Parliament ousts Ukraine leader
President abandons capital as popular opposition figure is freed from prison.
KIEV, Ukraine — The most ardent foe of Ukraine’s embattled president was freed from prison Saturday and rushed to the capital, where she was greeted by tens of thousands of supporters chanting her name — some so overcome by emotion that they fainted.
Events in Kiev and across the country had the feel of a revolution nearing its culmination. Having retreated to his eastern stronghold, President Viktor Yanukovych fulminated in an Internet clip against “Nazis” and “bandits.” He insisted he was still the country’s leader and that he would not resign.
But it seemed that no one was listening anymore.
Parliament voted to remove him from office and set a new presidential election for April 25. His foes took control of the Council of Ministers building and the president’s administrative offices. Protesters also seized the presidential residence, and the road there was clogged with people who wanted to see how the president had lived.
Key allies fled Ukraine. Interfax news agency reported that border guards prevented a chartered plane carrying Yanukovych from leaving the country because it did not have proper documentation. It did not say where hewas headed.
In Kiev’s Independence Square, former Premier Yulia Tymoshenko appeared before more than 30,000 supporters after being freed from prison by parliament. She had been serving a seven- year term for abusing her power, a charge that supporters and Western government considered political retribution.
The crowd chanted: “Yulia! Yulia! Yulia!”
The charismatic Tymoshenko, who was pushed onto the square’s stage in a wheelchair, a consequence of a spinal condition that worsened in jail, heaped praise on anti- government protesters and urged them to remain in the square until a new president is elected.
“Today we have an open road to the Ukraine you want,” Tymoshenko said. “The policy of behind- thescenes intrigues is over. By the blood you shed, by your heroism, by your patriotism you deserved the right to rule over your Ukraine.”
Vadim Karasyov, head of the Institute of Global Strategies think tank, said Tymoshenko’s speech indicated she was already campaigning to replace Yanukovych. “I don’t see who can challenge her for the presidency now.”
More than 100 people have been killed across Ukraine in the worst political violence in its postSoviet history. Protests began in November when Yanukovych rejected association with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Moscow. Ukraine is sharply divided between western regions that look toward the rest of Europe and eastern areas closer to Russia. Russian officials have accused the West of trying to exploit the unrest.
Events moved at a dizzying pace in the past week. On Friday, facing outrage after snipers cut down protesters in the streets of Kiev and amid a collapse of support from security forces, Yanukovych signed a broad agreement with opposition leaders. It included an amnesty for protesters and said that presidential elections, originally set for March 2015, would be held before December.
Parliament fired the hard- line interior minister and 17 legislators quit the ruling party. But that was not enough for the protesters.
Vitali Klitschko, a popular opposition leader and former world heavyweight boxing champion thought to have presidential ambitions of his own, was not among the two dozen prominent opposition leaders who stood behind Tymoshenko, listening to her speech with solemn faces.
Karasyov said Klitschko hurt himself politically by shaking hands with Yanukovych after signing the agreement Friday. “He most likely will have to forget about his immediate presidential ambitions,” Karasyov said.
From his stronghold in Kharkiv, about 25 miles from the Russian border, Yanukovych begged international mediators to intervene. He said he fled to Kharkiv after protesters shot at his car.
“The opposition is trying to scareme all the time with ultimatums,” Yanukovych said. “I am not going to resign. I am a legitimately elected president.”
Yanukovych had been expected to attend a congress of his supporters and allies Saturday in Kharkiv but didn’t appear. Governors, lawmakers and bureaucrats who were present vowed “to preserve the unity of Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, in Kiev, parliament appointed an acting police chief who immediately invited opposition activists to patrol the streets along with regular officers. Despite funeral processions for protesters killed in the violence, a festive feeling pervaded the capital. For the first time in a week, protesters took off flak jackets and helmets and also brought children to the main square. Shops also began to reopen.
Danil Nagorny, a 7- yearold boy carrying a toy machine gun and wearing his father’s bright orange helmet, came with his parents to Independence Square to lay flowers.
“Some heroes died and they need flowers now,” he said.