“Ukraine’s highest appeals court has upheld last year’s abuse-of-office conviction and seven-year jail sentence for opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, upping the ante in a face-off that has already soured Kyiv’s relations with the west,” Roman Olearchyk writes in a Financial Times report.
The report continues: “Announced early on Wednesday, the verdict intensifies an escalating standoff with Brussels and Washington, both of which have condemned the trial as politically motivated and symbolic of a broader roll-back on democracy.”