Yanukovich did not promise Ashton to find solution within one day

The announcement that Victor Yanukovich promised Catherine Ashton to find a way out of the crisis within one day was a translation mistake, press officer of the EU Delegation to Ukraine David Stulik told Euroradio:

“It was a bad translation. She said the following: ‘I met President Yanukovich twice in the last 24 hours and was given a lot of explanations about the things that had to be done (to find a way out of the crisis – Euroradio).’ There was no ultimatum and there were no promises. The details of the meeting have not been made public yet.”

Catherine Ashton left Kiev for Brussels in the evening of December 11. She will meet European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy there today. Catherine Ashton will share her observations concerning the situation in Ukraine and her conclusions made after the meetings with President Yanukovich, ex-Presidents Kuchma, Kravchuk and Yushchenko, opposition leaders and Maidan civil activists with the EU administration.

Catherine Ashton arrived in Kiev on December 10. She negotiated with Victor Yanukovich, met opposition leaders and visited Maidan. Ashton’s representative Maja Kocijancic wrote on Twitter that "all the necessary issues were discussed with the Ukrainian President". The visit was supposed to finish after that. However, the police started dispersing Maidan that night and Catherine Ashton stayed in Kiev to meet Yanukovich once again and listen to his explanations.

Photo: Fotolia