CALLS FOR STRONGER RESPONSE
Ukrainians living in the United States and Canada shed tears for their homeland Wednesday and nervously wondering what will come next. In the Pittsburgh area, Ukrainian churches and social clubs organized weekend memorials for those who died and calling for a stronger response by the U.S. and the European Union. In Chicago, about 100 protesters gathered outside the Ukrainian Consulate, calling for U.S. sanctions against Ukraine. In Canada, home to more than 1 million people of Ukrainian descent, there was fear for those in the crossfire and that the violence could spread. Before news of the truce was announced, Toronto resident Steve Andrusiak feared the country was “on the brink of a civil war. This isn’t going to go away.”
Associated Press
Ukraine’s embattled president and leaders of the protests across the country agreed Wednesday on a truce to halt the violence that has killed 26 people and injured more than 425 others.
President Viktor Yanukovych met with opposition leaders and the two sides agreed to halt the violence and to hold talks on ending bloodshed, a statement on the presidential website said.
The statement gave no further details. But Vitali Klitschko, one of the leaders of the protests that have sought to keep Ukraine open to Europe and out of a close political and economic alliance with Russia, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying that Yanukovych agreed that there would be no attempt to storm the protesters’ encampment on the main square of downtown Kiev.
Barricades of tires and refuse burned at the square for a second night as protesters demanding Yanukovych’s resignation showed no sign of yielding.
The truce announcement came hours after the president replaced the army chief and the military vowed a national anti-terrorist operation to restore order — using the term it often applies to the protesters demanding Yanukovych’s resignation,
The violence has been the worst in nearly three months of anti-government protests that have paralyzed Kiev. The two sides are locked in a battle over the identity of this former Soviet republic of 46 million, whose loyalties are divided between Russia and the West. The protests began in late November after Yanukovych turned away from a long-anticipated deal with the European Union in exchange for a $15 billion bailout from Russia.
Political and diplomatic maneuvering has continued, with both Moscow and the West eager to gain influence in Ukraine. Three EU foreign ministers — from Germany, France and Poland — are due in Kiev today to speak with both sides before an emergency EU meeting in Brussels to consider sanctions against those responsible for the recent violence.
President Barack Obama also stepped in to condemn the violence, warning Wednesday “there will be consequences” for Ukraine if it continues. The U.S. has raised the prospect of joining with the EU to impose sanctions.
On a visit to Mexico, Obama said the Ukrainian military should not step into a situation that civilians should resolve and added that the U.S. holds Ukraine’s government primarily responsible for dealing with peaceful protesters appropriately.
In Kiev, Ukraine’s top security agency accused protesters Wednesday of seizing hundreds of firearms from its offices. Demonstrators, meanwhile, forced their way into the main post office on Kiev’s Independence Square, also known as the Maidan, after a nearby building they had previously occupied burned in clashes late Tuesday with riot police.
“The revolution has turned into a war with the authorities,” Vasyl Oleksenko, a retired geologist from central Ukraine, said Wednesday. “We must fight this bloody, criminal leadership. We must fight for our country, our Ukraine!”
Before the truce was announced the bad blood was running so high that it fueled fears the nation could be sliding toward a messy breakup. While most people in the country’s western regions resent Yanukovych, he enjoys strong support in the mostly Russian-speaking eastern and southern regions, where many want strong ties with Russia.
Neither side had appeared willing to compromise, with the opposition insisting on Yanukovych’s resignation and an early election and the president apparently prepared to fight until the end.
Opposition lawmaker Oleh Lyashko warned that Yanukovych himself was in danger.
“Yanukovych, you will end like (Moammar) Gadhafi,” Lyashko told thousands of angry protesters. “Either you, a parasite, will stop killing people or this fate will await you. Remember this, dictator!”
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Before the truce announcement, Yanukovych had blamed the protesters for the violence and said the opposition leaders had “crossed a line when they called people to arms.”
“I again call on the leaders of the opposition … to draw a boundary between themselves and radical forces, which are provoking bloodshed and clashes with the security services,” the president said in a statement. “If they don’t want to leave — they should acknowledge that they are supporting radicals.”
He called for putting today aside to mourn the dead.
In Moscow, the Kremlin said it put the next disbursement of its bailout on hold amid uncertainty over Ukraine’s future and what it described as a “coup attempt.”
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