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| In Ukraine’s East, a Message for Protesters: Stop | In Ukraine’s East, a Message for Protesters: Stop |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| DONETSK, Ukraine — As workers streamed into the Donetsk Metallurgical Plant, a sprawling, Soviet-era factory complex here, they had a message for protesters in Kiev’s Independence Square: Get back to work. | |
| “The answer is simple: Get some tanks and drive them off the square,” said Viktor Ruzyenko, a 30-year veteran of the factory who was coming off the night shift into the early morning frost. “Even under the Communists I never saw anything so disgraceful.” | |
| Top Western diplomats and opposition leaders have called on Ukraine’s president, Viktor F. Yanukovich, to respect public sentiment and sign an association agreement with the European Union, and the protesters want him to resign. But in a country deeply divided between the pro-European West and the pro-Russian East, that is only half the story. Here in eastern Ukraine, the base of Mr. Yanukovich’s support, people envision a different future: a quick end to the protests and a deal to join the customs union of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, which would bind Ukraine more closely with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. | |
| The tug of war between Europe and Russia over Ukraine’s future has roused strong passions here, along with fears that the country could splinter into open conflict. | The tug of war between Europe and Russia over Ukraine’s future has roused strong passions here, along with fears that the country could splinter into open conflict. |
| “This is the way it works in Ukraine: The East makes the money, and the West eats it,” said Sergey Yermolenko, 35, a programmer who earlier worked for the state-run railroad company. He “fully supported the president” for clearing Independence Square on Wednesday, he said, and called the protesters’ demolition of a statue of Lenin “crude hooliganism.” | |
| “Our industry is heavy, it’s the railroads, the factories,” Mr. Yermolenko said. “We need Russia more than Europe.” | “Our industry is heavy, it’s the railroads, the factories,” Mr. Yermolenko said. “We need Russia more than Europe.” |
| In Kiev on Thursday, Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, told reporters that Mr. Yanukovich “intends to sign the association agreement” with the European Union, which would signal his latest about-face. But analysts tended to dismiss his assurances, noting that he has made such promises before, and warned that the standoff could continue for some time. | |
| Ever since Mr. Yanukovich backed away from the accords with Europe last month, and broke off talks with the International Monetary Fund on a loan package to stave off bankruptcy, Ukraine has been negotiating with Russia about potential economic assistance. Mr. Yanukovich is due to meet with Mr. Putin next week. | Ever since Mr. Yanukovich backed away from the accords with Europe last month, and broke off talks with the International Monetary Fund on a loan package to stave off bankruptcy, Ukraine has been negotiating with Russia about potential economic assistance. Mr. Yanukovich is due to meet with Mr. Putin next week. |
| But rumors that Ukraine might join the customs union have further inflamed the protesters in Kiev, and officials have denied such talks are in the works. Western diplomats who met with Mr. Yanukovich said he continues to insist that he will eventually sign the accords with Europe, something he has said since his abrupt decision not to sign them. | But rumors that Ukraine might join the customs union have further inflamed the protesters in Kiev, and officials have denied such talks are in the works. Western diplomats who met with Mr. Yanukovich said he continues to insist that he will eventually sign the accords with Europe, something he has said since his abrupt decision not to sign them. |
| In Brussels, the European Parliament issued a statement calling for the European Union to start a mediation mission aimed at “round-table talks between the government and the democratic opposition and civil society, to secure a peaceful outcome to the current crisis.” | In Brussels, the European Parliament issued a statement calling for the European Union to start a mediation mission aimed at “round-table talks between the government and the democratic opposition and civil society, to secure a peaceful outcome to the current crisis.” |
| Antigovernment demonstrators continued their occupation of Kiev’s Independence Square, as more protesters were arriving from around the country by bus, particularly from western Ukraine. In a fenced-in section of nearby Mariinsky Park, several thousand pro-government protesters rallied under heavy police protection. | |
| There are few signs that the political turmoil that has gripped Kiev in recent weeks is spreading here in the Donbass region, where Mr. Yanukovich was born and served five years as governor and one term in a penal colony for assault in the 1970s while Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. | There are few signs that the political turmoil that has gripped Kiev in recent weeks is spreading here in the Donbass region, where Mr. Yanukovich was born and served five years as governor and one term in a penal colony for assault in the 1970s while Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. |
| There are no barricades in the city center. A statue of Lenin stands unmolested on a central square. | There are no barricades in the city center. A statue of Lenin stands unmolested on a central square. |
