The crisis deepens in Ukraine

By Aussiegirl

The following dispatch is from the Kyiv Post online:


Yushchenko calls on soldiers and militia to defend Ukrainian people
Nov 24, 17:06

"The criminals want to send you to the barricades," he tells nations cops, soldiers

(Korrespondent.net) - Presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko called on the leaders of the armed forces and security forces to defy all orders to take action against the Ukrainian people, appealing to them to take care of the country's citizens, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

Flanked by Ukrainian boxer Volodymyr Klitschko, pop star Ruslana, and Okean Elzy rock band leader Slavko Vakarchuk, Yushchenko made the appeal in front of several hundred thousand people on Maidan Nezalezhnosti during late afternoon of Nov. 24.

Yushchenko appealed "on behalf of the Ukrainian nation, which had chosen him president," to the leaders of the army and the security structure, but also to the soldiers and militiamen themselves."
He underlined that the choice of the people had been defiled, and that what was happening in Ukraine at the moment was a crime on the part of the authorities, "who want to maintain a regime of lawlessness, corruption, and abuse of human rights," backed up by the military and the security organs.

"Thousands of people in epaulets, dozens of army units and organs of the Interior Ministry have already given their word. They're all with the Ukrainian people. On the side of the people � the place of every honest person," Yushchenko announced.

"The criminals want to send you to the barricades. There won't be found there the sons of those who are pushing you into bloodshed. They're running away. But we're staying with you, we're building a new Ukraine. The country needs your honesty, your experience, and your professionalism," he said in his appeal.

Yushchenko told the leaders of the security structures that the responsibility for maintaining order lies with them, and them to defy all orders to turn their arms on the population. He said that the opposition was using only legal means, and that only the security forces could provoke violence.

"You're obliged in any case not to allow foreign armed forces onto Ukrainian territory," Yushchenko said.

"I appeal to all to whom the people have entrusted weapons � stand up for the defense of the country... The time has come to defend our relatives, our brothers and sisters, our children," Yushchenko said.