Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko needs an urgent surgery, the ex-premier's daughter, Yevhenia Tymoshenko, said referring to the recommendations of doctors from the Berlin-based Charite Clinic.

"After a physical examination, which was conducted by German doctors from the Charite Clinic, they said that due to the deterioration of my mother's health and the recurrent back pain associated with a hernia, they recommend an operation to prevent the relapse in the future," Yevhenia Tymoshenko told reporters outside Central Clinical Hospital No. 5 on Monday.

She said German doctors insist that the operation be conducted as soon as possible. "If the operation is not conducted, they think the further development of her [Tymoshenko's] condition cannot be predicted. It is critical already. She cannot walk even with walking aids. They [German doctors] don't rule out even permanent disability, if such surgery is not conducted," the ex-premier's daughter said.

The prime minister's daughter noted that her family trusts Ukrainian doctors "who are doing their utmost" but realizes that Ukrainian specialists are "under severe pressure." Therefore relatives insist that the operation be conducted by German doctors from Charite clinic.

"We believe that there is no doctor of this specialty at the penal colony, therefore we demand that the authorities permit surgery that would be conducted by German doctors from Charite clinic," the daughter said.

Asked where the operation should be conducted, in Ukraine or Germany, she said: "There where due conditions are created."

Kyiv's Pechersky District Court found Tymoshenko guilty of abuse of office in signing gas supply contracts with Russia in 2009 and sentenced her to 7 years in prison on October 11, 2011. Tymoshenko had been arrested at a court hearing on August 5, 2011. She has been serving her prison sentence at a penitentiary in Kharkiv since the end of December 2011.

Tymoshenko's defense repeatedly complained about health problems the ex-prime minister was experiencing while staying at a Kyiv detention center and demanded that she be examined by independent medical specialists, as she did not trust Ukrainian doctors. Since May 2012, Tymoshenko has been receiving medical treatment at Central Clinical Hospital No. 5 in Kharkiv. Doctors from the Berlin-based Charite clinic are determining the tactic of her treatment and medicines to be used.