Yanukovych backed off the association agreement on the grounds that the EU was not providing adequate compensation for the potential losses in trade with Russia that the economically struggling country would face under the pact. Russia, which for centuries controlled or exerted heavy influence on Ukraine, wants the country to join a customs union, analogous to the EU, which also includes Belarus and Kazakhstan.
The opposition says that union would effectively reconstitute the Soviet Union and remain suspicious that Yanukovych intends to agree to the customs union when he meets Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.
“What is happening on Maidan today? It is an anticolonial revolution. Above all, Ukrainians turned out to say to Moscow: ‘we are no longer under your command, we are an independent country,” Yuriy Lutsenko, a top opposition official and former Interior Minister, told the crowd.
U.S. Senators John McCain and Chris Murphy also addressed the crowd, expressing support for the protesters and their European ambitions.
“We are here because your peaceful process and peaceful protest is inspiring your country and inspiring the world,” McCain said. “Ukraine will make Europe better and Europe will make Ukraine better.”
That was a polar opposition to the views of many at the pro-government rally.
“We’ll become the slaves of Europe if we go into it,” said 43-year-old demonstrator Segei Antonovich. “Loook at history – only union with Russia can save Ukraine from catastrophe.”
McCain also singled out the police, saying “we ask that you always be guided by your duty to protect your fellow citizens.”