Fragile Kiev peace deal paves way for elections

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.

By nightfall, opposition leaders were addressing peaceful crowds from a stage in Independence Square, which for the past 48 hours had become an inferno of blazing barricades, where protesters were shot dead by police snipers.

But the crowd was still defiant, holding aloft open coffins of slain protesters and making speeches denouncing the opposition leaders for shaking hands with Yanukovich.