Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Rybak said the leaders of the parliamentary opposition are hindering the signing of the association agreement with the European Union.

"The Ukrainian president, government, and parliament have done a huge amount of work in opening up the possibility of signing an association agreement between Ukraine and the European Union. In this situation, the hindering by the opposition of the fulfillment of one of Ukraine's main obligations to the European community - I mean the Tymoshenko case - can be regarded as nothing other than an attempt to shift the responsibility for disruption of Ukraine's and the Ukrainian people's European ambitions to its political opponents and the lawfully elected administration," he said while meeting with the ambassadors of the EU countries on Friday.

"The leaders of the parliamentary opposition are in effect making a country with a population of 45 million people a pawn of its own political interests, jeopardizing the possibility of signing the association agreement, which opens new historical opportunities for Ukraine's European development," he said.