DHAKA: Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has been hailed by thousands of opposition supporters in central Kiev after being freed from detention.

She has suffered from a back injury and addressed them from her wheelchair.

"You are heroes," she told the crowd on Independence Square, the focus of protests against President Viktor Yanukovych, and broke down in tears, BBC reported.

The speech came at the end of a dramatic day, with the president fleeing Kiev but refusing to quit.

Tymoshenko warned that the protesters should not think their job was done.

"Until you finish this job and until we travel all the way, nobody has the right to leave," she said. "Because nobody could do it - not other countries, nobody - could do what you have done. We`ve eliminated this cancer, this tumour."

But while she received large cheers from many in the audience, she does not enjoy universal support among the opposition, says the BBC`s David Stern in Kiev.

Before she went into prison in 2011, her popularity ratings were dropping and many Ukrainians blame her in part for the chaos of the post-Orange Revolution years, or see her as a member of Ukraine`s corrupt elite.

Dozens of people walked away in disgust when she appeared on the stage, shouting that she did not represent them, the BBC`s Tim Wilcox in Independence Square reports.

Tymoshenko was freed following a vote by parliament on Friday paving the way for her release.

Duncan Crawford on mixed reactions in the crowd as Tymoshenko spoke

She was sentenced to seven years in jail after a controversial verdict on her actions as prime minister.

Earlier on Saturday, she left the hospital in the eastern city of Kharkiv, where she had been held under prison guard, and flew to Kiev.

She told journalists at Kiev airport that those behind violence "must be punished", the Interfax agency reports.

The health ministry says 88 people are now known to have been killed since 18 February in the latest series of clashes in Kiev.

BDST: 0936 HRS, FEB 23, 2014