Ukraine leader offers olive branch in protests

Ukraine’s president has promised to try to release some demonstrators arrested in recent protests against him, in a bid to defuse the country’s tensions.

Kiev has been gripped by more than three weeks of demonstrations – some attracting hundreds of thousands – which began as protests against president Viktor Yanukovych’s backing away from a pact to deepen ties with the European Union. The protests grew larger and more vehement after police twice violently dispersed demonstrators.