Unrest spreads in Ukraine as opposition reject concessions

Police have clashed with protesters in central Kiev today and unrest has begun to spread outside the capital after embattled president Viktor Yanukovich offered important posts to opposition leaders, including the role of prime minister.

Ukraine’s opposition leaders have rejected an offer of top government posts and vowed to extend street protests until president Yanukovich accepts all their demands.

Overnight, demonstrators took control of another building in central Kiev, forcing a police unit out of an exhibition hall located between the main protest camp on Independence Square and barricades on Grushevsky Street, which leads towards parliament and government headquarters.

Mr Yanukovich last night proposed to appoint Arseniy Yatsenyuk as prime minister and former world heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko as deputy premier, and to dismiss the current cabinet - which is packed with his allies - if the liberal party leaders accepted his offer.

"The president is convinced that joint work together with the opposition will help the state unite and carry out the necessary reforms," said justice minister Olena Lukash.

The opposition rejected the concessions, however, saying they would not satisfy protesters who now control several official buildings in Kiev and the headquarters of local administrations across a growing swathe of western and central Ukraine. Support for Mr Yanukovich - and for tough measures against demonstrators - appears to remain strong in southern and eastern regions.

Mr Yatsenyuk told tens of thousands of people on Independence Square that Mr Yanukovich had "suggested that the opposition take some responsibility and lead the government."

“We were, to say the least, not thrilled by that suggestion. I fully recognise what’s happening now in Ukraine. The country is on the verge of bankruptcy. They robbed the country for three-and-a-half years so that now the state coffers are empty. They have led the country into total chaos. And that is why they want to escape responsibility.”

Mr Yatsenyuk said the opposition was ready to lead on its own terms: "We are not scared of responsibility for the future of Ukraine. We take responsibility and are ready to take the country into the European Union, " he said to cheers from the crowd.

The parties opposing Mr Yanukovich want the government to be sacked; snap presidential and parliamentary elections; changes to the constitution; the annulment of a sweeping anti-protest law, and for charges to be dropped against people who have been arrested during two months of rallies.

They are also demanding the release of jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and for talks with the EU to resume on a historic political and trade deal which Mr Yanukovich rejected in November, preferring instead to repair relations with and take financial aid from Russia.

That decision sparked the protests, but now people on the streets across large parts of the country of 46 million people want a complete overhaul of the way Ukraine is run. Many are also disillusioned with the entire political elite, including opposition leaders and their parties.

“There are no real leaders among the opposition. Tymoshenko is the best of the lot but she’s in jail,” said Andrei, a Kiev businessman, who like many protesters declined to give his surname for fear of official reprisals. “This is a real people’s uprising, led by ordinary people who have had enough.”

“There can’t be any compromise now, we have to get rid of Yanukovich and his gang,” added Nikolai, from the eastern city of Kharkiv. “They are not politicians, they are bandits getting rich by playing politics.”

The two men were standing outside the Ukrainian House exhibition and conference hall about 300 metres from Independence Square, as several thousands of more radical protesters hurled rocks and fireworks through shattered windows and demanded that the police inside leave.

A tense standoff ensued for several hours, as the crowd chanted “Come out!” and “The police with the people!”, until about 200 police officers finally left the building.

The interior ministry said the security forces “did not give into provocations, gave no reason for an escalation and showed restraint.”

Interior Minister Vitali Zakharchenko decided to withdraw the police "so as to continue the negotiation process and resolve the situation peacefully," the ministry said.

Yesterday, Mr Zakharchenko claimed peaceful efforts to resolve the crisis had proved “futile”, and told protesters they would be treated as extremists and could be dispersed by security forces if they stayed on the streets of Kiev.

He said police believe firearms are being stockpiled in Kiev city hall and a trade union building occupied by protesters next to Independence Square and that opposition leaders could not “influence radical groups which control the occupied buildings and organise acts of violence.”

Having occupied the agriculture ministry building close to Maidan on Friday, members of the Spilna Sprava (“Common Cause”) group yesterday entered the nearby energy ministry - a crucial part of the state administration with control over huge revenues, nuclear power stations and pipelines taking Russian oil and gas to the European Union.

Oleksandr Danylyuk, the leader of Spilna Sprava, said his men had been shocked not to meet any resistance when they moved on the ministry. They are allowing essential staff to work normally but have full control over access to the building.

Energy minister Eduard Stavitsky said: "Attacking a building like this is a terrorist act...These people are terrorists. And terrorists don't think about the consequences of their actions."

Mr Danylyuk, a lawyer and anti-corruption campaigner who is now organising an anti-government national guard, said his men entered the ministry to show how chaotically Ukraine is being managed and how key security forces are being used solely to protect Mr Yanukovich.

“We wanted to show that Yanukovich doesn’t really run anything in Ukraine now, except a small area around his residence and office,” Mr Danylyuk told The Irish Times.

“Considering what the energy ministry controls, this is a very serious threat for the Ukrainian people and the entire European continent.”

Major clashes between demonstrators and riot police erupted last Sunday, and have since claimed as many as five lives and injured hundreds of people on both sides. One leading activist was this week abducted and killed and others have been beaten up. Police deny responsibility for the deaths.

The US and EU blame Mr Yanukovich for the crisis and are urging him to make concessions to the opposition, while Russia accuses the West of destabilising Ukraine.

Protest organisers believe Mr Yanukovich plans to introduce a state of emergency, which they say would would mean “the start of the authorities’ war against its own people...the death of thousands of people, a split in the country and the destruction of Ukraine as an independent, sovereign state.”

Ukraine’s richest man Rinat Akhmetov - the most powerful of several billionaire tycoons who have huge political influence - yesterday called for negotiations and compromise.

“There can be only one solution to the political crisis - a peaceful one. Any use of force is unacceptable,” he said.