Ukraine agrees ‘truce’ after protest deaths
THE PRESIDENT of Ukraine said last night that he had reached a “truce” with the political opposition in the country, after protests against the government turned to violence in Kiev this week.
President Viktor Yanukovych said that he had brokered a deal for “negotiations aimed at cessation of bloodshed and stabilization of the situation in the country for the sake of civil peace”. Clashes between protest groups and riot police have killed at least 26 people, as the EU and United States begin to discuss sanctioning the country.
US President Barack Obama warned the Ukrainian government not to “step over the line”, adding: “We hold the Ukrainian government primarily responsible for making sure that it is dealing with peaceful protesters in an appropriate way.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a Paris press conference that she stood “side by side with the men and women who suffer”.