Ukrainian Crisis into Unknown As Opposition Controls Capital

Local Editor

Protesters in the Ukrainian capital claimed full control of the city Saturday following the signing of a Western-brokered peace deal aimed at ending the nation's three-month political crisis.

The nation's embattled president, Viktor Yanukovych, reportedly had fled the capital for his support base in Ukraine's Russia-leaning east

Police abandoned posts around the capital, and protesters took up positions around the presidential office and residence.

Parliament discussed voting on impeaching Yanukovych and setting a quick date for new elections to end a crisis over Ukraine's identity and future direction.

Yanukovych's whereabouts were unclear Saturday morning. Media outlets reported that he left Kiev for his native eastern Ukraine after surrendering much of his powers and agreeing to early elections by the end of the year.

Despite significant concessions by the president Friday, elections later this year aren't soon enough for protesters who blame him for police violence and amassing too many powers. They want him out now.

At a special parliament session Saturday morning, Oleh Tyahnybok, head of the nationalist Svoboda party, called for discussion of impeachment.
The parliament speaker - Yanukovych ally Volodymyr Rybak - submitted his resignation, citing ill health as the reason. The president's representative in parliament warned against splitting the country in two, an outcome that worries many but is increasingly seeming a possibility.
The country's western regions want to be closer to the EU, while eastern Ukraine - which accounts for the bulk of the nation's economic output - favors closer ties with Russia.
Andriy Parubiy, a leader of the protest camp on Independence Square, known as the Maidan, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying that Yanukovych fled for Kharkiv, the center of Ukraine's industrial heartland. Kharkiv was the capital of Soviet Ukraine from 1919-1934.

The claims of the president's departure could not be immediately confirmed, however.
Parubiy also said Saturday that protesters are now in full control of the capital.
A group of protesters in helmets and shields stood guard at the president's office Saturday.
The agreement signed Friday calls for presidential elections to be moved up from March 2015 to no later than December, but many protesters said that is far too late. And it does not address the issue that triggered the protests in November - Yanukovych's abandonment of closer ties with the European Union in favor of a bailout deal with longtime ruler Russia.

The US, Russia and the 28-nation EU are deeply concerned about the future of Ukraine, a divided nation of 46 million.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team