The two candidates in Ukraine's presidential re-run continued their negative campaigning on Wednesday.

Opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko denied his rival's suggestion that he was too ill to be president.

"In political terms, let me say that I am in good shape and able to work," he told a press conference, adding: "Please believe me that more than anyone else I would like it (my face) to be the way it was three months ago," but "time is needed for that."

On the same day in a tent camp on the Independence Square in the capital, he thanked his supporters for their two-week-long demonstration that resulted in the Supreme Court order for a re-run.

"Due to the Orange Revolution, a new nation was born in Ukraine," he told regional leaders.

"People not only want an honest vote, but they also are able to defend their choices," he said.

Yushchenko's face was severely disfigured allegedly due to dioxin poisoning, which he blamed on the government. Yushchenko earlier called for an investigation to determine how he was poisoned, but saying it should be conducted after the re-run on Dec. 26 to avoid influencing the results.

Meanwhile, his competitor, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych on Wednesday said groups of volunteers supporting him across the country will go to Kiev to prevent a possible coup after the presidential re-run, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

While meeting with university teachers and students in the southern city of Mykolaiyv, Yanukovych said that in order to prevent a possible coup, some 35,000 people have joined volunteer groups in Sevastopol, a coastal city in southwest Crimea Peninsulaand plan to go to the capital after Dec. 26. He also said more than 300 organizations have also been set up in the capital.

"It is impossible today to stop the people's movement protecting their rights and the constitution. Groups of volunteers are being formed in many regions now," he said.

"These are all volunteer organizations who want to prevent a coup in the country," he said.

Yanukovych described the current situation in the country as an attempt "to seize power with the interference of foreign states and an illegitimate and anti-constitutional coup."

He also claimed that his supporters from western Ukraine and elsewhere are being persecuted.

Ukraine was plunged into a political turmoil after the second round of the presidential elections on Nov. 21, when both candidates claimed victory. Pro-Russia Yanukovych drew most of hissupport in Russian-speaking east and south, while West-leaning Yushchenko from the nationalist west and central Ukraine.

Ukraine's Supreme Court on Dec. 3 annulled the official results of the runoff in which Yanukovych emerged as the victor and ruled that a re-run be held on Dec. 26.

Yanukovych has often accused the United States of meddling in Ukraine's internal affairs by channeling money to Yushchenko's campaign.

Source: Xinhua