Ukraine Is Caught in a Tug of War

The antigovernment protests in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev are finally getting results. The prime minister has resigned, and President Viktor Yanukovych, who triggered the demonstrations by abruptly refusing to sign a trade treaty with the European Union, has 60 days to form a new government. Yet the protesters in Independence Square say they won’t budge until Yanukovych calls new elections, which polls suggest he would lose by a wide margin. “People will resist,” says Volodya, a computer programmer from Kirovohrad patrolling the area, who declined to give his last name. “They will stay here until the bitter end.”

The crisis, which has claimed the lives of six demonstrators, is not winding to a close. Even if the protesters get everything they demand, the country will likely remain deeply divided over relations with its neighbors, and there are no straightforward solutions for its economic problems. A poll by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology found that 39 percent of Ukrainians want to join the EU, while 37 percent prefer closer ties with Russia. Pro-EU sentiment prevails in Kiev and western Ukraine, while the south and east, settled by ethnic Russians in tsarist times, are pro-Russia.