Opposition Says No to Ukraine on Power Share

Protesters lit tires aflame during clashes with riot police in Kiev. It was unclear if they would accept the president’s concessions. Volodymyr Shuvayev/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

nytimes.com - by David M. Herszenhorn - January 25, 2014

KIEV, Ukraine — In a striking concession aimed at defusing Ukraine’s civil uprising and preserving his own grip on power, President Viktor F. Yanukovych on Saturday offered to install opposition leaders in top posts in a reshaped government, but they swiftly rebuffed the offer to the delight of thousands of protesters on the street craving a fuller victory in the days ahead.

With mass protests spreading across the country, Mr. Yanukovych proposed one opposition figure, Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, as prime minister and another, the former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, as vice prime minister for humanitarian affairs. Mr. Yatsenyuk is a leader of Fatherland, the party of Mr. Yanukovych’s archrival, the jailed former prime minister, Yulia V. Tymoshenko.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)