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Situation in Ukraine’s north-eastern Kharkov worsens

KHARKOV, February 23, (ITAR-TASS) - About 3,000 people have taken part on Saturday in protest rallies in the streets of Kharkov, a city in north-eastern Ukraine, where the situation has worsened over the past few days, the director of the Kharkov city council’s public relations department, Yuri Sidorenko, has told Tass.

“At the present, moment about 3,000 people take part in protest rallies. The main street of the city has been blocked, which has caused huge traffic jams,” he said. “Protesters have destroyed a Cheese Fare Week park that was to be opened on Monday, February 24. Protesters have announced the dismantlement of a monument to Lenin for Sunday,” Sidorenko added.

He said mainly Kharkov residents were taking part in protests, noting that their numerical strength had sizably grown from Friday.

“From February 21, when the opposition won a victory so to say, the number of protesters has grown fivefold,” Sidorenko said.

The situation in the city is tense.

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