Thousands of Ukrainians are continuing protests over the government’s suspension of a key EU trade deal. The country risks falling into chaos as the opposition calls for a change of government and police brutality has left hundreds of people injured.

Monday, December 9

14:51 GMT: One of the central Kiev metro stations, Teatralnaya, has resumed its operation, while two other stations are still being searched for reported explosives, local police told Itar-Tass. The passengers are being advised to use alternative routes instead of the closed stations, both of which are near Maidan. 

Earlier, protesters have blocked stairs leading to the closed Khreshchatyk metro station with barricades and slippery cover, fearing the rumors that said the authorities are going to use the station to dispatch special police force to Maidan.

14:27 GMT: The Ukrainian opposition is ready for talks with President Viktor Yanukovych, world heavyweight boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko, who is the leader of the opposition Udar (Strike) party, told Reuters. 

However, Klitschko reiterated the opposition’s demand that the government must go. 

“I am sure that the current government must resign... We have announced our demands more than once and in relation to this we are ready to talk with Yanukovych, because no one else is making decisions,”Klitschko said.

The opposition leaders are still expecting the police to attempt a forceful breakup of the street protests, he added.

14:01 GMT: Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius urged the Ukrainian government not to use force against peaceful protesters, saying that otherwise it would be difficult for the European Union to continue a “normal dialogue” with the country. 

“The Ukrainian authorities should prevent the use of force against demonstrators,” Linkevicius was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass. “Failing that, it is difficult for me to imagine a normal dialogue between the EU and Ukraine.”

13:35 GMT: The Interior Ministry troops are not going to storm Maidan and disperse pro-EU protesters there, but will instead attempt to cut off supplies delivered to the square, opposition leader Arseny Yatsenyuk, of the Batkivshina (Fatherland) party, has said. 

“They have not come to seize Maidan, their task is to surround Maidan, to restrict the delivery of water, delivery of food, delivery of equipment and the coming of people [to the square],” Yatsenyuk was quoted as saying by the local UNIAN news agency.

13:07 GMT: Fragments of the Lenin monument demolished by protesters on Sunday in Kiev are being sold online.

“I’m selling pieces of the last Kiev Lenin,” an ad one of the most popular Ukrainian e-shops reads, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

The seller set the price for Lenin’s hand at 1000 grivnas ($122) and has encouraged potential buyers to bargain for the head, described in the ad as “priceless.”

12:30 GMT: The internal security troops that have converged to Independence Square do not have the task to sweep the center of Kiev of the protesters, told journalists first deputy of Interior Ministry troops staff Aleksandr Oleschenko. “There is no such task for interior troops,” he has been cited by Ukrainian Pravda newspaper, the troops task is to keep guard of the public peace.

12:25 GMT: US actor George Clooney has recorded a video message in support of the anti-government protesters in Ukraine. The message was sent to Ukrainian heavyweight boxers Vitaly and Vladimir Klitschko. One of the brothers, Vitaly, leads the opposition Udar (Strike) party.

11:57 GMT: Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is set to discuss his country’s future with three of his predecessors Tuesday. Yanukovych’s press service says the idea came from Leonid Kravchuk, who became the first president of Ukraine in 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and stayed in office until 1994. Kravchuk believes the opposition should be invited to the talks. Kravchuk, as well as his two successors, Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yushchenko, has supported the opposition protests against Yanukovych’s government suspending talks on signing the free trade and association deal with the EU.

11:55 GMT: Around 50 soldiers of the Ukrainian army are on their way from Mikhailovskaya Square to the Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti) where protesters are camped out, RIA Novosti reports. The soldiers are holding shields and wearing helmets. They refuse to explain where they are going and for what purpose.

11:45 GMT: Three central Metro stations have been shut down in Ukraine’s capital Kiev over alleged calls with bomb threats.

11:43 GMT: EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton will visit Kiev on December 10-11, according to President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso.

“I spoke to president Yanikovich on the phone yesterday,” Barroso said during a meeting on Europe’s future in Milan, Italy. “I asked him to meet EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who is going to be in Kiev tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, so that she could take part in solving the crisis Ukraine finds itself in.”

11:41 GMT: A convoy of several police vehicles has arrived at Kiev’s city center. It was earlier announced that the convoy would bring police officers for personnel rotation.

Interior ministry personnel stand guard opposite a barricade erected by supporters of EU integration during snowfall on a street in Kiev, December 9, 2013. (RIA Novosti / Alexey Kudenko)

10:04 GMT: Hundreds of protesters remain camped out in Kiev's Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti) despite temperatures having turned sub-zero Celsius in the Ukrainian capital. Protesters are continuing their blockade of key governmental buildings, according to RT’s Paul Scott reporting from Kiev.

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, December 8

22:32 GMT: Protesters are building another barricade from materials they borrowed at the nearby office building, including fittings, plywood and wooden beams, RIA reports.

21:14 GMT: Protesters are stripping wooden scaffolding from an office building near the square, where the monument to Vladimir Lenin was vandalized earlier. A masked youth told RIA that these materials would be used for building new barricades.

20:33 GMT: The Ukrainian government has received a “positive signal” from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during latest negotiations on the new IMF loan, the Ukrainian Minister of Revenues and Duties, Aleksandr Klimenko, said in an interview with local channel 1+1.

“Regarding the IMF, our stands on tariffs policy, on budgetary and monetary policies have significantly got closer. Today we received a positive signal from the IMF and we are ready to finish the negotiations and take on the credit,” Klimenko said.

The real progress could be reached within 1-2 weeks, the minister added. As one of the preconditions in order to secure the loan, the IMF insisted on a 40 percent gradual increase of energy tariffs for Ukrainian citizens over the next few years.

• A Permanent Economic Emergency