| Aleksandr A. Lukyanchenko, the mayor of Donetsk and a member of Mr. Yanukovich’s Party of Regions, has weathered both the Orange Revolution and Mr. Yanukovich’s return to power in his 11 years in office. He laughed off statements by protest leaders and sympathizers, like the mayor of Lviv, who said local police officers would fight the federal government if it tried to occupy the city, an action that sends tens of thousands of demonstrators to Independence Square on the weekends to protest. | Aleksandr A. Lukyanchenko, the mayor of Donetsk and a member of Mr. Yanukovich’s Party of Regions, has weathered both the Orange Revolution and Mr. Yanukovich’s return to power in his 11 years in office. He laughed off statements by protest leaders and sympathizers, like the mayor of Lviv, who said local police officers would fight the federal government if it tried to occupy the city, an action that sends tens of thousands of demonstrators to Independence Square on the weekends to protest. |
| “They will achieve nothing with their methods,” Mr. Lukyanchenko said in an interview, addressing the protesters’ calls for Mr. Yanukovich to resign. “There will only be irreparable consequences” for Ukraine. | “They will achieve nothing with their methods,” Mr. Lukyanchenko said in an interview, addressing the protesters’ calls for Mr. Yanukovich to resign. “There will only be irreparable consequences” for Ukraine. |
| Small protests in support of the uprising on the Maidan, as Kiev’s Independence Square is commonly called, brought in about 100 supporters, a demonstration Mr. Lukyanchenko derisively called “our little Maidan.” | Small protests in support of the uprising on the Maidan, as Kiev’s Independence Square is commonly called, brought in about 100 supporters, a demonstration Mr. Lukyanchenko derisively called “our little Maidan.” |
| Opposition supporters say that the government has used threats, administrative resources and a propaganda campaign to extinguish any embers of dissent in this region of about 4.5 million people, which survives on mining and largely outdated heavy industry that is some of the most energy-intensive in the world. | Opposition supporters say that the government has used threats, administrative resources and a propaganda campaign to extinguish any embers of dissent in this region of about 4.5 million people, which survives on mining and largely outdated heavy industry that is some of the most energy-intensive in the world. |
| There are some scattered voices of dissent. Nikolay N. Volynko, a leader of Ukraine’s Independent Mining Union, a maverick, 10,000-member strong collective active in the Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk regions, said the organization had sent about 100 miners to join the crowds in Kiev, and was considering a general strike to demand that Mr. Yanukovich step down. | |
| Yet his group is outnumbered by a ratio of 100 to one by pro-government unions, he said, and in an anecdote, he explained the reluctance among his members to protest in a region that is so convincingly controlled by Mr. Yanukovich. | Yet his group is outnumbered by a ratio of 100 to one by pro-government unions, he said, and in an anecdote, he explained the reluctance among his members to protest in a region that is so convincingly controlled by Mr. Yanukovich. |
| “Two men are going to be executed,” said Mr. Volynko, who was injured in a mining accident in the 1980s. “One said to the other: ‘Shouldn’t we run?’ The other responds: ‘Won’t that make it worse?’ ” | |
| With the country’s economy stalling, opposition to the protests here has not necessarily fomented new support for Mr. Yanukovich, who has seen his numbers slipping as the country teeters on the edge of bankruptcy. | With the country’s economy stalling, opposition to the protests here has not necessarily fomented new support for Mr. Yanukovich, who has seen his numbers slipping as the country teeters on the edge of bankruptcy. |
| Many viewed the clashes in Kiev as jostling between Mr. Yanukovich’s clan of politicians and ambitious opposition members trying to vault into power by co-opting student movements. | Many viewed the clashes in Kiev as jostling between Mr. Yanukovich’s clan of politicians and ambitious opposition members trying to vault into power by co-opting student movements. |
| Tatyana Kolomychenko, 55, said that she felt sympathy for student protesters, whom she called “puppets” of the opposition, but that she did not support Mr. Yanukovich either, and had not voted in the last elections. | |
| “I don’t believe in politics,” Ms. Kolomychenko said, as she took a break from shoveling snow outside her vacuum cleaner shop in the city center. “And I have taught my children not to believe in it either.” | “I don’t believe in politics,” Ms. Kolomychenko said, as she took a break from shoveling snow outside her vacuum cleaner shop in the city center. “And I have taught my children not to believe in it either.” |
| At the Donetsk National Technical University, where Mr. Yanukovich’s portrait hangs along with pictures of other distinguished graduates under a plaque in English reading “Honoured Doctors,” many students said they had never considered joining their contemporaries at the barricades on Maidan. | |
| “If they manage to get Yanukovich out, there will be a new Yanukovich after him,” said Tigran Naltakyan, a mechanical engineering student. “There are no folk heroes in Ukrainian politics anymore.” | |
| Mr. Yanukovich’s real support, he said, was among the large businessmen and politicians of his native Donetsk region. “Without Donetsk, he is nobody.” | Mr. Yanukovich’s real support, he said, was among the large businessmen and politicians of his native Donetsk region. “Without Donetsk, he is nobody.” |
David M. Herszenhorn contributed reporting from Kiev, Ukraine, and Steven Lee Myers from Moscow. | David M. Herszenhorn contributed reporting from Kiev, Ukraine, and Steven Lee Myers from Moscow. |