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| Ukraine president 'agrees truce' with opposition | Ukraine president 'agrees truce' with opposition |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych says he has agreed a truce with opposition leaders, after at least 26 people died in protests this week. | Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych says he has agreed a truce with opposition leaders, after at least 26 people died in protests this week. |
| A statement on the presidential website said they had agreed to start "negotiations" aimed at ending the bloodshed of the last two days. | A statement on the presidential website said they had agreed to start "negotiations" aimed at ending the bloodshed of the last two days. |
| They also agreed to try to stabilise "the situation in the state in the interests of social peace". | They also agreed to try to stabilise "the situation in the state in the interests of social peace". |
| Earlier today, the president sacked the head of the armed forces. | Earlier today, the president sacked the head of the armed forces. |
| No reason was given for the dismissal of Col Gen Volodymyr Zamana, who was replaced by the commander of Ukraine's navy, Admiral Yuriy Ilyin, by presidential decree. | No reason was given for the dismissal of Col Gen Volodymyr Zamana, who was replaced by the commander of Ukraine's navy, Admiral Yuriy Ilyin, by presidential decree. |
| The announcement of a truce comes after the most intense violence in Ukraine's three-month crisis turned Kiev into a battle zone between anti-government protesters and riot police. | |
| The protests began in late November, when President Yanukovych rejected a landmark association and trade deal with the EU in favour of closer ties with Russia. | |
| Since then, a militant protest movement has gripped the capital intent on seeing him ousted from power. | |
| 'Protection of human life' | |
| On Tuesday, protesters wielding petrol bombs and paving stones tried to defend their encampment in the central Independence Square from police using rubber bullets and stun grenades. | |
| While the situation was more subdued on Wednesday, there were still periodic clashes and protesters are reported to have seized the central post office in Kiev. | |
| Fires also continued to burn around Independence Square, with demonstrators and riot police locked in a tense stand-off. | |
| The truce followed talks between President Yanukovych and the three main opposition leaders, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, boxer-turned-politician Vitali Klitschko and far-right party leader Oleh Tyahnybok. | |
| The statement did not give details of what the truce would entail or how it would be implemented. | |
| "The storming of the Maidan (Independence Square) which the authorities had planned today will not take place," Mr Yatsenyuk said in a statement on the website of his Fatherland party. | |
| "A truce has been declared. The main thing is to protect human life," he added. | |
| But a BBC correspondent in Kiev, Daniel Sandford, has urged caution, pointing out that none of the hardcore protesters attended the meeting with President Yanukovych in which the truce was discussed. | |
| Several European leaders have condemned the Ukrainian leadership for the violence, with the French, German and Polish foreign ministers due to meet in Kiev on Thursday to assess the situation before an EU meeting in Brussels to decide whether to impose sanctions against Ukraine. | Several European leaders have condemned the Ukrainian leadership for the violence, with the French, German and Polish foreign ministers due to meet in Kiev on Thursday to assess the situation before an EU meeting in Brussels to decide whether to impose sanctions against Ukraine. |