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Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who recently returned to Ukraine, has turned down Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko's invitation to run in Ukraine's upcoming parliamentary elections on the list of candidates representing Klitschko's UDAR party, the online newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda said.

In commenting on the matter on his Facebook page, Klitschko said: "I have made my gesture. I made it sincerely and as a follow-up to our friendship and the history of our relations. I asked him to lend me his shoulder in a difficult situation, even though many of my supporters gave a mixed reaction to this idea."

The Kyiv mayor said earlier that his party would run in the country's snap parliamentary elections and invited Saakashvili to head his political force.

However, Saakashvili, who once held the post of governor of Ukraine's Odesa region, has said more than once that he does not want to run in the Verkhovna Rada elections even with his Movement of New Forces party, which plans to run in the elections.

Snap parliamentary elections in Ukraine were scheduled for July 21.