Our Ukraine and Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc signed an agreement Saturday to put up united opposition. The two major Orange forces are together again to seek the government’s dismissal and early parliamentary election.

Ukraine's main opposition leader warned Saturday that the ex-Soviet republic is at risk of sliding back under Russia's influence, and is particularly vulnerable to energy pressure from its giant neighbor. But Yulia Tymoshenko said that she heads to the United States on Sunday to reassure U.S. leaders that the Orange Revolution team that set Ukraine on its pro-Western path is reunited and ready to provide tough opposition to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's more Russian-leaning government.

Tymoshenko’s visit has been organized differently from that of Yanukovych. His tour was highly choreographed by his Washington public relations firm in such a way that he refrained from open discussions and refused to meet the Ukrainian diaspora. In this case, Tymoshenko’s team in the U.S. is taking a more open, inclusive position, ensuring that diaspora are included and that both sides of the aisle in American politics are being addressed in a more substantive manner. Her U.S. visit next week is set to change U.S. perceptions of Ukraine’s politics and reinforce her image as playing a central role in defending the democratic gains of the Orange Revolution.

Yulia Tymoshenko marches through the entrance of Jerusalem's David Citadel Hotel with a 10-strong male entourage in tow. Head high and smile radiant, she strides, starlet-like, to the elevator, into which she is ushered like a queen. Or at least like the "Orange Princess" she has been coined - a title the head of Ukraine's opposition movement earned not for her lineage or beauty, but rather for her having been a leading fomenter of her country's liberal revolution in 2004. It was her reputation for fearlessly fighting against oligarchs, and the corruption and economic stagnation for which the Ukrainians held them responsible, that paved the way for Yushchenko's presidency and her own premiership.

Russia’s leaders are entitled to the world’s understanding as they struggle to overcome generations of Soviet misrule. But they are not entitled to the sphere of influence that Russian tsars and commissars coveted for 300 years. If Russia is to be a serious partner for Europe, it must be ready to accept the obligations of stability along with the benefits. If Europe is to ensure its prosperity and energy security, it must demand nothing less.

According to the information of the Razumkov Center, according to the results of a poll, some 34% of those polled believe that the situation became worse, and some 11.1% believe that the situation improved. This assessment is significantly worse than that of the Yulia Tymoshenko’s government in April 2005 (after 100 days of her government’s activities), the Razumkov Center notes. At that time some 37.3% of those polled believes that the situation in the country improved, some 15.4% - worsened, some 31.2% - did not change.

Yuliya Tymoshenko, the leader of the second largest faction in the Ukrainian parliament, has condemned the new parliamentary majority as an alliance of leftists and "mobsters", which won’t last long. In a brief live appearance on the Ukrainian ICTV television’s "Freedom of Speech" talk show on 7 July, Tymoshenko said: "A broad coalition is a broad grave for democracy and broad grave for Ukraine’s sovereignty, and therefore, our political force won’t enter into any broad coalitions. We will be either in the opposition or, if the law and the constitution allow this, we will undoubtedly favour an early election".

Thursday, 22nd of June: during the Parliament session, Yulia Tymoshenko declared the creation of the democratic coalition. “The great honor was given to me, to announce the news which were much awaited by the whole country. To this minute, the coalition of BYT, the Socialist party and “Our Ukraine” is already exists”, she said from the Parliament rostrum.

“I think the coalition will go ahead,” said analyst Mikhail Pogrebinsky to The Guardian journalist, commenting on the final stages of coalition building between Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, Our Ukraine and Socialist party.

In June, the book on the life of Yulia Tymoshenko (written by German journalist Dmitry Popov and his Russian colleague Ilya Milstain), previously available in Germany and Russia, is published in Lithuania. Also the book’s publishing rights were sold to two more countries, France and Poland. It is expected to hit the stalls there in autumn.

President Victor Yushchenko advises Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, Our Ukraine and the Socialists to consider results of the March 26 elections when discussing spheres of influence. “This would be the best way to show they respect the will of the people, as well as the best principle to share posts in the government and parliament,” he told journalists after his meeting with Dutch Premier Jan Peter Balkenende in the Hague. The elections of March 26 emerged with the following totals: Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc got 22,29% of votes, Our Ukraine got 13,95%, and the Socialist party got 5,69%.

‘Ukraine today is the Poland or the Czech Republic of the 1990s. All ways are open to us,’ Yulia Tymoshenko told The Spectator, which compares her to another world famous Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher.

On Monday, April 17th Yulia Tymoshenko met with the members of American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine and highlighted political and economic issues that her Bloc deems as important such as changes in legislation that will impact the business community and investment environment as well as recent political reforms. A copy of her speech in English is available here.

Some say we should not worry, that democracy and the market are now too well established in Ukraine to be replaced; that reform is irreversible; and that the country’s ruling oligarchic clans, like those of Eastern Europe, will in time become law-abiding capitalists. Alas, this view is based more on wishful thinking than on reality...

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko said Thursday that the oppositional Party of Regions was quite likely to win the March parliamentary elections in the country. If this happens, Tymoshenko said, Yanukovych would give up the present policy and lead the country in another direction. She warned that only the consolidation of all "orange forces" in Ukraine could help retain the policy aimed at reforms and rapprochement with Europe.

Yulia Tymoshenko does not consider political forces of Volodimir Lytvyn and Olexander Moroz rivals, as she declared during the press conference in Kharkiv. According to Tymoshenko, she respects these political forces, but she does not think they can rival for the right to form executive power after the March parliamentary elections. “Most likely Volodimir Lytvyn and Olexander Moroz will compete for the post of Speaker in the new parliament,” noted Tymoshenko...

Ukrainian former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has slamed President Viktor Yuschenko's suggestion of storing spent nuclear fuel from abroad at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant. "I very much dislike the idea of creating a mortuary of European spent fuel at the Chornobyl NPP," she said at a press conference in Kharkiv on Monday. "I don't want Ukraine to become an ecological dustbin," she said.