Ukraine's president calls on opposition to reach compromise

Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovich called on the opposition to find a common ground and reach a compromise for the future of the country. "I always believed that the use of force is a wrong way to go. There is a better and a more efficient option - find a common ground. Find a compromise. Reach an agreement. I already said more than once that in this case, the government will lose power. The opposition will lose too. But, Ukraine will win," Yanukovich said in a statement released on his website, Voice of Russia reported. Ukrainian president urged leaders of the opposition to dissociate themselves from radicals and warned them that otherwise he will "talk differently" with them. Yanukovich also said in a statement some members of the anti-government opposition had crossed a line when they called on their supporters to bring weapons to the demonstration in the central square of Ukraine's capital, Kiev. The president called those people "criminals" and said they would face justice in court. More than 20 people have been killed in clashes between anti-government protesters and police that erupted on Tuesday in Kiev, including seven policemen killed by gun fire. Embattled Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has told opposition leaders that he will not call off a bloody police assault on the opposition's main protest camp on Kiev's Independence Square, opposition leader Vitali Klitschko said. "Yanukovych said that there is only one option...to clear Maidan and that everyone has to go home," Klitschko told independent Hromadske TV after meeting Yanukovych.