a freeze on minimum wage, will hit families hard but the insisted the government had "no choice but the tell the truth". | Mr Yatsenyuk said new structural reforms, including raising taxes and a freeze on minimum wage, will hit families hard but the insisted the government had "no choice but the tell the truth". |
| The country's finance minister Oleksandr Shlapak expects the economy will contract 3 per cent this year. | The country's finance minister Oleksandr Shlapak expects the economy will contract 3 per cent this year. |
| On Wednesday, Ukraine announced a radical 50 per cent increase in domestic gas prices starting 1 May in an effort to secure the IMF bailout, which made the scrapping of energy subsidies a key condition for the deal to move forward. | On Wednesday, Ukraine announced a radical 50 per cent increase in domestic gas prices starting 1 May in an effort to secure the IMF bailout, which made the scrapping of energy subsidies a key condition for the deal to move forward. |
| The IMF also called for a flexible exchange rate of the national currency, the hryvnia, which the IMF argues has been kept at a artificially high level pegged to the US dollar. | The IMF also called for a flexible exchange rate of the national currency, the hryvnia, which the IMF argues has been kept at a artificially high level pegged to the US dollar. |