Rivals in Ukraine's scandal-ridden presidential polls traded barbs in a live television debate today, with each candidate accusing the other of corruption and manipulation ahead of this Sunday's decisive rerun vote.
Opposition leader Mr Viktor Yushchenko, whose supporters protested for weeks the result of a November 21st vote that handed victory to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, said Ukraine had won freedom with what is now dubbed the Orange Revolution.
Mr Yanukovich, defensive and speaking Russian - the language preferred in Ukraine's eastern industrial regions - said the mass protests amounted to little more than an "orange coup", staged to steal an election he won fairly.
He also warned Mr Yushchenko, whose face has become pock-marked by poisoning, that he would never become president of all of Ukraine, only the more nationalist western Ukrainian-speaking half keen to move closer to central Europe.
At the height of the political crisis, several eastern regions supporting the prime minister threatened to hold a referendum on stronger autonomy from Kiev, highlighting a historic faultline in the country between east and west.
They complained their votes had been ignored.
Mr Yushchenko, speaking Ukrainian, responded by again accusing Mr Yanukovich of stealing the run-off vote, saying Ukraine had fought for its freedom as an independent, and whole, state.
"You're a religious person, right?" he asked, pointing at Mr Yanukovich. "Thou shalt not steal ... And then you stole three million votes."
The Supreme Court backed opposition criticism that the election was marked by mass fraud in favour of Mr Yanukovich and ordered the rerun for December 26th.
Reflecting the dramatic changes in the Ukrainian political scene, the candidates traded questions in the debate - in high contrast to their previous timid television encounter, in which they were allowed only to make statements on specific issues agreed beforehand.
In the first debate, Mr Yanukovich, referring to a mystery ailment that has facially disfigured the 50-year-old Mr Yushchenko, suggested he would be unable for health reasons to carry out the duties of president.
Since then, doctors have said Mr Yushchenko was the victim of deliberate dioxin poisoning which the opposition leader has blamed on Ukrainian authorities.
Mr Yushchenko himself says he is fit to be president, but does not want his health to be a campaign issue.