After botched EU deal, Ukrainian president to visit Malta

The Ukrainian President's first official visit to a EU member state following last night's events in Vilnius will be to Malta.

The Maltese government confirmed the visit would take place, after seeking advice from the European Commission, the European Council and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs.

All three institutions agreed that the visit should not be cancelled. According to the government, the visit will take both a bilateral and European dimension, with Malta playing an important role in ensuring continuation of dialogue between the EU and Ukraine.

The European Union insisted with Malta the visit will symbolise Europe's message that the discussions with Ukraine will not be halted.

Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovich is expected to Malta between 9 and 10 December. The visit had been scheduled when Ukraine was still planning to sign the association agreement with the EU.

On the last day of the Eastern Partnership Summit in Lithuania, Ukraine confirmed it would delay signing the landmark trade agreement with the EU, insisting the West failed to offer enough immediate economic benefits.

European officials are blaming Russia for the eleventh hour pullout.

After years of planning the Eastern Partnership Summit and long hours of trade talks, the results at the summit were split: Ukraine and Armenia did not join, while Moldova, and Georgia signed the trade Association Agreement with the EU.

Yanukovich said he will reconsider negotiations only after Europe offers more attractive "economic aid to Ukraine."

Ukraine needs more time to get prepared "to minimalize any negative effects in the initial period, which will definitely be felt by vulnerable parts of Ukrainian society," Yanukovich said.

Another round of talks between Ukraine and the EU is scheduled for March 2014, where Kiev may ultimately decide to sign in, according to the Ukrainian president's advisor Andriy Honcharuk.

This will be two months before Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan will have a document ready to sign onto their Eurasian Economic Union - the extended version of the Customs Union.

But Yanukovich's decision opened the floodgates for protests in the Ukranian capital, with riot police attacking hundreds of protesters participating in a pro-European rally in Kyiv, activists said,

The protests, now widely known as EuroMaidan, started on November 21.

According to Yevheniya Zakrevskaya, a lawyer and activist, the police were using bats to hit the protesters.

The elderly, children, and women were hurt. Over 30 people were arrested.

"They chased those who tried to flee and hit them again. Lots of people were bleeding," she said. The protesters weren't warned or given any explanation of the actions by the police.

Activists said that protesters found refuge at an ancient church in Kyiv downtown - St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery.

Malta's Green Party Alternattiva Demokratika said that it should be the Ukranians themselves to decide what they want.

"Yanukovych's actions risk undermining the economic and democratic development of his country. It is a pity that after European leaders have shown their support for Ukraine, including the Maltese Prime Minister, President Yanukovych has allowed himself and his country to be blackmailed by Vladimir Putin," AD chairperson Arnold Cassola said.

The Greens insisted that the EU could not leave the country hanging: negotiations on the Association Agreement and a solution for Yulia Tymoshenko must continue.

"People protesting in Kiev demonstrating their support towards democracy need and deserve a European perspective. The EU must do everything possible to support this new pro-European movement, which is being driven by young Ukrainians."

AD said the EU should "finally speak out with a strong and united voice, including against the interference of Putin."