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KIEV, LELEMUKU.COM - Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is running for president in next month's election, accused the incumbent of corruption — charges his office rejected as a lie as the race was heating up.

Tymoshenko told The Associated Press in an interview Monday that President Petro Poroshenko has used his position to enrich himself. She also alleged that Poroshenko's associates have engaged in a sprawling effort to bribe voters to ensure his re-election in the March 31 presidential vote.

Tymoshenko, 58, claimed that voters are being offered 1,000 hryvnia ($37) in exchange for supporting the 53-year-old Poroshenko, adding that she asked the Interior Ministry to investigate.

“They are setting up that network of bribery across the entire country,” she said. “I hope that the Interior Ministry will not allow that to be the basis of the president's campaign. How can a ‘democratic’ president treat his nation like that?”

Poroshenko's office quickly dismissed Tymoshenko's claims.

“Tymoshenko has been invariably leading the ratings of liars, and she obviously tries now to strengthen her positions,” Poroshenko's press service said in a written statement in response to AP requests for comment.

The statement sought to turn the tables on Tymoshenko, charging that it was her political movement that engaged in bribing voters, noting that one of its activists has recently been convicted on those charges.

Recent opinion polls have shown 41-year-old comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who played the nation's president in a popular TV series, surging ahead of Tymoshenko and Poroshenko.

A survey conducted jointly by four respected polling agencies that was released Monday had 21.9 percent of respondents supporting Zelenskiy while Tymoshenko had 19.2 percent and Poroshenko was third with 14.8 Percent. Other candidates were trailing behind.

The poll of 10,000 people in face-to-face interviews was completed last week and had a margin of error of 1 percentage point.

Zelenskiy's high rating reflects both his popularity as a widely-recognizable TV persona and the public disillusionment with current leaders.

Ukraine has been hit by economic troubles and a sharp plunge in living standards after Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and a separatist insurgency in the east.

Tymoshenko pointed at Poroshenko's personal fortune and alleged that the president, a multimillionaire with assets including a chocolate maker, media and other businesses, has profited from the fighting.

“The president has made some of those earnings by lending his own money to the country at fantastically high interest rates during the war,” she told the AP. “This is an example of a conflict of interests. This is an example of how people abuse their senior position to engage in politicized, corrupt business.”

In 2014, Forbes estimated Poroshenko's fortune at $1.3 billion. The value of his assets has shrunk since then.

Tymoshenko promised to track down “every copeck” and show “how the country has been robbed during the war under the cover of patriotic slogans” if she wins the vote.

She also promised to initiate constitutional amendments to increase the powers of parliament.

Tymoshenko served as the country's prime minister in 2007-2010. She later spent two-and-a-half years in prison for signing a gas deal with Russia, which was largely viewed as retribution by her political rival, then-President Viktor Yanukovych.

She narrowly lost to Yanukovych in the 2010 presidential vote and to Poroshenko in 2014 after Yanukovych was driven from power by massive protests.

Tymoshenko, a native of the Russian-speaking east of Ukraine, has been positioning herself as a pro-NATO, pro-European Union candidate and a staunch supporter of the troops who are fighting Russia-backed separatist in the industrial Donbas region. (VOA)

NEW YORK, LELEMUKU.COM - The United Nations is appealing for $162 million to provide protection and life-saving assistance to 2.3 million of the most vulnerable people in eastern Ukraine, which is in its fifth year of civil war.

The United Nations reports more than 3,300 people have been killed and up to 9,000 injured since 2014 when civil war broke out in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and the government.

The conflict remains active and potentially deadly for millions of civilians who are liable to be hit by daily shelling and sniper fire. Nearly 2 million of the 2.3 million people the U.N. plans to assist this year are located on both sides of the contact line. This is the 500-kilometer line of separation between Ukrainian Government and rebel forces.

Spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Jens Laerke, tells VOA the increasingly protracted nature of the conflict is having a particularly severe impact on the elderly. He says they comprise one-third of people in need, the highest proportion of elderly affected in the world.

“That is a special problem not least because they have limited mobility. They cannot go and collect their pensions," said Laerke. "They cannot go to health centers. They cannot get out of their homes and houses. So, they are suffering alone in their homes. These days it is extremely cold. They may not have fuel. They do not have access to the food that they need. They do not have access to the medicine that they may require.”

Laerke says this grim picture is magnified by the risks people encounter along the contact line. He says large stretches of populated areas in the buffer zone dividing the warring factions are littered with landmines and explosive remnants of war. The United Nations reports these weapons caused 270 deaths and injuries last year.

Money from the appeal will provide food, shelter and household items, access to clean water, education and health. It also will support winterization activities, such as supplying people with warm blankets, kerosene for heating and other relief needed to help them survive the harsh winter. (VOA)

MOSCOW, LELEMUKU.COM - Ambulance crews on the Crimean Peninsula transported a dozen survivors of a ship fire to hospitals on Tuesday while six of their crewmates have remained missing in the Black Sea. At least 14 sailors died in the tragedy.

Two Tanzanian-flagged tankers caught fire Monday while liquefied petroleum gas was being pumped from one tanker to another. The blaze spread quickly, prompting the crews to jump overboard. The ships were about 30 kilometers (15 nautical miles) off the Crimean coast when the fire started.

Russian authorities said 12 of 32 crew members were rescued Monday in a salvage effort complicated by rough seas. Sea temperatures of about 10 C (50 F) made it hard for the crew to hold out for long.

Emergency officials said they recovered 11 bodies from the water and saw another three dead but failed to recover them.

