KIEV, Ukraine (AP) – Supporters of opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko took the so-called Orange Revolution on the road Tuesday, piling into cars and buses for a 10-day odyssey to spread their message beyond the capital, targeting eastern provinces largely hostile to their candidate.

With sirens blaring and trademark orange flags unfurled, more than 150 opposition supporters left Kiev, hoping to win over voters in areas where support for Yushchenko’s opponent, Viktor Yanukovych, has been strong. The two candidates face off in a Dec. 26 rematch following a Supreme Court ruling that annulled a fraud-tainted Nov. 21 runoff in which Yanukovych claimed victory.

“We would like the spirit of civil resistance to reach everyone’s heart,” said Vasyl Kuderiavets, a 34-year-old businessman from the western city of Lviv. “Everyone wants to be free. But not everyone realizes that.”

Compelled by Yushchenko’s appeal to abandon protests and take up the election campaign, artists, musicians, businessmen and filmmakers set off on a journey many said was necessary because the state-run media had blocked news of their movement from reaching the rest of this former Soviet republic.

They plan to show videos of the protests from Kiev’s Independence Square, to organize rallies – and to leave graffiti on every gray wall they find.

“In some Ukrainian regions, people live as if they were in ghettos, isolated from information on what is actually going on in the country – living totally like in Soviet times,” said Vakhtang Kipiani, the anchor of a private television station.

The trip underscored concerns by the Yushchenko campaign about reaching Ukraine’s eastern, mainly Russian-speaking parts, which heard little or nothing about the tumultuous weeks of protests that preceded the high court ruling. While a majority of media in Ukraine is privately owned, most are regarded as mouthpieces of politicians or industrial magnates.

Participants plan to visit 14 regions, including Yanukovych’s hometown of Donetsk, which only recently canceled a referendum on self-rule planned for early January. The referendum plans had stoked fears the country of 48 million would break up.

“People should know what is really going on, and realize that they are citizens of the free democratic state,” said Oksana Batsak, a cable company owner, as she adjusted long, orange ribbons tied in her hair.

The “friendship journey” was the latest event in an election campaign roiled by explosive revelations, including the confirmation by an Austrian clinic over the weekend that Yushchenko had been poisoned by dioxin.

Prosecutors and a parliamentary committee quickly set up investigations – the second time each has examined the poisoning incident.

Security agencies offered Tuesday to take part, but Yushchenko has insisted that the investigations should wait until after the vote – in hopes that the race won’t be influenced either positively or negatively.

Lawmakers from Yushchenko’s party have said the Austrian clinic’s findings confirmed that his opponents wanted to assassinate or sideline him rather than take the risk he would defeat Yanukovych.

Experts say it is impossible for Yushchenko to have acquired naturally such high levels of dioxin – a byproduct of industrial processes. He was certainly given a dose that could have killed him, said John Henry, a dioxin expert at Imperial College in London and consultant to Britain’s National Poisons Advice Service.