EU's Ashton Advances Ukraine Trip to Tuesday

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is to fly to Ukraine on Tuesday, 48 hours earlier than previously scheduled, to help defuse the country's crisis, she announced Monday.

Ashton originally had been scheduled to visit Kiev at the end of the week as the European Union attempts to help mediate an end to the protest turmoil, but said in a statement: "I will fly to Kiev tomorrow (Tuesday) evening."

Her office told Agence France Presse she would leave after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Brussels on Tuesday and would spend Wednesday in Kiev before leaving for the Latvian capital Riga on Thursday.

Earlier the European Commission announced that another senior EU official, Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele, was also heading back to Ukraine for the second time in four days "to continue the efforts to help find a way out of the crisis."

In the Ukrainian capital, Ashton will meet embattled President Viktor Yanukovych and leaders of the opposition, said her spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic.

Saying she was "deeply concerned" by the situation, Ashton called in the statement for "both sides to reduce the tension" and for the violence to stop.

"I am alarmed by reports that the government is planning to declare a state of emergency. This would trigger a further downward spiral for Ukraine which would benefit no-one.

"I also urge the leaders of the opposition to dissociate themselves from those who resort to violence. The only solution to the crisis is a political one," she said.

She also urged the parliament, which is dominated by the president's party, to revoke a package of controversial anti-protest laws when it meets on Tuesday in Kiev.

Ukraine plunged into its worst crisis since independence after Yanukovych in November suddenly refused to sign a landmark political and trade deal with the EU that was years in the making.

He turned instead to the country's former master Russia, infuriating pro-EU Ukrainians and triggering street protests.

The demos have since snowballed into wider anti-government unrest. At least three protesters have been killed in clashes with security forces in Kiev.