Ukraine issues warrant for arrest of President

Ukraine's acting interior minister has said a warrant is out for the arrest of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

In a statement on his official Facebook page today, Arsen Avakhov said Mr Yanukovych arrived in Crimea yesterday and relinquished his official security detail then drove off to an unknown location.

He said a warrant is out for Mr Yanukovych and several other officials, suspected in mass killings of civilians.

Ukrainian law enforcement agencies say they have no information about the whereabouts of Mr Yanukovych, who has reportedly been seen in Sevastopol, a port on Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula which is the home of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

After signing an agreement with the opposition to end a conflict that turned deadly, Mr Yanukovych fled the capital, Kiev, for eastern Ukraine. He tried to fly out of the country on Saturday but was stopped by Ukraine’s border service.

Opposition politician Volodym Kurennoy said on his Facebook page that he had unconfirmed information that the president had been arrested in Crimea.

Ukrainain news portal Liga.net reported that Sevastopol residents saw Mr Yanukovych in the company of Russian marines.

Spokesmen for the Interior Ministry and Security Service in Crimea said today that they had no such information.

Calls are mounting in Ukraine to put Mr Yanukovych on trial, after a tumultuous presidency in which he amassed powers, enriched his allies and cracked down on protesters.