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Ukraine announces deal to end crisis; shots fired | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Anti-government protesters shout “Glory to the Ukraine” as they man a barricade at Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014. Ukraine’s presidency said Friday that it has negotiated a deal intended to end battles between police and protesters that have killed scores and injured hundreds, but European mediators involved in the talks wouldn’t confirm a breakthrough. (AP Photo/ Marko Drobnjakovic)


Anti-government protesters shout “Glory to the Ukraine” as they man a barricade at Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine, on Friday, February 21, 2014. (AP Photo/ Marko Drobnjakovic)

UPDATE 12:00 pm GMT: London, Asharq Al-Awsat—German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has denied there is a deal between President Yanukovych and opposition protesters in the Ukraine. Reuters is reporting his is on his way to the Ukraine to speak with opposition forces. The Polish president is also denying that a deal has been reached.

Kiev, AP—Ukraine’s presidency said Friday that it has negotiated an international deal intended to end battles between police and protesters that have killed scores and injured hundreds. It was unclear whether the deal would appease protesters, and shots rang out Friday morning in central Kiev.

President Viktor Yanukovych’s office said that the government and the opposition had agreed to initial the deal, reached after all-night negotiations with EU diplomats, at noon local time. That deadline passed without a deal, but an opposition spokeswoman said that opposition leaders will go to the president’s office in the afternoon.

European officials cautioned that it’s too early to declare a breakthrough in a standoff that has plunged this country into the deadliest violence it has seen since winning independence from the Soviet Union.

The conflict is a battle over the identity of Ukraine, a nation of 46 million that has divided loyalties between Russia and the West. Several regions in the west of the country are in open revolt against the central government, while many in eastern Ukraine back the president and favor strong ties with Russia, their former Soviet ruler.

The preliminary deal struck overnight would see Ukraine’s president would lose some of his powers, and a caretaker government created in 48 hours that would include representatives of the opposition, Slovakia’s Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak said.

“Of course, the participants of the talks, my colleagues, warned it is still premature to say the crisis is over,” Lajcak said.

Oleksander Yefremov, the head of Yanukovich’s party in parliament, said the deal includes early presidential elections in December instead of March 2015, and a constitutional vote in September, according to the Interfax news agency.

The demonstrators, who have camped for three months on Kiev’s Independence Square, known as the Maidan, are demanding Yanukovych’s immediate resignation and early elections now—not in nine months. The president, who triggered the protests by aborting a pact with the European Union in favor of close ties with Russia, has made some concessions, but has refused to step down.

Shots were fired near the square Friday morning, though it was unclear where they were coming from or whom they are targeting. The Interior Ministry accuses the opposition of breaking a truce and firing at law enforcement officers.

In a sign of the high tensions, armed law enforcement officers tried to enter parliament Friday morning during a debate over measures to end the crisis. Shouting lawmakers pushed them out.
The report of a deal followed the worst violence yet in the confrontation between the government and protesters.

Protesters advanced on police lines in the heart of the Ukrainian capital on Thursday, prompting government snipers to shoot back and kill scores of people in the country’s deadliest day since the breakup of the Soviet Union a quarter-century ago.

Dr. Oleh Musiy, the medical coordinator for the protesters, said at least 70 protesters were killed Thursday and over 500 were wounded. The Interior Ministry said three policemen were killed and 28 suffered gunshot wounds.

A statement on the website of the Health Ministry said 77 people had been killed between Tuesday morning, when the violence began, and Friday morning. The statement said 577 people had been wounded and 369 hospitalized.

There was no way to immediately verify any of the death tolls.

Protesters across the country are upset over corruption in Ukraine, the lack of democratic rights and the country’s ailing economy, which just barely avoided bankruptcy with the first disbursement of a 15 billion dollar bailout promised by Russia.

The violence is making Ukraine’s economic troubles worse. Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded Ukraine’s debt rating Friday, saying the country will likely default if there are no significant improvements in the political crisis, which it does not expect.

In the midst of Thursday’s intense violence, protesters led policemen, their hands held high, around the sprawling protest camp in central Kiev. The Interior Ministry said 67 police were captured in all. They were released peacefully just before midnight.

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.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama about the crisis Thursday evening. All three leaders agreed that a political solution needs to be found as soon as possible to prevent further bloodshed.

Saying the US was outraged by the violence, Obama urged Yanukovych in a statement to withdraw his forces from downtown Kiev immediately.

The Kremlin issued a statement with Putin blaming radical protesters and voicing “extreme concern about the escalation of armed confrontation in Ukraine.”

Russia appeared increasingly frustrated with Yanukovych’s inability to find a way out of the crisis.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Russia will “try to do our best” to fulfill its financial obligations to Ukraine, but indicated Moscow would hold back on further bailout installments until the crisis is resolved.

“We need partners that are in good shape and a Ukrainian government that is legitimate and effective,” he said.