Ukraine crisis: Protests to continue despite PM post offer
26 January 2014
Last updated at 01:05 GMT
Opposition leaders including Arseniy Yatsenyuk, right, spoke to protesters in Independence Square
Ukrainian opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk says protests will continue despite President Viktor Yanukovych’s offer to appoint him as prime minister.
Mr Yatsenyuk said the opposition was generally ready to accept leadership, but several key demands must be met, including new elections.
Meanwhile clashes have continued in Kyiv, with activists trying to storm a building where riot police are based.
The president’s proposal came amid new efforts to end the deadly unrest.
He offered the post of prime minister to Mr Yatsenyuk and the position of deputy PM to former boxer Vitali Klitschko following talks on Saturday.
‘Not afraid’
Speaking to large crowds in central of Kyiv late on Saturday, the opposition leaders did not explicitly say whether they accepted the offer but repeated their demands.
“Viktor Yanukovych announced that the government wasn’t ready to take the responsibility for the country and offered to the opposition to lead the government,” said Mr Yatsenyuk.
“What is our response to this? We are not afraid of the responsibility for the destiny of Ukraine.”
Orthodox priests have been urging security forces not to use violence against protesters
The anti-government protest movement is based in Maidan, or Independence Square
Opposition activists stormed Ukrainian House, where riot police are based
The opposition is demanding that a free trade agreement with the European Union be signed and political prisoners be freed, including former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
They are also demanding early presidential elections. A vote is not due until 2015.
Later, in a tweet referring to the president’s offer, Mr Yatsenyuk said: “We’re finishing what we started. The people decide our leaders, not you.”
Mr Klitschko told the crowd that they would press ahead with their demands and that talks would continue.
“We are not turning back and we will keep discussing and trying to find a direction,” he said.
Mr Yatsenyuk added that Tuesday, when a special session of parliament has been called, would be “judgement day”.
Petrol bombs
The demonstrations began in November after Ukraine decided not to sign an accord on more co-operation with the EU.
Instead, the government opted to deepen ties with neighbouring Russia.
On Saturday, several hundred protesters moved on Ukrainian House, a conference centre in Kyiv where police have been stationed.
Stun grenades, petrol bombs and fireworks were thrown inside, a BBC reporter said.
Mr Yanukovych is the parliamentary leader of the country’s second biggest party, Fatherland, and an ally of Ms Tymoshenko. Mr Klitschko is the leader of the Udar (Punch) movement.
Protesters continue to burn tyres on barricades
Another protest flashpoint has developed in Grushevsky Street
The crisis in Ukraine escalated this week when two activists were killed, and another was found dead with torture marks in a forest near the capital.
A fourth, 45-year-old protester is said to have died in a Kyiv hospital on Saturday from injuries sustained in earlier violence.
Although the protest movement – the “EuroMaidan” – is largely peaceful, a hardcore of radicals have been fighting pitched battles with police away from the main protest camp in Maidan, or Independence Square.
In a statement published on the government’s website, Justice Minister Olena Lukash said the president had offered public debates with Mr Klitschko “in order to ensure a wide public dialogue”, and that Mr Klitschko had agreed.
In addition, Mr Yanukovych has said he is ready to amend the constitution to reduce the president’s powers, Ukrainian media report.
On Friday protesters seized a number of government buildings in Ukrainian cities outside Kyiv, particularly in the west, which has traditionally favoured closer ties with Europe, including in the cities of Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lutsk and Lviv.
On Saturday the protests spread to cities further east, including Vinnytsya, just west of Kyiv.
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