Thousands protest in Ukraine capital

KIEV—An estimated 70,000 proWestern Ukrainians thronged the heart of Kiev on Sunday vowing never to give up their drive to oust President Viktor Yanukovych over his alliance with oldmaster Russia.

Opposition leaders addressed a crowd of supporters wearing blue and yellow ribbons—the colors of both Ukraine and the European Union—on the central Independence Square in a bid to ratchet up pressure on Yanukovych to appoint a new pro-Western government.

“None of the kidnappings and tortures have yielded any results,” said Igor Lutsenko, an activist who survived a severe beating after reportedly being abducted from a hospital.

Chaos

The ex-Soviet nation of 46 million people has been in chaos since November when Yanukovych ditched a historic EU trade and political pact in favor of closer ties with Moscow, stunning pro-EU parts of the population and sparking violent protests.

Since then, what started out as a localized, domestic bout of unrest has snowballed into a titanic tussle for Ukraine’s future between Russia and the West, as demonstrations continued and spread to other parts of the country.

Ukraine’s state security service announced on Sunday that antiterrorist units had been placed on high alert due to increased threats against key sites such as airports, stations, pipelines and nuclear plants.

The SBU counterintelligence agency said the measures were “primarily preventative” and made no explicit reference to the mass protests.

Threats

But it mentioned “threats of explosions” at strategic transport hubs and energy installations, as well as “calls to occupy sites sheltering large stocks of weapons” and the “blockading of government buildings.”

The protesters who have been occupying central Kiev for more than two months have seized several state buildings and repeatedly clashed with police.

After initially ignoring protesters’ demands, Yanukovych has recently yielded ground by dismissing the government. But he also has to appease Russia, which has effectively frozen a sorely needed $15-billion bailout until the situation clears up.

Moscow has so far issued only one $3-billion instalment of the loan, which it promised to Yanukovych after he rejected the EU pact.