By Olena Horodetska
KIEV (Reuters) - Rivals in Ukraine's scandal-ridden presidential polls traded barbs in a live television debate on Monday, with each candidate accusing the other of corruption and manipulation ahead of Sunday's decisive rerun vote.
Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, whose supporters protested for weeks the result of a Nov. 21 vote that handed victory to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, said Ukraine had won freedom with what is now dubbed the Orange Revolution.
Yanukovich, defensive and speaking Russian -- the language preferred in Ukraine's eastern industrial regions -- said the mass protests amounted to little more than an "orange coup," staged to steal an election he won fairly.
He also warned Yushchenko, whose face has become pock-marked by poisoning, that he would never become president of all of Ukraine, only the more nationalist western Ukrainian-speaking half keen to move closer to central Europe.
"You think, Viktor Andreyevich (Yushchenko), that you will win and become president of Ukraine. You are making a huge mistake. You will be president of part of Ukraine," Yanukovich said facing his rival across a stark, dark blue studio. At the height of the political crisis, several eastern regions supporting the prime minister threatened to hold a referendum on stronger autonomy from Kiev, highlighting a historic fault line in the country between east and west.
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Ukraine Rivals Square Off in Live TV Debate
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