Bbc news ukraine - BBC News Ukrainian

A fragile alliance of anti-Kuchma forces, from pro-Western democrats, socialists, business interests and nationalists united behind opposition leader and former prime minister Viktor Yushchenko, who won the presidency.

Sheltering in a nearby building, he says: 'It just shows how quickly things can change here.

The Russian attack on the capital would likely be coordinated with a push by troops on southern and eastern fronts - Crimea and Donbass - aimed at pinning down Ukrainian armed forces so they cannot retreat and reinforce the city, officials told author Michael Weiss.

Europe's second largest country, Ukraine is a land of wide, fertile agricultural plains, with large pockets of heavy industry in the east.