Strong winds prevented a quick transfer of survivors ashore, but on Tuesday they were finally taken to hospitals in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

The two vessels crews consisted of Turkish and Indian citizens.

The ships have continued burning.

Russian media reports said both tankers, the Maestro and the Candy, belonged to a Turkish company, Milenyum Denizcilik Gemi. It was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2015 for fuel deliveries to Syria.

The U.S. have also placed both vessels on its sanctions lists, making any company that deals with them subject to penalties — restrictions that might explain the ship-to-ship fuel transfer at sea.

Russian shipping registers indicate, however, that both tankers have made repeated calls at Russian ports recently. The Maestro sailed out of the Russian port of Temryuk on Sunday, and another vessel last called there last month. (VOA)

CANBERRA, LELEMUKU.COM - It was all a bit overwhelming for the latest opponent who could do nothing to slow Serena Williams at the Australian Open. So Dayana Yastremska, an 18-year-old from Ukraine, found herself wiping away tears as she walked to the net.

Williams knows what it’s like to be the one weeping after a loss. She put her right hand on Yastremska’s shoulder and consoled her by saying, “You’re so young. You did amazing. Don’t cry.” Then they embraced, and Williams patted Yastremska on the back.

“I could tell she was quite upset. I kind of liked that. It shows she wasn’t just there to play a good match — she was there to win. She wanted to win. That really broke my heart,” Williams said. “I think she’s a good talent. It’s good to see that attitude.”

Maybe she will be tested in the fourth round, because no one has come close to making her work too hard so far, including the 6-2, 6-1 victory on Saturday.

Next up, though, is a far more accomplished player, No. 1-ranked Simona Halep, who took control by reeling off six consecutive games in one stretch and advanced by beating Williams’ sister, Venus, 6-2, 6-3.

After two tough three-set tussles, Halep had a much easier time of things, making only 12 unforced errors while Venus had 33. Halep played with her left thigh taped, but moved around the court well.

“She played pretty flawless,” said Venus, who exits before the fourth round at a fifth consecutive Grand Slam tournament.

Looking ahead, Halep said: “It’s going to be a bigger challenge. I am ready to face it.”

She’s lost eight of her past nine matches against Serena.

Might Venus offer her sibling any tips?

“I don’t know if Serena needs my help or not,” Venus said. “If she does, I’ll be there.”

Not only has Serena won every set she played this week — and 20 in a row at Melbourne Park, dating to the start of her 2017 run to the title (she sat out last year’s tournament after having a baby) — but Williams has ceded a total of only nine games through three victories.

Unlike any of Serena’s foes until now, Halep has won a major title, last year’s French Open. She’s been to three other Grand Slam finals, including a year ago at the Australian Open.

That resume pales in comparison to Serena’s, of course.

Whose doesn’t?

She is bidding for an eighth trophy at the Australian Open and record-tying 24th Grand Slam title in all.

As for the prospect of playing the Williams sisters in back-to-back matches, Halep called it “the toughest draw I’ve ever had.”

“I just want to try to play my best tennis,” Halep said, “because I have nothing to lose.”

Other women’s fourth-rounders set up for Monday: Naomi Osaka, the woman who beat Serena in last year’s chaotic U.S. Open final, against No. 13 Anastasija Sevastova; 2017 U.S. Open runner-up Madison Keys against No. 6 Elina Svitolina; and two-time major champion Garbine Muguruza against 2016 U.S. Open runner-up Karolina Pliskova, who beat No. 27 seed Camila Giorgi 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 on Saturday night.

Men’s matchups Monday with a quarterfinal berth at stake will be: No. 1 Novak Djokovic against No. 15 Daniil Medvedev; No. 4 Alexander Zverev against 2016 Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic; 2014 U.S. Open finalist Kei Nishikori against No. 23 Pablo Carreno-Busta; and No. 11 Borna Coric against No. 28 Lucas Pouille, who eliminated 19-year-old Australian wild-card entry Alexei Popyrin 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-7 (10), 4-6, 6-3.

Serena complimented Yastremska in the locker room after their match.

“She said, like, ‘You’re young, you’re very good and you will be a good player in the future.’ It’s nice to hear those words from a legend,” said the 57th-ranked Yastremska, who eliminated 2011 U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur in the first round and 23rd-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro in the second.

“If she thinks so,” Yastremska added about Williams, “then maybe that’s true.”

Williams grabbed a pair of service breaks and a 4-0 lead after less than 15 minutes and was well on her way to yet another easy-looking win.

Right from the start, Yastremska appeared a bit jittery, missing 9 of 10 first serves and double-faulting three times while getting broken in each of her opening two service games. By the end of the first set, the teenager had 13 unforced errors, nine more than Serena.

It didn’t get much better in the second set, and Serena wound up with eight aces while facing zero break points, and a 20-13 ratio of winners to unforced errors.

Yastremska was born in 2000, the year after Serena won her initial major, and grew up cheering for someone she calls “a legend.” Yastremska recalls swinging her racket in the living room at home while watching on TV at age 8 as her favorite player competed.

Surely, everything felt a tad different up-close-and-personal with the 37-year-old American in Rod Laver Arena.

What separates Williams from other top players?

“Everything. Small details. Her discipline. Her quality of the shots. How (committed) she is to every ball,” Yastremska said. “She (is) completely different. I don’t know how to describe that. It’s just there’s something special. What I’m trying to do is to go to the level that people are going to talk about me the same, that I have something special.” (VOA)