KIEV, April 6. /TASS/. The leader of Ukraine’s Batkivshchina (Fatherland) party, Yulia Timoshenko, has refused to moderate electoral debates between presidential candidates Vladimir Zelensky and Pyotr Poroshenko, a spokesman for Zelensky’s election team, Dmitry Razumkov, said on Friday.

"I think, firstly, she could have been an independent referee, and, secondly, if she had agreed, her participation would have allowed us to gather at the stadium candidates representing 60% of the vote," he told the Novoye Vremya radio station. "I think, someone else will be invited, <..> but it should be an independent referee, who will be equally distanced from both teams."

On April 3, Vladimir Zelensky, who gathered about 30% of the vote in the first round of Ukraine’s presidential election, invited his runoff rival, incumbent President Pyotr Poroshenko, to meet for a debate at Kiev’s Olympic Stadium. Poroshenko accepted the challenge.

On Thursday, Zelensky invited Timoshenko to moderate the discussion and gave her 24 hours to answer the proposal.

Ukraine’s presidential election runoff is due on April 21.