KIEV, April 17. /ITAR-TASS/. The Ukrainian Communist Party's leader, parliament member and presidential candidate Petro Symonenko hopes the four-party talks in Geneva (the United States, the EU, Russia and Ukraine) will put an end to "the madness of civil war", the party's press service said on Thursday.

"I think the main issue of the four-party talks today is to stop the madness of civil war and the use of the army against its own people," Simonenko said. "The fact that the Ukrainian authorities do not hear people is one more reason for me to state it is necessary to immediately reset the authorities," he added.

The parliament member, speaking at a press conference in Kiev about the special operation in eastern Ukraine, cited the acting defence minister as saying on Wednesday at a closed meeting of the Verkhovna Rada that more than 1,100 armored vehicles were used against Ukrainian citizens. In violation of the country's constitution, 50,000 armed servicemen were sent to act against Ukrainian citizens in the so-called "anti-terrorist operation", the deputy noted.

Symonenko expressed concern over activities of US officials in Ukraine. "I asked Turchynov (Ukrainian parliament-appointed acting president) to explain for what purpose the CIA director had arrived in Ukraine under another name. He didn't answer. For what purpose did he hold a meeting with senior Ukrainian officials? Why was a US representative present in the Verkhovna Rada? I want all of us to be patriots of Ukraine, we must protect Ukraine's people and our statehood," he said.