By Katie Stallard, Moscow Correspondent in Kiev
The daughter of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko has urged her country to unite against the rule of Ukraine's president Victor Yanukovich.
Eugenia Tymoshenko told Sky News her mother was being held as a political hostage and fears she could soon be transported from a prison hospital - where she has been on hunger strike in solidarity with protesters - to a penal colony.
"At the moment she is a hostage of the regime," she said.
"She is in the hospital in the prison part. They keep her in isolation there, but there are many police movements and cars around the hospital, they are trying to surround the building.
"They can do anything to her in terms of moving her to a different jail, and we will not be able to know.
"The regime can play with this and depending on the situation can increase their repression against her, which they have already done with their trials and criminal cases."
Yulia Tymoshenko rose to prominence as the heroine of Ukraine's peaceful Orange Revolution in 2004, which saw the current president, Mr Yanukovich, forced from power in a popular uprising sparked by anger over fraudulent election results.
She became prime minister shortly afterwards, governing alongside her fellow revolutionary Viktor Yushchenko, but the coalition was plagued by infighting and economic problems in the fallout from the global financial crisis, which hit Ukraine hard.
Yulia Tymoshenko is in a prison hospital The pair were voted out of office, to be replaced once again by the ousted Mr Yanukovich in 2010. The revolution was reversed.
Yulia Tymoshenko was arrested and put on trial, where she was convicted of abuse of power for signing allegedly unfavourable gas contracts with Russia. She was sentenced to seven years in prison, and turned 53 in custody last month. She now faces further charges.
Her supporters maintain she is a political prisoner, locked up for daring to challenge the leadership of Mr Yanukovich.
His government insists she has been justly convicted of a serious crime.
The president denies any involvement in the cases against her.
Eugenia Tymoshenko called for her fellow citizens to stand together against their president as mass street protests continued for a second week despite freezing temperatures in the capital Kiev.
"We need to stand strong, we need to be patient with the forces that we have," she urged.
"No government can stand up to the people's power, my mother really believes in the power of people.
"We believe in our victory. People here are tired of three years of repressions introduced by Yanukovich. We have to win this."
Protesters are still in Kiev's Independence Square The EU made Tymoshenko's release a condition of the now scuppered trade deal with Ukraine.
A German clinic had offered to provide treatment if Yanukovich would allow her to leave the country.
But the parliament, which is controlled by his party, refused to pass legislation that would have set her free.
She has suffered chronic back pain in jail and is held in a cell in a prison hospital.
Her daughter urged European leaders to intervene.
"She has been a political hostage since day one when Yanukovich's court moved her to prison and convicted her. The whole world now knows and world leaders understand the truth is behind her.
"The European Union needs to get involved in this and start action against this regime, because we will one day soon wake up in Belarus."
Julia Tymoshenko ended a 12-day hunger strike on Friday after pleas from her supporters.
Her daughter said she was now very weak, and could barely get up from her bed.
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