You're reading: Tymoshenko calls for supporters to stop hunger strike

Former Ukrainian Premier Yulia Tymoshenko, who is on a hunger strike in the Kachanivska penal colony, has called on those of her supporters who have refused food in support of her, to end their hunger strike.

"I would like to thank all of the people, my supporters, who went on a hunger strike to support me. But I’m asking you not to cause damage to your health, not to take such a difficult trial upon yourselves, as I know from my own experience how hard it is to live every day and even every hour of a hunger strike, how much spiritual and physical force this takes. I’m asking you to stop the hunger strike!" reads a statement of the ex-premier on her Web site on Monday.

Tymoshenko also thanked the leaders of democratic countries, the EU and the European People’s Party, the Ukrainian diaspora, organizations, and foreign diplomats in Ukraine for "their strong and unanimous fight for Ukraine against the authoritarian regime of [Ukrainian President Viktor] Yanukovych, for invaluable freedom, human rights and real values."