Ukrainian opposition demands early elections

KYIV — Ukrainian opposition leaders issued a stark ultimatum to President Viktor Yanukovych on Wednesday to call early elections within 24 hours or face more popular rage, after at least two protesters were killed in confrontations with police in a grim escalation of a two-month-long political crisis.

The protesters’ deaths, the first since the largely peaceful protests started in November, fuelled fears that the daily demonstrations aimed at bringing down the government over its decision to shun the European Union for closer ties to Moscow and over human rights violations could turn more violent.

With a central Kyiv street ablaze and covered with thick black smoke from burning tires and several thousand protesters continuing to clash with riot police, opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk urged tens of thousands of demonstrators in a nearby square to refrain from vio- lence and remain in the main protest camp for the next 24 hours. He demanded that Yanukovych dismiss the government, call early elections and scrap harsh anti-protest legislation. It was last week’s passage of the laws cracking down on protests that set off the violent clashes.

“You, Mr. President, have the opportunity to resolve this issue.

“Early elections will change the situation without bloodshed, and we will do everything to achieve that,” Yatsenyuk told some 40,000 people who braved freezing temperatures on Kyiv’s Independence Square late Wednesday.

If Yanukovych does not concede, he added, “Tomorrow, we will go forward together. And if it’s a bullet in the forehead, then it’s a bullet in the forehead, but in an honest, fair and brave way.”

Yanukovych showed little willingness to compromise. A three-hour meeting with opposition leaders accomplished “nothing,” said Oleh Tyahbnybok, who attended the session.