(Reuters) - A bid by regional leaders loyal to President Viktor Yanukovich to challenge the legitimacy of the national parliament appeared to founder on Saturday, after thousands of protesters rallied in eastern Ukraine in support of the political changes in Kiev.
EuroMaidan Revolution
Reuters: Protests in east Ukraine ease separatism fears
UKRAINE, KHARKIV : Supporters and journalists wait for Ukraine's opposition leader and former Premier Yulia Tymoshenko as she leaves hospital in Kharkiv on February 22,2014. Ukraine's opposition leader and former premier Yulia Tymoshenko, sentenced to a seven-year jail term in 2011 for abuse of power, has been released, an AFP correspondent said on Saturday. Tymoshenko walked free on February 22 moments after parliament voted to oust the country's embattled President Viktor Yanukovych and set new elections for May. The latest developments in the ex-Soviet nation's three-month political crisis came after protesters took control of Kiev's charred city centre and seized Yanukovych's lavish residence on a day of dramatic twists and turns. Tymoshenko -- a fiery 53-year-old co-leader of the 2004 pro-democracy Orange Revolution whose freedom has been sought strongly by both Washington and the European Union -- waved to hundreds of supporters chanting \"free Yulia!\". AFP PHOTO / SERGEY BOBOK
