-- EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said after an afternoon meeting that President Viktor Yanukovych pledged to her that "something should be done in the course of the next 24 hours."
-- Yanukovych then announced he had invited the opposition to participate in dialogue. He added that Ukrainian authorities would "act only within the law and never use force against peaceful assemblies."
-- Opposition parties have rejected negotiations unless all of their demands are met. UDAR leader Vitali Klitschko said the overnight crackdown on December 10-11 meant that "Yanukovich closed off the path to any kind of compromise."
-- Early on December 11, about 10 hours after police first began to clear Independence Square and other protest sites in Kyiv overnight, police withdrew from those locations. People have returned to Independence Square and are rebuilding barricades.
-- Former Interior Minister and Yulia Tymoshenko ally Yuriy Lutsenko announced that the next major rally in the capital was planned for December 13 and urged people to come to Independence Square.
-- Prime Minister Mykola Azarov announced that Ukraine was requesting 20 billion euros in financial aid from the European Union to help lay the groundwork for an Association Agreement.
-- U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland went personally to Independence Square to hand out food to riot police and protesters, then met with President Viktor Yanukovych and said the United States believed it was still possible to save Ukraine's "European future." Secretary of State John Kerry had said earlier that he was "disgusted" by the government's overnight actions in Kyiv. A State Department spokesperson said all options, including sanctions, were on the table.
EU Commission spokesman Olivier Bailly on PM Azarov's plea for 20 billion euros:
"We have also seen different figures flying around when it comes to compensation or aid that would be necessary to Ukraine to help the implementation of an agreement with the European Union. We will not discuss figures, we will not comment on these figures. We consider that this agreement is good for Ukraine's prosperity, this agreement is about investment, this agreement is about prosperity in the future of Ukraine. We are not going to play with figure and have an escalation of figures. We consider that Ukraine's prosperity and Ukraine's future cannot be subject to a call of tender where the highest bidder will get a prize."
11:3211.12.2013
Is this the kind of company you want to keep, President Yanukovych?
Lithuanian FM Linas Linkevicius: "The Ukrainian authorities to a greater degree have lost their credibility with the European Union."
German FM Guido Westerwelle: "A real political dialogue must now be launched, not just continually promised."
11:2711.12.2013
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland visiting Independence Square today, after police had cleared away the protest camp overnight. She offered food to security forces and to protesters:
The deputy chairman of Ukraine's opposition Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party, Hryhoriy Nemyrya, has left for Strasbourg to meet with European Parliament members and EU politicians. Batkivshchyna officials say Nemyrya, who is the chairman of Ukraine's parliamentary Committee for European Integration, left Kyiv on Wednesday at the request of the party's jailed chairwoman, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
11:1811.12.2013
Daily protest dog calls for impeaching authorities.
In connection with the request for 20 billion euros in EU aid, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov says, according to Reuters, "We suggest that the European Union invest in mutually profitable projects such as the modernization and development of European transport corridors, and the creation of a new corridor to the Caucasus."
11:1411.12.2013
Someone doesn't think much of Russian channel Rossiya 24's coverage of the Ukrainian protests.
