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World|politics|February 22, 2014 / 04:03 PM
Ukraine uneasy as peace deal sinks in, President leaves town

AKIPRESS.COM - ukraine In Ukraine, neither protesters, opposition politicians nor embattled President Viktor Yanukovych had what they wanted Saturday after a week of bloodshed.

Enthusiasm was muted for the peace deal brokered among them a day before by the foreign ministers of Poland, Germany and France, reported CNN.

Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko on Saturday urged Ukraine's parliament to enact a resolution calling for the President's immediate resignation and for early presidential elections to be held by May 25th.

During the session, resignations were announced for two of his political allies in parliament, including the speaker of parliament. A deputy speaker read them live on the parliament's television channel.

Protesters who occupied Kiev's Maidan, or Independence Square, for months and watched dozens of fellow demonstrators die this week want him out of office.

A U.S. State Department official said the deal is "very, very fragile."

While there is an apparent truce, anger and anxiety hang heavy in the air.

And Yanukovych may have been out of town.

He left for Ukraine's second's largest city of Kharkiv for a meeting, said a senior U.S. State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official had been on the phone with Ukraine's foreign minister.

"Not unusual," the official said.

Yanukovych has strong support in the East, where many ethnic Russians live. The raging opposition he faced was triggered by his loyalty to Russia and a decision to turn away from the European Union.

His absence from the capital comes during tense times, and many don't want to see him return to the presidential palace.

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