MOSCOW/WARSAW, February 20 (RIA Novosti) – The president of Ukraine told European foreign ministers Thursday that he is willing to hold early elections this year, the prime minister of Poland has told reporters.
If confirmed, the concession could point to a possible exit from the violent crisis gripping the former Soviet nation, although it is likely the hardened opposition will settle for nothing short of President Viktor Yanukovych’s resignation.
Foreign ministers from Poland, France and Germany are currently in the capital of Ukraine, Kiev, to hold talks with Yanukovych and opposition leaders to assist in negotiating an end to unrest that has claimed dozens of lives.
"The three ministers are in Kiev discussing a certain document, which gives a chance to bring an end to violence and achieve an agreement. A willingness for early elections, already this year, parliamentary as well as presidential, was agreed," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was cited as saying by the Reuters news agency in Warsaw.
Udar opposition party leader Vitali Klitschko dampened prospects for an immediate resolution, however, by saying that no agreement on how to bring the crisis to a close had been agreed, Russian media reported.
The document is currently being discussed with the opposition.
Talks between the envoys, Ukrainian officials and opposition leaders were expected to continue through the night.
Officials in Kiev say 67 people were killed in fighting over three days, although international media have reported higher figures. The Associated Press cited a doctor working with the opposition as saying at least 70 protesters had been killed and another 500 wounded.
Interior Ministry says at least 13 police officers have been killed, many of them from gunfire.
The violence in Ukraine is the worst the nation has seen since it gained independence in 1991.
The increasingly intransigent standoff between the government and opposition took a bloody turn Tuesday after a crowd marching on parliament was confronted by law enforcement officers. Pictures from the front lines showed rioters ripping up cobblestones to hurl at police.
Deputies in parliament had at the time been tussling over proposed changes to the constitution that opposition parties say would water down presidential powers and thereby lead of the political crisis.
The truce called by the hardened opposition forces camped out on Kiev’s central Independence Square and the authorities was broken Thursday morning with a new round of clashes.
Mass protests initially erupted in late November after the government backed away from deals to deepen political and economic cooperation with the European Union and instead opted for closer ties with Russia.
Although discontent was at first focused on that about-face move on EU ties, protests have since taken on a more general anti-government quality, calling for the president’s ouster and early elections.
