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I have a lot of friends(clan mates) from Ukriane and also my grandfather/mother live in ukraine so I decided to share with you what happen there right now
Ukraine on verge of 'civil war', says ex-president
Leonid Kravchuk, Ukraine's former president, has warned the country is on the brink of "civil war"
Ukraine's president failed to defuse the confrontation in central Kiev on Wednesday when more protests took place despite his sweeping concessions and a former leader warned of “civil war”.
An overnight snowfall allowed volunteers to pile new bags on the barricades. They also staged an impromptu football match in European Square, which once formed a hub of the capital and now lies inside the area occupied by demonstrators.
After President Viktor Yanukovych dismissed his government and repealed nine security laws, parliament made a further concession on Wednesday by offering the protesters an amnesty - but only if they first vacate all the public buildings under their control.
Leonid Kravchuk, the first president of Ukraine after the country won independence in 1991, told parliament: “All the world acknowledges - and Ukraine acknowledges - that the state is on the brink of civil war.”
He added: “It is a revolution. It is a dramatic situation in which we must act with the greatest responsibility. We need to ease the confrontation between the sides and agree a plan to solve the conflict.”
The opposition parties wanted the amnesty to be unconditional, but the government stood firm and insisted that public buildings must be vacated first.
Ukrainian House, once an exhibition centre, now serves as a combined dormitory, restaurant and medical centre for the demonstrators. The activists have even created their own library.
It would be almost impossible to sustain the demonstrations without these facilities, given that night-time temperatures fall to minus 20 degrees Celsius.
Moreover, the protest movement and the mainstream opposition are themselves divided. On Wednesday, activists from the nationalist Svoboda party forcibly evicted members of the more radical Spilna Sprava group from the agriculture ministry.
The absence of a united command means that even if some opposition leaders decided that it was time for demonstrators to leave public buildings, they could simply be ignored.
“We want the present system to be destroyed and we want the president to go,” said Andrei Chaika, a 41-year-old philosophy lecturer at a Kiev university which he declined to name. “We will continue the protests until the president goes. He’s responsible for everything that happens in Ukraine.”
However, Pavlo Rizanenko, an MP from the opposition Udar party, cautioned against pinning everything on the president’s resignation. “Ideally yes, but politics is the art of the possible. Demanding him to resign under these circumstances is not realistic. But, yes, the situation changes. Yesterday [Tuesday] the government resigned. Two months ago, that was impossible and Yanukovych never in his worst nightmares would have imagined that.”
Ukraine on verge of 'civil war', says ex-president
Leonid Kravchuk, Ukraine's former president, has warned the country is on the brink of "civil war"
Ukraine's president failed to defuse the confrontation in central Kiev on Wednesday when more protests took place despite his sweeping concessions and a former leader warned of “civil war”.
An overnight snowfall allowed volunteers to pile new bags on the barricades. They also staged an impromptu football match in European Square, which once formed a hub of the capital and now lies inside the area occupied by demonstrators.
After President Viktor Yanukovych dismissed his government and repealed nine security laws, parliament made a further concession on Wednesday by offering the protesters an amnesty - but only if they first vacate all the public buildings under their control.
Leonid Kravchuk, the first president of Ukraine after the country won independence in 1991, told parliament: “All the world acknowledges - and Ukraine acknowledges - that the state is on the brink of civil war.”
He added: “It is a revolution. It is a dramatic situation in which we must act with the greatest responsibility. We need to ease the confrontation between the sides and agree a plan to solve the conflict.”
The opposition parties wanted the amnesty to be unconditional, but the government stood firm and insisted that public buildings must be vacated first.
Ukrainian House, once an exhibition centre, now serves as a combined dormitory, restaurant and medical centre for the demonstrators. The activists have even created their own library.
It would be almost impossible to sustain the demonstrations without these facilities, given that night-time temperatures fall to minus 20 degrees Celsius.
Moreover, the protest movement and the mainstream opposition are themselves divided. On Wednesday, activists from the nationalist Svoboda party forcibly evicted members of the more radical Spilna Sprava group from the agriculture ministry.
The absence of a united command means that even if some opposition leaders decided that it was time for demonstrators to leave public buildings, they could simply be ignored.
“We want the present system to be destroyed and we want the president to go,” said Andrei Chaika, a 41-year-old philosophy lecturer at a Kiev university which he declined to name. “We will continue the protests until the president goes. He’s responsible for everything that happens in Ukraine.”
However, Pavlo Rizanenko, an MP from the opposition Udar party, cautioned against pinning everything on the president’s resignation. “Ideally yes, but politics is the art of the possible. Demanding him to resign under these circumstances is not realistic. But, yes, the situation changes. Yesterday [Tuesday] the government resigned. Two months ago, that was impossible and Yanukovych never in his worst nightmares would have imagined that.”
