KIEV: Talks between opposition leaders and the embattled Ukrainian president continued early Friday as a shaky peace reigned in the protest camps in downtown Kiev.
President Viktor Yanukovych, who was still engaged in talks with opposition leaders and foreign officials, was “going to make concessions in order to restore peace,” Interfax Ukraine quoted his spokeswoman Anna German as saying.
Support for the president appeared to be weakening, as reports said the army’s deputy chief of staff, Yury Dumansky, was resigning in “disagreement with the politics of pulling the armed forces into an internal civil conflict.” Late on Thursday, the Ukrainian parliament passed a measure that would prohibit an “anti-terrorist operation” threatened by Yanukovych to restore order, and called for all interior ministry troops to return to their bases. But it was unclear how binding the move would be, as the mechanism for carrying it out would have to be developed by the president’s office and the interior ministry.
On Friday morning, several thousand protesters milled around Independence Square, known as the Maidan, which earlier this week was rocked by street battles between protesters and police that have left at least 101 dead. No visible police forces remained on the square, and volunteers walked freely to the protest camps to donate food and other packages. Yanukovych and the opposition protesters are locked in a battle over the identity of Ukraine, a nation of 46 million that has divided loyalties between Russia and the West. Parts of the country — mostly in its western cities — are in open revolt against Yanukovych’s central government, while many in eastern Ukraine back the president and favor strong ties with Russia, their former Soviet ruler.
Protesters across the country are also upset over corruption in Ukraine, the lack of democratic rights and the country’s ailing economy, which just barely avoided bankruptcy with a $15 billion aid infusion from Russia. Despite the violence, defiant protesters seemed determined to continue their push for Yanukovych’s resignation and early presidential and parliamentary elections. “The price of freedom is too high. But Ukrainians are paying it,” Viktor Danilyuk, a 30-year-old protester, said Thursday. “We have no choice. The government isn’t hearing us.”
Thursday was the deadliest day yet at the sprawling protest camp in Kiev. Snipers were seen shooting at protesters there, and video footage showed at least one sniper wearing a Ukraine riot police uniform.
One of the wounded, volunteer medic Olesya Zhukovskaya, sent out a brief Twitter message — “I’m dying” — after she was shot in the neck. Dr. Oleh Musiy, the medical coordinator for the protesters, said she was in serious condition after undergoing surgery.
Musiy said that at least 70 protesters were killed Thursday and over 500 were wounded in the clashes.
In addition, three policemen were killed on Thursday and 28 suffered gunshot wounds, interior ministry spokesman Serhiy Burlakov said. A statement on the website of the health ministry said 77 people had been killed between Tuesday morning and on Friday morning. There was no way to immediately verify any of the death tolls.
French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, along with his German and Polish counterparts, said after a five-hour meeting with Yanukovych and another with opposition leaders that they discussed new elections and a new government, but gave no details. “For now, there are no results,” said an opposition leader, Vitali Klitschko. (Agencies)
