Saturday, February 22
14:17 GMT
Ukraine's armed forces cannot and will not be involved in political conflict, the Ministry of Defense has stated.14:06 GMT
"Units of the armed forces of Ukraine are located in places of permanent deployment and perform scheduled tasks," the statement published on the Ministry's webpage reads.
"Armed forces are faithful to their constitutional duty and cannot be dragged into an internal political conflict," the Chief of General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said. "Now I am fully controlling the situation in the Armed forces of Ukraine."
Yanukovich has accused the opposition of staging a coup d'etat and has no plans to resign, according to advisor Anna German, a Party of Regions deputy, who was interviewed by UNIAN news agency.13:48 GMT
Party of Regions deputy Vadim Kolesnichenko has blamed "foreign agents" for the unfolding events.13:47 GMT
"The situation in Kiev has taken years to prepare. Foreign agents of influence have spent over $10 billion in recent years to execute this coup. The money has been channeled into so-called non-governmental organizations," Kolesnichenko told the ITAR-TASS news agency.
Opposition deputies claim they have received verbal assurances from Yanukovich that he will resign.
"We have received a verbal promise from Yanukovich that he will step down. Now, we are waiting for written confirmation," said Nikolay Kerinchuk from Yulia Tymoshenko's Fatherland party.
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