The leader of the Third Ukrainian Republic movement, Yuriy Lutsenko, has said that he is not planning to participate in the Kyiv mayoral election.

"I support the need to unite the democrats and will personally not participate in the Kyiv election. I believe that such a format of the election between Klitschko and Lutsenko would be a fratricidal war," he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday.

He also added: "I know that I have high starting ratings when beginning the campaign... But competing with my friend Vitali Klitschko in such circumstances would mean fighting without rules, because I've been in politics longer [than Klitschko]."