Ukrainian protesters angry over their government's decision to seek closer economic ties with Russia instead of with the European Union toppled a statue of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin in Kiev on Sunday.
Continue after the break.


© Screenshot: Youtube
The statue has symbolic importance as it underlines Ukraine's shared history with Russia, which is now trying to persuade Kiev to join a new Moscow-led customs union.
 © Screenshot: Youtube
A Reuters reporter at the scene saw the protesters breaking up the statue with hammers after toppling it with the help of metal bars and rope. The move came after an anti-government rally in Kiev attended by hundreds of thousands of people.

© Photo: RIA Novosti

-Joining us from Kiev is our fellow journalist Yaroslava Kobinets. Thank you once again for joining us, Yaroslava. How does the things look at the very moment on Independence square?
-Good evening. Thank you for having me now. Kiev looks rather good now, a lot of people are still now at the Independence square, or at the Maidan, as it's called now. Today it was a really big protest there: a lot of people gathered at the Maidan and around it. Top Ukrainian opposition leaders had their speeches, there were Vitali Klitschko, Oleg Tyahnibok and Arseniy Yacenyuk. They told about their demands to the government.

And at the end of this they decided to give the Ukrainian government 48 hours for their resignation and also for the president resignation and to free those prisoners who were in prison after the police broke to Maidan a week ago. These are the main things that protesters want from the Ukrainian government, otherwise they want to block the residence of the Ukrainian president (it is called Mezhigorie, it's a little bit far from Kiev), they promised to block the road to this village and to make their protest there. Now the protesters are moving to the government headquarters. They try to put their tents there, they try to widen Maidan to those government headquarters to make their demands more powerful, I suppose. There are a lot of people now, they represent all regions of Ukraine. People are in a good mood, I must admit.
-The mood is good then?
-Yes, the mood is good and people are very helpful and very supportive. For example, there were crowds of people at the Maidan and some activists, some volunteers tried to say how they should walk – not to block each other, not to be too crowdy. They tried to move them in the right way. There were also a lot of interesting posters, all around people make them themselves or there are some volunteers who try to make these posters and who ask people to print them and to bring to Maidan. Also there are a lot of restaurants around the Independence square, they offer to the protesters free tea or free coffee, or maybe some soup and also you can eat for free at the Maidan because there are a lot of people who are cooking there and offer some sandwiches, some free meals. The cooperation at the Independence square is quite good I think.
-How many people have been there today? How many people will stay on? Because, let's face it, as we speak the temperature is about minus 4 – 5. I mean it's going to get cold through the night, surely not everybody is going to stay out..
-Of course not everybody. I think mainly it will be people who came to Kiev from different regions because they came here today for a long time so they are prepared to do that. At the Maidan they have tents, they have their security to protect them from different provocations, they have source of fire where they try to keep warm. Also people can stay for a night at the City Hall which is now like the post of the protesters and they can get also food and warm there. Many people try to look for room around Kiev and some people offer their places, their apartments for protesters. So I think if people want to stay on and to protest on they will find the way how to do this, because there are a lot of different ways. Of course, not all people today will stay for a night. But still it's not too late so I think the protest will go on. And I don't know how many people are there now. I think it will be several hundred thousands maybe.

-What about other nationalities? Have you heard any other languages spoken other than Ukrainian and Russian?
-I saw different flags at the Independence square. I saw British flags, I saw Greece, Canadian and French flags. I really didn't hear foreign languages, but I think maybe these people there – people who live in Ukraine and came here to support Maidan with their own flags. So there were some, really.
-Would you get the impression that there is foreign backing for what's going on?
-I think yes, there is European support on the Independence square and also the support to the opposition leaders. They spoke about that the foreign countries support Ukraine in this protest. They didn't explain how so it may be only the inspiration support but nevertheless people feel very happy about it.
-Have you managed to speak to anybody about their wish for the future? How their country really should look?
-Of corse a lot of people want to finish all this with some aim, with some particular goal. So I think that these three main demands from the protesters about the government resignation, about the president resignation and about the demands for free prisoners and the fact that they gave the government 48 hours. I think this is somehow the real goal that is announced now. Maybe we can tell something more clearly when it will bring satisfaction or not.
-One last question – how will things look once Catherine Ashtonarrives?
-You know I really don't know much about her visit- it's planned for the next week I suppose. I don't know if she is going to go on the Independence square but I think she will take part in some negotiations between the opposition and the Ukrainian government.
-Thank you once again for joining us. That was Yaroslava Kobinets joining us live from Kiev.


