LB.ua chronicles the latest events in Ukraine in English for foreign readers.
8:49. Yesterday, on December 19, personnel of the "Berkut" special forces was rewarded with "insignias" and "certificates" for the Maidan crackdown on November 30, when police used force against the pro-Europe demonstrators in Kyiv.
9:02. Security forces returned to the Maidan. A passage leading to Kyiv's Independence Square from European Square has been blocked by six buses with security forces.
9:18. U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt called on the Ukrainian authorities to report to the citizens what agreements they signed with Russia on December 17.
9:38. The Ukrainian government policies drove the economy of Ukraine into a deep recession, said the International Monetary Fund in its annual summary report.
9:43. There are around two thousand opposition protesters on the Maidan as of 9:30.
9:53. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski believes that Ukraine discredits European mediation missions of the previously made and unfulfilled promises, such as the still unresolved case of the former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, in which observers from the European Parliament, former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and former European Parliament President Pat Cox, acted as intermediaries.
10:15. The centre of Kyiv has been closed for cars.
10:41. Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said that Europe is open for Ukraine, but not for the current government of this country.
11:50. The opposition won't go to a round-table discussion with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich "because it's pointless", leader of the opposition party "Svoboda" Oleg Tyagnibok told reporters in parliament.
12:17. The cost of a PR campaign against Euromaidan exceeded million hryvnias.
12:20. The Ukrainian Security Service opened a criminal case for calling for a coup against chairman of the opposition "Batkivshchyna" faction Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the opposition party "Svoboda" leader Oleg Tyagnibok and deputy chairman of "Batkivshchyna" Alexander Turchinov.
12:30. The opposition initiates the creation of a Temporary Investigation Commission, which will investigate the activities of the police during the dispersal of peaceful demonstrations in Kyiv and other cities of Ukraine.
13:00. President Viktor Yanukovich approved a law "On amendments to some legislative acts of Ukraine concerning improvement of legislation on elections", thus providing the improvement of electoral legislation, which is one of the requirements for the European integration of Ukraine.
14:25. The Interior Ministry troops have unblocked access to Independence Square from European Square.
14:54. The EU summit confirmed the desire of the European Union to sign an Association Agreement with Ukraine, but did not offer Ukraine any prospect of membership.
"We reaffirm our generous offer to Ukraine - a proposal for political association", said European council president Herman Van Rompuy after the summit.
"We can not be compromised by short-term calculations and external pressure, it should be a free choice. We believe that the future of Ukraine is in Europe, and no one can resist it", he added.
15:30. The European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso says that EC sees no reason to continue talks on the signing of an Association Agreement with Kiev in the current environment.
15:47. The European Union is not concerned with the agreements between Ukraine and Russia, and does not consider them a problem, said the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at a press conference following the EU summit.
15:54. A round table "Unite Ukraine" takes place without President Viktor Yanukovich and the opposition leaders.
16:11. Leaders of the three opposition parties - Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Vitali Klitschko and Oleg Tyahnibok - announced a new National veche on Kyiv's Independence Square on Sunday, December 22.
16:32. Russia didn't understand Viktor Yanukovich's statements on accession to the specific provisions of the Customs Union.
16:43. Presidential Administration Head Sergei Liovochkin said that Viktor Yanukovich didn't sign any secret agreements in Moscow.
17:06. The European Council President Van Rompuy says that the EU supports a peaceful protest on the Maidan.
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