Ukraine: emergency or retreat?

In Ukraine, a state of emergency is being prepared and this can happen in the coming hours - The New Times received such information from a source in Kyiv on strictly anonymous conditions. At the same time, a tough statement on the inadmissibility of violence on the Maidan came from the West to the leadership of Ukraine.

02/20/2014 18:20

According to the source, the Internet and other types of mobile communications will be disabled tonight in Ukraine.

The magazine received indirect confirmation of information about the emergency at the Kiev representative office of a large European humanitarian fund. “We are preparing an introduction of an emergency (original quotes - The New Times) so we are collecting things now and leaving the office,” the journal was told in the representative office at about 17 hours Moscow time.

Confirmation or refutation of this information from official sources has not yet been obtained.

In turn, the sources of The New Times in Kharkov at about 18 hours of Moscow time reported that the Operation “Fortatsya” (fortress) was announced in the regions - the boundaries between the regions of the country were already blocked.

At the same time, the West made hard statements towards the Ukrainian authorities. The European Union demanded from Yanukovych early elections and reform of the Constitution. The heads of the foreign policy departments of Poland, Germany and France at a meeting with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych invited him to create a transitional government. The EU also decided to impose sanctions against individual representatives of Ukraine, guilty, according to the EU, in bloodshed in Kyiv. The sanctions include a ban on the issuance of visas, freezing assets and a ban on the supply of equipment to Ukraine. There have been no specific names yet.

The United States also announced their readiness to work on bringing to justice provocateurs of violence in Ukraine. “We are outraged by the fact that representatives of the power structure of Ukraine shot from machine guns at their own citizens,” the White House said in an official statement of the White House. Washington called on Yanukovych to immediately remove all the security forces from the center of Kyiv and resolve the conflict peacefully.

Update from 02.20.2014 20:05:

According to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, 64 people died as a result of confrontation in Kyiv on February 18.