A top U.S. official says Ukraine is failing its test on democracy in the run up to parliamentary elections, citing the jailing of ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and shrinking media freedoms, The Associated Press reported.

The jailing of Tymoshenko, the country's top opposition leader and heroine of the 2004 Orange Revolution, has strained Ukraine's relations with the West. The European Union has frozen a key cooperation deal with Kiev.

Thomas Melia, the U.S. assistant deputy secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, said Saturday, Sept 15, the election set for October has been compromised by jailing of Tymoshenko and another top opposition leader. Melia said Ukraine "failed the test today."

Tymoshenko has spent over a year in jail, after being convicted of abuse of office charges she rejects and describes as political.