Ewa Malcher
The foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland Thursday in talks with Ukrainian state head Viktor Yanukovych "established a readiness for early presidential and parliamentary elections" still this year, PM Donald Tusk said on Thursday evening.
Commenting the ongoing talks with Yanukovych and the Ukrainian opposition in Kiev, Tusk said there was also a "readiness" to form a national unity government during the next 10 days and introduce changes in the Ukrainian constitution until this summer.
Tusk remarked, however, that it was difficult to take agreements with Yanukovych seriously as "experience showed that obligations drawn by the Ukrainian administration are rarely kept".
Tusk revealed that the talks with Yanukovych concerned "a certain document" which offered some chances of halting violence in the country. Among others the document spoke about early presidential and parliamentary elections in Ukraine, the PM said.
Earlier on Thursday Tusk discussed the Ukrainian situation with former President Aleksander Kwasniewski, ex-PM Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, opposition leaders and MEPs. During the meeting Tusk reported on the talks with Yanukovych.
According to Tusk a civil war in Ukraine was "very realistic". He also informed that on Friday the EU planned to specify sanctions against Ukrainian leaders held responsible for bloodshed in the country.
"The events of the past night and this morning show that the worst scenario of all, the one we feared most - civil war - has become very realistic", Tusk said. In this context he stressed the importance of a united stand on Ukraine by Polish politicians.
According to the Ukrainian opposition over 70 people have died since the Tuesday escalation of heavy fighting between pro-EU demonstrators and police in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. Official Ukrainian sources report 67 deaths.
Earlier on Thursday the EU decided to impose travel and financial sanctions on members of the Ukrainian authorities considered responsible for the present crisis. Also planned is an embargo on all equipment that could be used as repression instruments. (PAP)
