KIEV, June 15 ??“ President Viktor Yushchenko, in a special statement Thursday, accused former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko of the collapse of 2.5-month talks aimed at forming the new government by three pro-Western groups.

Tymoshenko, responding to the accusation later in the day, said she had started preparing to run for the presidency in 2009 in a move that would directly challenge Yushchenko.