KIEV, September 28 - RAPSI. Ukraine has challenged the court verdict ordering the Ukrainian government to pay Russia $390 million in debt accrued by the United Energy Systems of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Justice Ministry press secretary Lia Ilchenko told RIA Novosti on Thursday.

"The appeal was filed on September 25," she said.

Yulia Tymoshenko, who is currently serving out a sentence handed down in another case, is implicated in this lawsuit.

On September 19 the Kiev Economic Court partially upheld the Defense Ministry's suit, obligating the Ukrainian government to pay more than 3.2 million hryvnas ($390 million) in UESU debt which arose in 1990s, when the corporation was headed by Tymoshenko. Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, who is now serving time in the United States for money laundering, provided the Russian Defense Ministry with written guarantees that the debt would be paid.

In late March, a case against Tymoshenko was filed with Kharkiv's Kievsky District Court in regard to her activity at UESU. She has been accused of misappropriation of funds.

Tymoshenko was sentenced in October 2011 to seven years in prison for abuse of power based on a 2009 gas contract she signed with Russia. She is serving her sentence in a Kharkiv women's prison. She has been receiving treatment at a Kharkiv hospital since May 2012 when she was diagnosed with a spinal disc herniation.