Ukraine vows to keep every ‘single centimetre’ of land

Ukraine has vowed not to surrender "a single centimetre" of territory, as western powers and dissident Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky condemned Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin's military incursion into Crimea.

A week before the Black Sea peninsula holds a referendum on joining Russia, Kiev's prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said yesterday his nation faced "the biggest challenges in the history of modern independent Ukraine".

“This is our land,” Mr Yatsenyuk told a crowd at events to mark 200 years since the birth of Ukraine’s greatest poet, Taras Shevchenko.

“Our fathers and grandfathers spilled their blood for this land. And we won’t budge a single centimetre from Ukrainian land. Let Russia and its president know this.”

Cold war
Mr Yatsenyuk, who took power with pro-western allies after Russian-backed president Viktor Yanukovich fled Kiev on February 21st, will meet US president Barack Obama in Washington on Wednesday to discuss how to resolve a crisis some say could herald a new cold war.

Thousands of Moscow’s troops and pro-Kremlin militia control Crimea, in what Mr Putin calls an operation to protect the region’s 60 per cent ethnic-Russian majority.

Crimea is expected to approve unification with Russia, amid growing nationalistic fervour and rising fear of Kiev, whipped up by Russia’s state television and politicians.

According to her spokesman, German chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday told Mr Putin "forcefully" the referendum "is illegal". The US and EU say the same.

The EU warned Russia last week that, unless talks began quickly, it may target Russian officials with visa bans and asset freezes. Washington has imposed travel restrictions on some unnamed officials.

Sanctions vs energy
Moscow has threatened to retaliate to sanctions and many EU states have strong business links with Russia and rely on its energy supplies.

Mr Putin insisted yesterday “the steps taken by Crimea’s legitimate authorities are based on international law and aimed at guaranteeing the legitimate interests of the peninsula’s population”.

As often-heated pro-Ukrainian and pro-Moscow rallies took place across eastern and southern Ukraine, Mr Khodorkovsky spoke on Kiev’s Independence Square. “There are no fascists or Nazis here . . . These are wonderful people who stood up for their freedom,” said Mr Khodorkovsky, jailed in Russia for a decade after criticising Mr Putin.

“I was told what the authorities did here. They did this with the agreement of the Russian leadership,” he said of the death of about 100 protesters last month, mostly due to sniper fire. “I wanted to cry. It is terrible,” he said. He ended his speech, to great cheers, by quoting Shevchenko in Ukrainian: “Fight and you will triumph. God is on your side.”