Ukraine’s prime minister has told the UN Security Council that Russia had carried out “military aggression” in Crimea, and dramatically switched from English to Russian to ask Russia whether it wants war.

Ukraine has a new government, but Western leaders should be very careful about what they wish for, argues Geoff Roberts

IN HIS 1979 novel The Island of Crimea, Vasily Aksyonov imagined the region’s flourishing independence from the Soviet Union.

Russian riot police detained hundreds of protesters at a Moscow courthouse where seven opponents of President Vladimir Putin were jailed from two and a half to four years over a demonstration that turned violent.

The greatest enemy a besieged city, a disdainful, ring-fenced establishment or a past-his-sell-by-date tyrant face — as the ousted and fugitive Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich will confirm — is time.

Ukraine’s opposition leaders signed an EU-mediated peace pact with Viktor Yanukovich, the president, last night, winning a raft of concessions in a delicate deal to end violence that killed at least 77 people and turned the capital into a battle zone.

Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich said last night he had agreed a “truce” with opposition leaders, after street violence in which at least 26 people were killed, and a start to negotiations to end further bloodshed.

Police clashed with protesters in central Kiev yesterday and the fate of Ukraine’s government was uncertain after embattled president Viktor Yanukovich offered key posts to opposition leaders, including the role of prime minister.

Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich, in what appeared to be an offer of concessions to the opposition amid violent protests against his rule, yesterday pledged to reshuffle the government next week and to amend sweeping anti-protest laws.

Russia put more protectionist policies in place than any other country in 2013, closely followed by neighbouring Belarus, according to data from Global Trade Alert, a leading independent trade monitoring service.

Russian president Vladimir Putin made a new attempt to woo Ukraine yesterday after the European Union and United States stepped up efforts to pull Kiev out of its former Soviet master’s orbit.

Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich’s decision to walk away from a deal that would have aligned his former Soviet republic more closely with the European Union sparked both anger and applause on the streets of Kiev.

Ukraine is preparing to mark 25 years since the Chernobyl power station exploded in the world’s worst nuclear accident.

NATO and the European Union’s new president joined US President Barack Obama in congratulating Viktor Yanukovich yesterday on his election in Ukraine, as the West looked to extend a hand to the Moscow- leaning leader.

DISAPPOINTED with the failures of the Orange Revolution, Ukraine was yesterday poised to hand the pro-Russia Viktor Yanukovich a comeback in presidential polls at the expense of his West-leaning rivals.

UKRAINE’S main opposition party joined together with two other groups in parliament to propose defeated presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovich as prime minister.

UKRAINE president Viktor Yushchenko warned that the sacking of his pro-Western government by lawmakers over a controversial gas deal with Russia would destabilise the country less than three months before a key parliamentary election.

SINCE Georgia’s November 2003 Rose Revolution against Eduard Schvardnadze’s government, a series of other former Soviet governments have fallen after popular revolutions, often with the backing of the US and other Western nations.

VIKTOR Yushchenko became Ukraine’s president yesterday and vowed to seek a full place in Europe for the people he led in a peaceful revolt against a rigged national election and pressure from Russia.

THE Ukrainian supreme court yesterday rejected motions from lawyers of defeated presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovich as it started hearing his appeal to annul the results of last month’s election.

Natasha Lisova, Kiev

Anna Melnichuk, Kiev

THE mysterious deaths of Ukraine's transport minister and a high-profile banker mark the start of a struggle for control of the country, diplomats and politicians warned yesterday.

VIKTOR Yushchenko's triumphant announcement of a new democratic era in Ukraine was overshadowed last night by the mysterious death of a cabinet minister and the refusal of his opponent to accept the result.

UKRAINIAN opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko warned last night that “forces” are preparing to disrupt the presidential election rerun next Sunday.

UKRAINIAN opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko promised yesterday to prosecute government officials for crimes committed during the last decade should he win the country’s December 26 re-run of the presidential election.

THE Ukrainian parliament yesterday voted in measures to make election fraud less likely in the presidential re-match on December 26.

UKRAINE’S president Leonid Kuchma called round table talks in Kiev last night and said he would go along with a presidential run-off on December 26 as set out by the Supreme Court.

THE Ukrainian President is under siege, with demands for his resignation increasing from the orange revolution that has already effectively forced out the government and had fraudulent elections set aside.

SUPPORTERS of the Ukrainian opposition were celebrating in the streets of Kiev last night after the supreme court handed them victory in the bitter battle for the nation’s presidency.

Vitali Klitschko has revealed he came close to cancelling next week’s world heavyweight title fight with Danny Williams as he was so concerned at the political crisis in his native Ukraine

Ukraine’s two rivals for power failed in nearly three hours of talks to resolve the political stalemate over who will lead the bitterly-divided nation.

Wedged between troubled Ukraine and the West, Poland has plunged into the disputed Ukrainian presidential election in an attempt to mediate – a sign of anxiety over the prospect of instability and rising Russian influence so close to home.

UKRAINE’S highest court yesterday blocked the inauguration of the country’s Moscow-backed prime minister as president, giving a fresh impetus to his liberal opponent who has led street protests to overturn his election.

OUTGOING President Leonid Kuchma yesterday warned civil war could “become a reality” in Ukraine as he asked the international community to stay out of the country’s affairs.