Vitali Klitschko

Klitschko Fire

 

Vitali Klitschko Tells Parliament Ukrainian President Has Left Kiev After Impeachment, New Presidential Elections Set For May 25, Violent Anti-Government Protests Continue

By Robert Brizel, Head RCM Boxing Correspondent

“Today he (President Yanukovich) left the capital,” opposition leader Dr. Vitaly Klitschko, the retired world heavyweight boxing champion, told an emergency session of Ukrainian Parliament about the president. “Millions of Ukrainians see only one choice – early presidential and parliamentary elections.”

 

Former Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovich, impeached by the Ukrainian Parliament, stated he would not resign before being impeached, and the actions of parliament were illegal. “The events witnessed by our country and the whole world are an example of a coup d’état,” he said, comparing the efforts to remove him from office to the rise of the Nazis to power in Germany in the 1930s. He said he had come under fire. “My car was shot at. I am not afraid. I feel sorrow for my country.” The toppling of the Ukrainian government appears to have dramatically changed the future of the Republic of 46 million people. New Presidential elections have been set. The Ukrainian parliament, which decisively abandoned Yanukovich after loyalists defected, declared the president constitutionally unable to carry out his duties and set an early election for May 25.

 

A deal made by Yanukovich with Vitali Klitschko and other opposition leaders after police snipers gunned down protesters was insufficient for the protesters, who wanted President Yanukovich out of office, and did not want to wait till the end of the year for new elections.

 

The speaker of parliament, a Yanukovich loyalist, resigned Saturday, and the Ukrainian Parliament elected opposition legislator Oleksander Turchynov, a Tymoshenko loyalist, as his replacement.Among a series of Parliamentary acts passed which removed the Yanukovich government, the Ukrainian Parliament voted to free former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Her daughter said Tymoshenko was free, but is in the hospital in Kharkiv for back pain treatment after years of captivity.

 

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