Ukraine leader calls ‘truce’ amid threat of EU sanctions

KIEV, Ukraine (2nd UPDATE) – Ukraine’s embattled leader announced a “truce” with the opposition as he prepared to get grilled by visiting EU diplomats Thursday, February 20, over clashes that killed 26 and left the government facing diplomatic isolation.

US President Barack Obama warned starkly of “consequences” after apocalyptic scenes on Tuesday, February 18, saw violent pitch battles that left parts of Kiev’s historic city center engulfed in flames.

Obama said he held President Viktor Yanukovych’s pro-Russian government responsible for ensuring that Ukrainians could protest “without fear of repression”.

Yanukovych responded to the mounting pressure on Wednesday evening, February 19, by announcing the start of direct talks with the opposition after receiving three top anti-government lawmakers in a presidential office less than a block from the site of the unrest.

But the scenes playing out in the heart of Kiev on Thursday morning suggested a war zone that was being reinforced from all sides before a new fight.

Pungent smoke from car tires rose over the capital’s iconic Independence Square while bursts of gunfire and exploding stun grenades echoed across the paralyzed city center as determined pro-Western protesters faced off against heavily-armed police over burning barricades.

The shocking scale of the violence three months into the crisis brought expressions of grave concern from the West and condemnation of an “attempted coup” by the Kremlin.

The crisis was ignited by Yanukovych’s decision to ditch a historic European Union agreement in favor of closer ties with Russia, but has become a much broader anti-government movement.

Obama cautioned Yanukovych that Washington was “watching closely” while the European Union called an emergency meeting for Thursday to discuss sanctions against those responsible for the use of force.

The foreign ministers of Germany and Poland – two leading proponents of stiff EU sanctions – along with France prepared to hold urgent talks with Yanukovych in Kiev on Thursday morning before flying back to Brussels to consider imposing measures against his ministers.

Yanukovych sacks arms chief

Yanukovych gave off conflicting signals that suggested a leadership grasping for answers to the country’s worst crisis since it gained independence two decades ago.

He showed unbending resolve on Wednesday afternoon by announcing plans to launch a sweeping “anti-terror” operation and sacking the army’s top general – a powerful figure lauded by the opposition for refusing to back the use of force against those who had come out on the street.

But he then received three top protest leaders and told them he would take no immediate action against those who have taken to the streets against his rule.

“The sides announced a truce and the start of a negotiations process aimed at ending the bloodshed (and) stabilizing the situation in the country for the benefit of civil peace,” Yanukovych said in a statement posted after talks that included protest leader Vitali Klitschko.

The charismatic boxer turn lawmaker said in his own statement that Yanukovych had issued a promise not to order police to storm the main protest square.

“In essence, we are talking about a truce,” Klitschko said. “Now we will see whether after all the threats of Western sanctions, Yanukovych intends to keep his word.”

Cold War rhetoric

The Cold War-style confrontation over Ukraine’s future gained steam on Wednesday with a string of outraged comments from Moscow that included condemnation of the both protesters and the West.

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman placed all responsibility for the unprecedented violence on “extremists (whose) actions can be seen and are seen in Moscow exclusively as an attempted coup d’etat”.

The heated rhetoric prompted a telephone conversation between Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel aimed at finding a joint solution to the crisis that could head off the diplomatic tensions.

But Russia also announced that it was sending Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin – a policy hawk who is widely known for his strongly nationalist views – to Kiev on Thursday in order to “give a corresponding impulse to our relations” with Ukraine.

Central post office ‘occupied’

Determined Kiev protesters meanwhile took control of both the central post office and the state radio and television headquarters that sit on the edge of Independence Square.

The move was largely symbolic because the imposing building had already been empty and only serves as the office space for officials responsible for bureaucratic affairs.

But the state media centre was transformed into new provisional headquarters for the Kiev protest movement after its hand-picked leaders were forced to vacate another government building on the square after it was engulfed in flames.

“This is where activists can turn to for information and where they can get any help they want,” media centre coordinator Eduard Bubnyak told Agence France-Presse.

Volunteers streamed into the media centre’s makeshift kitchen on the first floor with donations of food and blankets as Bubnyak spoke. Several medics prepared piles of medicine and bandages to treat the wounded in a room nearby.

Ukrainian media reports said protesters on Wednesday had also stormed the administration building in Poltava – a region in eastern Ukraine that had represented the base of Yanukovych’s pro-Russian support. – Rappler.com