Negotiations between EU foreign ministers, Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leaders went on all night. It seems they have found an agreement on the crisis in Kiev. This was announced by the Ukrainian presidency.
The presidency announced in a statement that the agreement will be signed at noon, 11 in Italy. The agreement provides for early presidential elections, a coalition government and constitutional reform, according to forecasts by Ukrainian TV.
However, the French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, one of the members of the European troika engaged in mediation between the government and the opposition to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, calls for caution on the agreement. In telephone connection with a French radio from Beijing, where he moved in the night, after the intense consultations in Kiev, Fabius explained that the opposition needs to consult and that there will be "nothing definitive before the end of the morning ”.
Despite the truce announced the day before yesterday by President Viktor Yanukovych, the Ukrainian capital fell back into chaos yesterday morning and into the fire of pistols and automatic weapons that caused dozens and dozens of deaths: "hundreds", according to estimates by Sviatoslav Khanenko, deputy of the nationalist Svoboda party and head of the medical services of the square; 64 (including those of the last two days), according to the Kyiv Municipality Health Department. Hundreds of people were injured and 67 policemen - according to reports from the Ministry of the Interior - are held hostage by the insurgents.
It is not known who started the fire. Protesters accuse security forces of violating ceasefire by attempting renewed assault on Maidan barricades, snipers were seen firing from rooftops. For its part, the government admits for the first time the use of real bullets by the agents, but speaks of a "legitimate defense against the extremists of the square", starting with the belligerent far-right activists of 'Pravi Sektor', who they had immediately rejected any truce. However, the mayor of Kiev rejects the "bloodbath" and abandons Yanukovych's party.
After the violence of recent days, which threatens to call into question Russian financial aid and the country's solvency, the rating agency Standard & Poor's has downgraded Ukraine's rating. The country's rating drops to 'CCC', a grade which corresponds to a situation close to bankruptcy with negative prospects, i.e. a probable further future downgrade.
