KIEV, Ukraine – Ukraine’s embattled Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is continuing to resist calls to concede defeat in Sunday’s presidential election and resign her post.
Tymoshenko, looking tense but determined, appeared Thursday before the media for the first time since Sunday’s election to chair a government meeting.
She did not comment on the elections but took a swipe at the pro-Russian opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych, her rival in the presidential race. She accused him of deceiving the public.
Refusal to admit defeat in Sunday’s vote signals that the pro-Western Tymoshenko is digging in for a power struggle with Yanukovych.
An official preliminary vote count Wednesday showed Yanukovych beating Tymoshenko by a margin of 3.5 percentage points.