The European Parliament's special envoys arrived in Kiev on Wednesday in a new bid to find a last minute compromise for jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko to go abroad, as Ukraine seeks to agree a key step for EU integration.

Aleksander Kwasniewski and Pat Cox are on the three-day visit to Ukraine as the Ukrainian parliament plans to debate new legislation which could allow convicts, such as Tymoshenko, to go abroad for treatment.

EU leaders said Friday they are ready to sign a landmark association accord with Ukraine but it must first meet conditions, including the release of jailed former premier Yulia Tymoshenko.

The 28 European Union leaders meeting in Brussels said in a statement they looked forward to the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius next month when the accord is supposed to be signed.

An EU foreign minister on Tuesday told Ukraine it had less than a month to allow opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko to leave jail and fulfill other conditions, warning that the "time for bluffing" was over.

The release of former prime minister Tymoshenko, who is serving a seven-year sentence for abuse of power while in office, is a key condition Ukraine must fulfill ahead of signing a groundbreaking trade and integration deal with the European Union in late November.

A Ukrainian student with a hatred of "non-whites" on Monday admitted murdering a Muslim grandfather and planting bombs near three British mosques.

Pavlo Lapshyn, 25, pleaded guilty in court to stabbing 82-year-old Mohammed Saleem to death as he walked home from a mosque in the central English city of Birmingham in April.

European parliament envoys were set Monday to arrive in Kiev in the hope of securing a last-minute deal for jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko to go abroad, as Ukraine prepares for a landmark agreement with the European Union.

European Parliament envoys Aleksander Kwasniewski and Pat Cox headed to Ukraine for an emergency two-day visit after Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said last week he was willing to let Tymoshenko leave the country but would not pardon her.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych announced for the first time Thursday he was ready to allow jailed rival Yulia Tymoshenko go abroad for treatment, as Kiev seeks to remove the last obstacle on the path to a deal with the EU.

EU leaders have made clear that Ukraine will only be able to sign an Association Agreement -- the first step to EU membership -- at a summit in Vilnius in late November if Tymoshenko is released.

Germany said Thursday there were signs Ukraine was making serious efforts to resolve the issue of jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, whose continued incarceration risks impeding the signing of a key agreement with the EU.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said after talks with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in Kiev that an offer to treat Tymoshenko for medical problems in Germany remained on the table.

An unidentified man blew himself up on the Ukrainian border with Russia early Friday, seriously wounding several guards who spotted he was carrying a false passport, Ukraine's border service said.

Border guards stopped a minibus with Moldovan numberplates as it crossed into Ukraine from Russia through the Bachevsk border, an advisor to the head of Ukrainian border guards, Sergiy Astakhov, told Agence France Presse.

Ukraine's foreign minister on Wednesday urged the European Union to look beyond the case of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko when deciding whether to finalize a deal bringing Kiev closer to Europe.

"We understand the importance of the Mrs Tymoshenko case, but it is even more important that the relationship between 46 million Ukrainian nationals and 500 million European nationals should not depend on any single criminal case," Minister Leonid Kozhara told reporters.

About 400 Ukrainian opposition activists clashed with baton-wielding police in the center of Kiev on Wednesday as they try to force fresh elections in the capital.

The activists, many of them supporters of jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and boxer-turned-lawmaker Vitali Klitschko, tried to break through a police cordon and enter the city council building to break up its regular meeting.