Some 100 radical activists armed with clubs briefly entered the Ukrainian Energy Ministry building in Kiev and then blocked its main entrance. In Donetsk, thousands rallied in support of President Yanukovich’s government, protesting against the unrest.
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Ukraine’s energy minister, Eduard Stavytsky, arrived at the scene
for talks with the armed protesters and warned them their actions
could ruin the entire energy system of the country.
“There was an attempt to seize the building. About 100 people
came, armed. I went to them and said that if they did not
peacefully leave the building then the whole energy system of
Ukraine could collapse,” Stavytsky told Reuters by
telephone.
The radical protesters then left the ministry but continued
blocking the building. According to Interfax, the protesters now
require everyone entering the building from the side entrance to
show ministry IDs. Although the main entrance has been sealed,
the ministry continues to function normally.
The action was carried out by the so-called “Spilna sprava”
(“Common cause”) opposition movement, which is demanding that the
Ukrainian Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, and the Ukrainian
President, Viktor Yanukovich, all step down.
The leader of the group, Aleksandr Danilyuk, said on his Facebook
page that the action’s aim was to “show that Yanukovich does
not control the situation in the country and is a threat to the
lives and health of millions.”
According to Danilyuk, the protesters were able to enter the
strategic building freely without any resistance.
In response to the incident, Stavytsky ordered all Ukraine’s
nuclear facilities to switch to a high security mode. According
to the minister, the radicals have already approached some of the
country’s nuclear sites.
“In reality, this is a gang of terrorists,” said
Stavytsky, as quoted by RIA Novosti.
Meanwhile in eastern Ukraine, thousands of people took to the streets for rallies in support of President Yanukovich.
RT’s Paula Slier spoke to demonstrators in Donetsk, Ukraine’s
major industrial, economic and scientific center, where the city
officials estimated 300,000 people were taking part in Saturday’s
rally. According to Slier, the pro-government demonstrators say
that protesters in Kiev are small in number, do not represent the
whole nation and are supported by foreign contingents from the
West.
The rally was organized by Yanukovich’s Party of Regions under
the mottos of “Donbass against violence and civil war!”
and “Donbass for lawfulness, peace and common sense!”
Watch’s RT’s Peter Oliver, RT’s Alexey Yaroshevsky and
RT’s Slier report on the split between Ukraine’s
regions.
Violent riots in Kiev claimed another life on Saturday, as a
rioter who took part in earlier clashes with the police died in
hospital, RIA Novosti reported.
The number of the people injured in the ongoing unrest has
reached hundreds, with both the protesters and the police
reporting equal shares of casualties. Dozens of rioters and
activists taking part in anti-government actions have been
detained, with at least 48 arrested.
Both the shocking scenes of burning police officers hit by petrol
bombs, and the footage of harsh treatment of captured rioters,
some beaten and stripped naked in -10C cold, have been
circulating the web.
Meanwhile, EU officials focused on Ukrainian police brutality
against what they have been referring to as peaceful protesters,
with the EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Stefan Fule, urging
Kiev to put an end to the violence.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, on Saturday criticized
such statements as only “heating” the situation up by
encouraging the armed rioters to continue the unrest.
Lavrov discussed the situation in Ukraine with EU foreign policy
chief, Catherine Ashton, Italian Foreign Minister, Emma Bonino,
as well as with US Secretary of State John Kerry, on the
sidelines of the Geneva 2 peace conference in Montreux.
The Western leaders were “concerned” with the situation
in Ukraine and showed greater awareness of the dangers of
“flirting with the opposition,” Lavrov told Itar-Tass.