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Ukraine's embattled president has come face to face with the opposition leaders who have led protests against him for the past three weeks, in roundtable talks aimed at solving the political crisis that has gripped the country.
Viktor Yanukovych promised a moratorium on violence against the protesters who have occupied his capital city, but the opposition left the meeting unconvinced, and the mood in the capital remains tense as tens of thousands of people descend on Kiev from across the country for another weekend of protest.
Organisers say over 50,000 people are en route to the capital from western Ukraine to swell the ranks of the pro-Europe protest that has taken root in Kiev's Independence Square, known as the maidan. Simultaneously, the government is believed to be mobilising people from its support base in the east and south of the country to hold a giant "anti-maidan" over the weekend, sparking rumours of potential clashes and provocations.
Journalists and witnesses in provincial towns spoke of special trains being put on to transport government workers to Kiev to take part in weekend rallies in support of Yanukovych.
The president and the prime minister, Mykola Azarov, sat at the table together with the three main opposition leaders, the first time that he has spoken to them since the protests that have paralysed Kiev began.
The three main opposition leaders – former heavyweight boxer Vitali Klitschko, nationalist Oleh Tyahnibok and Arseniy Yatsenyuk from jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko's party – arrived late at the meeting. When they began speaking, the televised feed of the discussion was mysteriously cut off.
The trio demanded that Yanukovych sack Azarov, as well as punish those responsible for using force. Klitschko warned Yanukovych of further violence. "It will have horrible consequences for the country and personally for you," he said. "You are personally responsible for everything that is happening."
The president continued to send mixed signals over whether Ukraine will sign the association agreement with the EU, a trade pact that he pulled out of at the final moment last month, sparking protests that have refused to fade.
Azarov said that signing the agreement would have led to the "definite collapse of the economy". Kiev is asking the EU for billions of euros in loans to tide over its fragile economy if it signs. Russia has pressured Yanukovych not to sign, and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev again criticised western politicians on Friday, saying they were guilty of "crude intervention" in the policies of a sovereign state by pushing the deal.
Yanukovych insisted that Ukraine was still interested in European integration, but said the deal as it was offered contradicted Ukraine's national interests. "Work was done not simply badly, but in violation of national interests, and an investigation will be held," he said. "Those who worked on it will be suspended, and maybe even fired."
Patriarch Filaret, the powerful head of the Ukrainian Orthodox church, told Yanukovych that signing any deals with Russia would only radicalise the protest, and also warned against violent attempts to clear protesters.
"Force will only radicalise the protest and cause our country to slide into a full-scale civil conflict," said the patriarch.
A tent city has been set up in Independence Square, while two government buildings have been occupied and the city's statue of Lenin torn down. An attempt early on Wednesday morning to storm the barricades around the square with thousands of riot police led to a prolonged standoff which ended when police withdrew again from the centre. The protesters have now rebuilt the barricades twice as high, with sandbags filled with snow, tyres and metal railings.
Yanukovych announced a moratorium on the use of force at the roundtable, and promised to investigate those responsible for violence. The president left the talks surrounded by a scrum of journalists but only said, smiling, "Everything will be fine."
"There are no results," Klitschko told the Guardian after the meeting. "Only declarations, promises, but no concrete action."
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