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| Ukraine protesters storm Kiev city council | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Protesters in Ukraine have stormed the Kiev city council building as they oppose the government's decision not to sign a deal on closer EU ties. | |
| Police are massing outside the building but they have yet to move in. | |
| It comes as thousands of people have been marching to the capital's Independence Square defying a ban. | |
| Protesters want the resignation of the government and new elections. President Viktor Yanukovych says Russian pressure was behind his decision not to sign. | |
| The BBC's David Stern in the Ukrainian capital reports from outside the city council head office that protesters broke windows to get inside the building. | |
| Ambulances were pulling up outside the building and there was an acrid smell of smoke, he says. | |
| The protests started more than a week ago after President Yanukovych suspended preparations for signing an EU association agreement that would have opened borders to goods and set the stage for an easing of travel restrictions. | |
| Mr Yanukovych argued that Ukraine could not afford to sacrifice trade with Russia, which opposed the deal. | |
| Jailed opposition leader and ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko earlier urged Ukrainians "not to leave the authorities' actions unanswered". | |
| She has been on hunger strike since Monday over the failure to sign the EU agreement. |