Comments
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Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- Will giving Ukraine's anti-government activists amnesty help avert what its first modern-day leader fears will be a civil war?
Hardly.
Wednesday night's vote by parliament to let those who have taken to the streets the past two months off the hook is the latest attempt to try to lower the temperature on the crisis in the Eastern European nation.
A top legislator announced that all factions had approved the amnesty law, yet the opposition didn't rally around it. In fact, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, head of the Fatherland Party, said he didn't know what was in the hastily moved legislation.
Another opposition leader, the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reforms' Vitali Klitschko, said he and his supporters could not stand behind a move that basically called for an end to protests without real change beyond freeing the 218 activists who the Interior Ministry says have been arrested.
"People took to the streets because they want to change the situation," Klitschko said. "A statement, 'We will free people, if they go home' is unacceptable. It cannot be understood.
"Today, the key issue is the confrontation between people and government," he said. "Withdrawal of charges and amnesty is not enough."
Especially compared to last week's violent confrontations, Kiev's snow-covered streets were calm Wednesday. Still, the tension, the anger, the determination was evident, especially among those hunkered down in makeshift barricades in the central Independence Square and a road leading up to parliament.
"I think the people should not leave the barricades," one Kiev resident told CNN. "Nothing is decided yet, let them decide -- now they just promise but don't make decisions. People are being tricked. They are tired of it."
This Ukrainian isn't the only one who believes time may be running out.
So, too, does Leonid Kravchuk, who between 1991 and 1994 was Ukraine's first President after it became independent from what had been the Soviet Union.
He addressed a special parliamentary session aimed at seeking a way out of a deepening political crisis.
The parliament won't reconvene until February 4, and the opposition hasn't announced its next move. That leaves the volatile situation in limbo, much like it's been for weeks.
Kravchuk said there's real urgency to find an answer to this crisis, even if the answer itself is not clear.
"Let's be honest, the situation is dramatic. Both Ukraine and the world recognize the country is on the brink of civil war," Kravchuk said.
EU official: 'Stop the senseless violence'
Wednesday's emergency session came after a day of political upheaval when Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and his Cabinet resigned and draconian anti-protest laws were annulled.
Opposition politicians and activists welcomed the concession -- but Klitschko said it was only one small step of the many needed. The resignation of President Viktor Yanukovych would be a "logical step," he said.
Parliament also voted Tuesday to annul controversial anti-protest laws rammed through January 16 by members of President Viktor Yanukovych's Party of Regions in a show of hands.
Parliament overwhelmingly backed the repeal, but the president still hasn't signed it.
Anger over the anti-protest laws escalated tensions in the capital, with police and protesters fighting pitched battles amid burning tires and barricades.
The legislation also prompted concern in the European Union and United States, where leaders condemned what appeared to be an attempt to limit freedom of speech and the right to protest.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton traveled to Kiev and met with Yanukovych on Wednesday.
"It's important to stop the senseless violence. ... The dialogue that happens from time to time needs to become a real dialogue," Ashton later told a news conference.
"It's very clear that people are very keen to find a solution. ...There is no question of the importance of finding a quick way forward."
Vying for influence
Under Ukrainian law, Azarov's resignation as prime minister triggered the resignation of his government with him.
But he and his Cabinet will continue in a caretaker role until a new government is formed, the presidential website said.
Yatsenyuk refused an offer from Yanukovych over the weekend to be prime minister.
Klitschko -- a former world champion boxer who has stressed the need to prevent violence while also insisting on larger reforms -- also turned down an offer to be vice prime minister of humanitarian affairs.
According to the law, a new government should be formed within 60 days. The next presidential election is due in March next year.
Yanukovych's representative in parliament, Party of Regions lawmaker Yuriy Miroshnychenko, told parliament on Wednesday that discussions on the makeup of a new Cabinet could begin next week, the official Ukrinform news agency reported.
"We cannot talk about the political color of the government, because there is no response from the opposition regarding seats on the Cabinet of Ministers, and it will be clear only after the talks whether this is a technical government or a political government," he said, according to the news agency.
Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, is home to 45 million people. The recent clashes are an escalation of weeks of largely peaceful public protests prompted by Yanukovych's decision in November to spurn a planned trade deal with the European Union and turn toward Russia.
He and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on a $15 billion deal for Russia to buy Ukrainian debt and slash the price of natural gas.
Putin has denied that Moscow is exerting undue influence in Ukraine.
"Russia has always respected, is respecting and will respect the sovereign rights of all the international entities including new states that emerged after breakdown of the Soviet Union," Putin said, speaking after a summit Tuesday with senior EU figures in Belgium.
Putin also said Russia would stick to the loan and energy commitments to Ukraine -- agreed to in December -- even if the opposition comes to power. -
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