Ukraine protesters defy police, opposition rejects talks with president

Opposition leaders in Ukraine rejected President Viktor Yanukovych's offer of talks Wednesday, saying they will not sit down with him until he fires his government and releases all arrested demonstrators.

That stance reflected their growing confidence after the abrupt withdrawal of riot police from parts of Ukraine's capital early Wednesday raised protesters' hopes that weeks of demonstrations have eroded police support for Yanukovych and his government.

Yanukovych issued an invitation late in the day to political, religious and civil figures to join a national dialogue. But it gave no details about a proposed date for the talks — and could have been merely an attempt to buy time and mollify Western officials.

The opposition reaction was scathing.

"Instead of a round table, what we got is a breakup (with) truncheons. The authorities are driving into a dead end," opposition leader Oleksandr Turchynov said.

Yuri Lutsenko, a former Interior Minister who is now another opposition leader, said the police retreat shows that "basically only some units remain" loyal to Yanukovych.

Earlier on Wednesday, Ukrainian police pulled back as protesters claimed victory after an overnight face-off in which authorities removed barricades and tents and scuffled with demonstrators occupying Kiev's main square.

Squadrons of police in helmets and bearing metal shields converged at about 1 a.m. on Independence Square, but thousands of protesters put up fierce resistance for hours, shoving back at police lines to keep them away from key sites.

The Ukrainian chief of police issued a statement insisting there would be no attempt to break up the demonstrations. 

"No one is encroaching on the rights of citizens to peaceful protest," said Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko in a statement earlier Wednesday, which did not explain why thousands of helmeted and shield-bearing police were deployed in the first place.

"This is a great victory," Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a top opposition leader, shouted from the stage at Independence Square as the police backed down.

Throughout the standoff the police appeared to be under orders to refrain from excessive force, unlike the violent beatings of protesters in recent weeks. But several demonstrators and police were still injured.

The reaction from the United States to the Ukrainian government’s actions was critical.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the U.S. was appalled by recent clashes in the capital of Kiev. He called on President Viktor Yanukovych to respect his people's right to protest and assemble.

While U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed "disgust with the decision of Ukrainian authorities to meet the peaceful protest ... with riot police, bulldozers, and batons, rather than with respect for democratic rights and human dignity."

In the overnight showdown, scuffles broke out between police and opposition lawmakers, one of whom lay down on the snow trying to block a vehicle from advancing on the camp. An Orthodox priest sang prayers, and a popular Ukrainian rock song with the lyrics "I will not give up without a fight" blared from loudspeakers over the square. Pop singer Ruslana sang the national anthem and cheered protesters from the stage.

One protester stripped to his waist in the frigid air, got down on his knees and shouted "Stop this .... We are one people!"

After some of the barricades and tents were dismantled, police and city workers began to remove debris with bulldozers. Policemen used what appeared to be chain saws to clear the barricades.

But as the sun rose over Kiev in the morning, the police had not been able to drive back the protesters on the square or to storm the city administration building, where demonstrators poured water on the freezing building's steps and on policemen from open windows.

"We want to cool Yanukovych down a little bit," said 35-year-old Oleg Stri, who was among those throwing water. "Hotheads have to understand that the use of force will call for an equally strong reaction from the Ukrainians, who are capable of sweeping away this government."

The police eventually retreated into a van. "They had to leave, there were just too many people here," said Andrei Govdun, a protester.

Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko, who is a reigning world heavyweight boxing champion, urged Ukrainians to rush to the center of the capital to defend democracy.

"We will say no to a police state, no to a dictatorship," he told protesters in the square. He said the overnight action against the protesters blocked any chance of compromise, according to Reuters.

The overnight confrontation unfolded as EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland were in Kiev to talk to the government and the opposition to work out a solution.

"The authorities didn't need to act under the coverage of night to engage with the society by using police," Ashton said in a statement after the police action started. "Dialogue with political forces and society and use of arguments is always better than the argument of force."

The current protests began in late November when Yanukovych backed away from a pact that would deepen the former Soviet republic's economic ties with the 28-nation European Union — a deal that surveys showed was supported by nearly half the population.

They are the biggest public demonstrations since Ukraine's pro-democracy Orange Revolution. Those protests, which also took place largely in Independence Square, succeeded in forcing the annulment of Yanukovych's fraud-tainted presidential victory in 2004, and ushered his pro-Western opponents into power. Yanukovych subsequently returned to the presidency in the 2010 vote, drawing on support from heavily industrialized eastern Ukraine where there are many Russian speakers.

The Associated Press and Reuters