Ukraine starts anew, but future muddy
Some worry country will split into two
KIEV, UKRAINE A day after a political earthquake in Ukraine, questions linger over the direction of the country even as it starts rebuilding its government.
On Sunday, lawmakers elected a temporary leader, fired officials loyal to the previous government, began repealing deeply unpopular laws and creating new ones.
Many uncertainties remain: Where is ousted President Viktor Yanukovych? How does the country bring back officials who have fled (and any money they may have taken)? And how to unite Ukrainians?
In spite of divisions between the Russian-speaking east and the western region of the country, many say unity is paramount. “We are united,” lawmaker Vya- cheslav Kerilenko said in the parliament. “There can be no split.”
It is unclear who is in control in the east and south, Yanukovych’s base and his Party of Region’s heartland. There’s concern that some want to split Ukraine, a nation of 46 million, in which half the country looks toward the West, the other toward Russia.
In Donetsk, old women begged protesters not to destroy a statue of Vladimir Lenin. “They said, ‘You have won, but please don’t speak badly of us,’ ” said Denis Strashny, who works in the adver- tising industry.
In Odessa, a Russian-speaking city on the Black Sea, some were dismayed at a new law that makes Ukrainian the sole language of the country.
Lawmakers also elected an interim president, opposition leader Oleksandr Turchinov, and in the coming days will select a prime minister.
KIEV, UKRAINE Central Kiev was calm Sunday morning as protesters milled about, cleaning, congratulating and shaking their heads in wonderment over the dizzying events of the past day, when Ukraine’s president was forced to flee, his rival was freed, and a revolution was won.
It felt like a hangover after a wild party.
But the overarching sentiment in Independence Square was justice — namely in regard to President Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted by the parliament Saturday. Lawmakers selected parliament speaker Oleksandr Turchinov to become interim president Sunday. He will govern until elections May 25.
“Yanukovych must be prosecuted for his crimes, and now I have no doubts that he will be,” said Olena Boyko, 49, a protester from Kiev. “But we shouldn’t forget about all of his allies; they must face the courtroom all together, the whole gang.
“It’s too early to speak of a victory till this happens,” she said.
On Sunday, it was unclear where Yanukovych was. The State Border Service told Ukrainian media that his plane was stopped over a problem with paperwork at Donetsk city airport Saturday before the aircraft departed the country. A day earlier, Yanukovych had defiantly stated he had no intention of leaving office.
“I won’t leave the country, and I won’t resign. I am the legitimately elected leader,” he said in a televised statement, calling the events Saturday a “coup.”
“I think that if Yanukovych doesn’t find asylum in a third-world country, he will soon be arrested for an attempt to drag the army into a war against civilians,” said Taras Berezovets, head of Berta Communications in Kiev.
On Kiev’s outskirts, thousands milled around the president’s palace Sunday after it was taken over by protesters a day earlier. Inside the residence, visitors were shocked at the excess, which included Italian marble and chan-
“I think that if Yanukovych doesn’t find asylum in a third-world country, he will soon be arrested.”
Taras Berezovets,
Berta Communications
deliers. The president, whose salary is officially about $100,000 annually, could never have afforded such luxury, they said. “I wanted to see with my own eyes that the splendor we see here hasn’t been conjured or imagined,” Serhiy Rybakov, a construction worker, told Kyiv Post. “I wasn’t simply in wonderment, I was in awe of what I saw in all its pomposity. I don’t think many would want to live in these conditions when it’s built on other people’s blood, on other people’s money.”
Imprisoned opposition leader and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko was released Saturday after spending 2½ years in prison. Tymoshenko, 53, told a crowd of thousands at Independence Square: “A dictator is gone, and you are the heroes. You are the best of Ukraine ... but you may not leave here until you finish the job and we go all the way.”