29/01/2014 16:36
Ex-president warns Ukraine 'on brink of civil war'
Ukraine's first post-independence president has warned the country is on the "brink of civil war" as parliament debates an amnesty for protesters, the BBC said.
Leonid Kravchuk, president from 1991 to 1994, opened the debate in parliament by urging everyone involved to "act with the greatest responsibility."
President Viktor Yanukovych wants any amnesty conditional on demonstrators leaving official buildings.
The opposition has so far ruled this out and is demanding early elections.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and his cabinet resigned after months of protests.
Parliament also scrapped a controversial anti-protest law in the biggest concession yet to opposition protesters.
Leonid Kravchuk told lawmakers that "all the world acknowledges and Ukraine acknowledges that the state is on the brink of civil war."
"It is a revolution. It is a dramatic situation in which we must act with the greatest responsibility," he said in an emotional address that earned him a standing ovation.
"We need to ease the confrontation between the sides and agree a plan to solve the conflict. We need to work on this plan step by step to ease the confrontation."