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.

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.

Beleaguered Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych says he has agreed to scrap harsh anti-protest legislation that sparked violent clashes.

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.

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.

Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, serving a seven-year jail sentence on abuse-of-office charges, yesterday dismissed new allegations against her of involvement in the murder of a parliament deputy almost 16 years ago.

FORMER Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko will boycott her own appeal against a seven year sentence for abuse of office, her legal team said yesterday, branding the court case a farce.

Ukraine is becoming a dangerous mix of authoritarianism and corrupt capitalism, writes Tatiana Zhurzhenko

A SUMMIT intended to bring Ukraine into Europe’s mainstream foundered yesterday after the EU said it would not sign a landmark political and trade deal until Kiev resolves the case of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.

THE Ukrainian women’s group, Femen, took its distinctive brand of protest to the trial of ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko when two activists climbed atop a police wagon outside the court and bared their breasts.

RUSSIAN President Dmitry Medvedev called on the world community to tighten safety rules at nuclear plants and tell the truth when there were accidents like those at Chernobyl and Fukushima.

OPPOSITION lawmakers hurled eggs and smoke bombs inside Ukraine’s parliament yesterday as the chamber approved an agreement allowing the Russian navy to extend its stay in a Ukrainian port until 2042.

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.

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.

The Ukrainian Supreme Court began hearings today on what appeared to be the last appeal by former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych over alleged fraud in the presidential election he lost to Viktor Yushchenko.

Natasha Lisova, Kiev

OPPOSITION protesters blockaded Ukraine's government headquarters in Kiev yesterday, preventing Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich from convening a cabinet session.

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.

A PRO-opposition convoy trying to rally support for presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko was turned back from his rival’s home town yesterday after Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich’s supporters blocked the road.

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 struggle for power in Ukraine shifted to the corridors of parliament as lawmakers tried to break a deadlock between the ruling regime and the opposition over legislative changes ahead of a new presidential runoff vote.

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.

OUTGOING Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma bowed to street protests and international pressure yesterday and backed a new presidential election to end a crisis that is tearing the nation apart.

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.