Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has tested positive for the coronavirus and is in serious condition with a fever, her party's spokeswoman said on August 23.
Marina Soroka, a spokeswoman for the Fatherland Party, confirmed that the 59-year-old Tymoshenko is ill, saying on Facebook, “Yes, unfortunately, it’s correct,” adding that she is "fighting" with a temperature of 39 degrees. She did not say whether Tymoshenko had been hospitalized.
Tymoshenko is the first high-profile Ukrainian politician known to have contracted COVID-19.
Ukraine experienced a sharp rise in coronavirus infections this week. On August 22 the country reported a 24-hour total of 2,328 new cases, bringing the total since the pandemic began to 107,379, including 2,313 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Tymoshenko rose to prominence as co-leader of Ukraine's Orange Revolution in 2004 amid widespread protests against corruption and election rigging.
Tymoshenko ran for president in 2010 and lost to Russian-backed Viktor Yanukovych and was imprisoned from 2011 to 2014 on abuse-of-office charges that the international community widely condemned as politically motivated.
She was freed from prison in early 2014 after Yanukovych was toppled in a popular uprising that put Ukraine on a path toward closer ties with the European Union and the United States.
Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Tymoshenko Tests Positive For Coronavirus
![Ukrainian ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko (file photo)](https://gdb.rferl.org/aa85e779-354d-48fa-bc00-b555abcac937_w250_r1_s.jpg)
Editors' Picks
Top Trending
1
U.S., Canadian Warplanes Intercept Russian, Chinese Military Aircraft Near Alaska
2Crowdsourcing Russia's Future: Poll Of Experts Considers What Comes After Putin
3Russia Attacks Ukrainian Danube Port For Second Day As NATO Scrambles Warplanes Over Romania
4Turkey Detains Russian Man Suspected Of Car Bombing In Moscow
5Ukrainian Forces Fight Intense Battles In Donetsk Region, Zelenskiy Says
6Live Briefing: Russia Invades Ukraine
7Pentagon Finds Another $2 Billion Of Accounting Errors For Ukraine Aid
8'Don't Even Whisper In Your Language': Russian Course For Central Asians Lays Down Strict Rules
9Under Relentless Russian Attacks, Ukrainian Power Plant Workers Race To Get The Lights Back On
10Bulgarian President Admits Blocking Pro-Western Envoy To Kyiv
RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.
If you are in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine and hold a Russian passport or are a stateless person residing permanently in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine, please note that you could face fines or imprisonment for sharing, liking, commenting on, or saving our content, or for contacting us.
To find out more, click here.