Ukraine deal weakens president, but fails to satisfy protesters

Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich agreed yesterday to make significant concessions to his opponents in the wake of deadly clashes in Kiev, but many protesters poured scorn on the EU-brokered deal and vowed to stay on the streets until the head of state resigned.

Shortly before coffins carrying some of scores of demonstrators shot dead this week were borne aloft through Kiev’s Independence Square, Mr Yanukovich accepted an early presidential election, the formation of a government of “national unity” and a return to Ukraine’s 2004 constitution, which sharply reduces his powers. Parliament then voted through the constitutional reform and deputies cheered and sang the national anthem.

Earlier, in a tense day, they had exchanged punches at the speaker's rostrum. Deputies then voted for the dismissal of interior minister Vitali Zakharchenko, who many protesters blame for the state's violent handling of the crisis. They also made changes to the criminal code that could permit the release of jailed former premier Yulia Tymoshenko, who is Mr Yanukovich's fiercest and most popular political rival.

A glum Mr Yanukovich signed the deal in the presence of the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland; Ukraine’s opposition leaders; and Russian envoys, who had all thrashed out the agreement in arduous talks that ran through the previous night.

ITN video footage showed Poland's top diplomat Radek Sikorski telling opposition politicians during a break in talks: "If you don't support this, you'll have martial law, you'll have the army, you'll all be dead."

His French counterpart, Laurent Fabius, said talks had taken place in "a terrifying atmosphere as there were dozens of dead" and the deal was "the best that we could have hoped for". He said Ukraine's leader was "used to power, he doesn't share it . . . I'm not sure you would choose to go on holiday with President Yanukovich."

The European Union and United States welcomed the pact as a basis for the peaceful resolution of Ukraine's crisis, while Kremlin envoy Vladimir Lukin said he did not sign the agreement and that "certain questions remain" about Russia's role in the deal.

Parliament also voted to drop charges against everyone arrested during three months of protests, but many demonstrators on Independence Square, known locally as Maidan, said they had no intention of ending their uprising until Mr Yanukovich relinquished power. They noted that yesterday’s deal states that presidential elections should take place in December at the latest, only three months before they were already due.

“And what good are elections with Yanukovich and his cronies in power anyway? They will fix them as usual, with the help of the oligarchs,” said Olha, a student from western Ukraine, referring to the country’s richest tycoons. “He will wait until Maidan is cleared and then go back to his usual ways,” added Andriy, a businessman from near Kiev. “No. He has to go now. Maidan stays until he goes.”

Dmytro Yarosh, leader of the revolutionary nationalist group Right Sector whose members have been in the vanguard of fighting in Kiev and other cities, said “the criminal regime is still not sufficiently aware of the magnitude of its atrocities, nor of the power of the people’s anger . . . The national revolution continues.”