季莫申科获释基辅独立广场发表讲话

Hours after being released from prison, former Ukrainian prime minister and opposition icon Yulia Tymoshenko addressed a massive crowd at Kiev's Independence Square. Tymoshenko thanked her supporters and praised the demonstrators killed in violence this week as heroes.

"Best sons of our country, those who stood up and went to face bullets - they gave all so we all with you together, everyone of us, could be happy. And now we have only one task - to ensure that any single drop of their blood has not been spilled in vain," Tymoshenko said.

Tymoshenko also said president Yanukovich should be forced to come to the Square where protests are taking place. She said earlier that she is "sure" Ukraine will join the EU in the near future and this will "change everything". Meanwhile, Ukraine's parliament has voted to remove Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych from office. Lawmakers have also set an early election for May the 25th. But the president is refusing to resign. Speaking to Ukrainian television UBR, Yanukovych said he won't step down or leave Ukraine. He called the country's political crisis a "coup".