Ukrainian opposition leader urges picketing to stop president entering office building

An opposition leader has urged pro-European Union demonstrators to picket the Ukrainian president's office building in Kyiv to prevent President Viktor Yanukovych from entering it.

"We must have pickets outside every entrance and exit, and he would provisionally stay at Mezhyhirya [the presidential residence near Kyiv]," Oleksandr Turchynov, first deputy head of the Batkivschyna Party, told a rally near the president's office.

Turchynov claimed that Yanukovych did not want a negotiated solution to the crisis.

"For this reason, he has commanded the Party of Regions guys not to give a single vote to the government of [Prime Minister Mykola] Azarov and commanded the Communists not to give a single vote either. Yanukovych is hoping Russia will help him and we won't be able to stand our ground," Turchynov said.

A motion of no confidence in the government was defeated in parliament on Tuesday. Opposition protesters have been picketing the Cabinet headquarters for several days, disrupting the government's work.