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| Ukraine alarm at becoming EU-Russia 'battlefield' - PM | Ukraine alarm at becoming EU-Russia 'battlefield' - PM |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Ukraine's PM has expressed alarm at the country becoming a "battlefield" for the EU and Russia, as protests continue over a stalled EU trade deal. | |
| Mykola Azarov also said an agreement with Russia had not been finalised on possible new financial support. | |
| Kiev last week put on hold a historic trade agreement with the EU, prompting the EU to accuse Moscow of exerting heavy pressure on Ukraine. | Kiev last week put on hold a historic trade agreement with the EU, prompting the EU to accuse Moscow of exerting heavy pressure on Ukraine. |
| The move triggered mass pro-EU protests in the capital and other cities. | |
| "Russia does not give us guarantees, Europe does not give us guarantees, so what are we, a battlefield?" the prime minister told foreign journalists. | "Russia does not give us guarantees, Europe does not give us guarantees, so what are we, a battlefield?" the prime minister told foreign journalists. |
| Mr Azarov said President Viktor Yanukovych would attend a summit with the EU this week in Vilnius to discuss possible three-way talks with Russia on Ukraine's economy. | |
| Ukrainian officials were supposed to sign agreements with the EU in Vilnius on 28-29 November. | |
| "From the beginning of December, we will sit down at the negotiating table and draw up a 'road map' for re-establishing our relations [with Moscow]," he said. | |
| 'Blackmail' | |
| Ukraine's government said on Thursday it was halting preparations for signing the EU trade treaties, amid concern for possible mass job losses in the short-term. | |
| President Yanukovych said on Monday that he was forced by economic necessity and the desire to protect those "most vulnerable". | |
| Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in the largest show of public discontent since the Orange Revolution in 2004 - which saw Mr Yanukovych ousted and a Western-leaning government brought to power. | |
| Mr Yanukovych returned to power in the 2010 presidential election. | |
| Opponents are accusing the president of bowing to growing pressure from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who wants Kiev to join the Moscow-led Customs Union. The grouping also includes Belarus and Kazakhstan. | |
| Mr Putin denies the claims, instead accusing the EU of trying to "blackmail" Kiev into signing the agreements. | |
| Meanwhile, prosecutors in Kiev have opened an investigation into an attack on Monday by protesters in European Square against a security services bus. | |
| In a statement, the security service said staff on board were carrying out security measures including checking for radio channels that might be used to detonate bombs. | |
| Protesters apparently thought they were using monitoring equipment to eavesdrop. | |
| They attacked the bus, seizing equipment and using tear gas, injuring staff inside the vehicle, the statement said. | |
| It also said members of parliament were involved in the clashes. Video of the incident shows opposition MPs Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Oleg Tyagnybok standing nearby. | |
| Riot police surrounded the bus after beating back the protesters. | |
| In a separate development, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, one of the leaders of the Orange Revolution who was jailed in 2011 for abuse of power, said on Monday she was starting a hunger strike in solidarity with the protesters. | |
| She launched a similar fast last year in protest at her treatment, but stopped it after 20 days. |