Protesters march from Maidan to governmental quarter in Kiev

A large group of people marched along Instituskaya Street from Maidan towards Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada and governmental buildings in central Kiev.
A large group of people marched along Instituskaya Street from Maidan towards Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada and governmental buildings in central Kiev.
These are mainly young people holding Ukrainian, EU and red and black flags, the Interfax correspondent reported. The main part of protesters approached Lipskaya Street - the entrance to it as well as to other streets leading to the Verkhovna Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers are blocked by buses and officers of the special police unit Berkut.
The protesters said that 30,000 of them were sent to the governmental quarter.
The entrance to Bankovskaya Street from Instituskaya Street has already been blocked with metal screens and a group of protesters of up to 500 people holding the Ukrainian, EU and UDAR party flags stayed there.
Participants of the rally staged by the Party of Regions in front of the Verkhovna Rada have been told that "almost no people" were at Kiev's central square Maidan. In particular, the leader of the all-Ukrainian union of youth organizations Youth - Magnitude - Power said: "Almost no people are at Maidan, there are very few of them and they disperse: People have come to senses and realized that they are being manipulated."

Ukrainian opposition at Maidan demands to hold early elections in Ukraine

The opposition demands that early parliamentary and presidential elections be held in Ukraine, leader of the UDAR opposition party Vitaliy Klitschko said.
"We demand that those, who were involved in beating students, be punished: That this disgraceful government headed by [Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola] Azarov not exist. We demand complete reboot of the authorities. We need early presidential and parliamentary elections," Klitschko said when speaking at Kiev's central square Maidan on Sunday.
Klitschko said he urged rally participants "to put the squeeze" peacefully on the current authorities.
"Now we should express our view of the future: disrespect for the current authorities. And we call for a strike: I am certain that we can put the squeeze on the current authorities," Klitschko said.
Today's rally is an utterly peaceful one and any aggression will be considered to be a provocation, Klitschko said.
Opposition leaders have just given an ultimatum to Yanukovych, Klitschko said. They demand that political prisoners detained at Maidan be released, that those guilty of dispersing protestors and beating students be punished and that the government be dismissed.
Meanwhile leader of the Third Ukrainian Republic movement, former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko said he urged Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to sign the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement immediately and to dismiss Azarov's government in order to resolve the political crisis in the country.
"You do not own all the power in Ukraine as it was on December 1. You have crossed the red line when our children were beaten and you deprived us of the prospect to become closer with the European Union. Now the only possible way out is signing the EU Association Agreement, now, immediately. And your Azarov's government is not a government already, it can not rule anymore the country sacked by your satellites," Lutsenko said when speaking at the rally.
Yanukovych should realize that after December 1 he can not consider himself to be "the sovereign of Ukraine" anymore, Lutsenko said.
"We have gathered in order to say that we deny trust to you" - Victor Yanukovych, Mykola Azarov and the entire gang, Lutsenko said.

Ukrainian opposition intends to picket entire govt quarter in Kiev

Participants of the protest rally against the current authorities begin to picket the entire governmental quarter in Kiev, leader of the Batkivschyna parliamentary faction Arseniy Yatseniuk said.
"Starting today, we picket the entire governmental quarter," Yatseniuk said when speaking in Kiev on Sunday.
"Every day we will picket one more agency: We expand our rally," Yatseniuk said. The number of protesters will grow each day, Yatseniuk said.

Ukraine opposition ready to make compromise with gov't

Ukraine's opposition is ready for a compromise with the government, former head of the European parliament Jerzy Buzek told the media following his meeting with the oppositionists in Kiev.
Ukraine's opposition is ready for a compromise with the government, former head of the European parliament Jerzy Buzek told the media following his meeting with the oppositionists in Kiev.
"The opposition is ready for a compromise and does not have long-term demands. They are not expecting a new Cabinet any longer, they insist on some partial changes," he said. "Now, they have only two basic demands - to punish those responsible for the events, which happened a week earlier, and to release all the detained."
Once these demands are satisfied, they may begin negotiations, he said. Buzek said the Ukrainian opposition was ready to join the negotiations table and to come to a decision, which could stop the rallies and calm down the society.
"The opposition, coalition and the very Ukrainians fear the country may split, they fear stronger protests. They do not want people to distance from other people," he said. Buzek added currently the nation was arguing which integration to chose from - with Russia or with the EU.

People gathering in Kiev for March of Millions

Crowds of people are gradually building at Kiev's Independence Square for the March of Millions slated for noon on Sunday.
There are several thousand people in the main city's square and more continue to arrive, witnesses report.
Music bands perform and activists speak up from the stage.
Participants are carrying Ukraine's national flagsalongside that of the EU as well as the red-and-black flags of Ukrainian nationalists and other symbols of opposition parties.
The protesters' tent camp continues to function with field kitchens offering meals and people warming themselves around fires burning in trash bins.