The United States hopes for an end to the prosecution of former premier Yulia Tymoshenko and active efforts of the Ukrainian authorities towards signing the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said this at a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara in Washington, according to a Friday posting on the Web site of the U.S. State Department.

"I hope one of the things we will talk about today is the work with the European community in order to meet the conditions to be able to sign the association agreement, which we hope will happen soon, and we're particularly anxious and hopeful that the leaders will work through some of the difficult issues with respect to that transition, including, hopefully, the ending of the prosecution of some people, and particularly the former Prime Minister Tymoshenko," the state secretary said.

"But all in all, we have a very strong and growing relationship, and we appreciate the leadership of the Ukraine as the current chair of the OSCE," he added.