Ban calls Ukraine’s Yanukovych, urges dialogue

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on Sunday to urge for dialogue with his rivals as large-scale protests gripped Kiev, the UN said.

A UN statement said Ban “expressed his grave concern about the situation in Ukraine, emphasized that there must be no resort to violence and appealed for peaceful dialogue among all parties concerned.”

The statement added that Ban “welcomed (Yanukovych’s) assurances that consultations would be initiated to defuse the situation.”

The Ukrainian government’s refusal to sign a key European Union pact, in the face of pressure from Russia, has triggered the biggest political crisis in the country since the 2004 Orange Revolution.

Around 200,000 pro-EU demonstrators flooded Kiev earlier in a show of force against Yanukovych, accusing him of “selling” Ukraine to Russia.