Parties unite on reform agenda

Ukraine’s two biggest opposition parties have presented a joint reform programme aimed at raising public service wages and fighting corruption as they prepare for parliamentary elections in October without jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.

Former parliament speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Oleksandr Turchynov, an aide to Tymoshenko, the former prime minister, vowed yesterday to reform Ukraine’s law enforcement and judicial systems. They also promised to free Tymoshenko and her jailed allies, whose imprisonment has been condemned as politically motivated by the West.

Mr Turchynov said the opposition’s goal was to defeat “those who are torturing Ukraine”.