Ukrainians keep up protests
Pro-EU Ukrainian demonstrators yesterday kept up their protest against President Viktor Yanukovych as the authorities sent internal troops and riot police into central Kiev in an increasingly tense showdown.
Upping the stakes after more than a fortnight of protests over the government's rejection of a pact with the European Union, the protesters the day earlier symbolically toppled the statue of the Soviet Union's founder Vladimir Lenin in Kiev.
Protests continued as Yanukovych announced he wanted to hold talks with leaders of the opposition and also meet former presidents.
A presidential statement said the president backed an initiative for talks proposed by Ukraine's first ex-Soviet president Leonid Kravchuk. He will also meet with Kravchuk and two other former leaders Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yushchenko today, it said.
Meanwhile, thousands braved sub-freezing temperatures to maintain the open-ended demonstration on Independence Square in Kiev while others guarded barricades thrown up the day earlier around key government buildings.
Raising fears of a possible looming showdown with protesters, dozens of interior ministry troops and anti-riot police were sent into central Kiev and could be seen moving in columns through the streets.
With tensions rising to boiling point, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Yanukovych on Sunday to urge dialogue, the United Nations said.
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton will travel to Ukraine on Tuesday for a two-day visit to find a way out of the crisis, the EU Commission said.
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