Ukraine crisis: Viktor Yanukovych leaves Kiev for support base

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has flown out of Kiev to visit Ukraine's second largest city Kharkiv, considered his eastern political base.

A US official said the embattled president made the trip to attend a meeting. Two key allies, parliamentary speaker Volodomyr Rybak and presidential administration chief Andrei Kluyev, were also reported to be on board the aircraft.

"Our information, and I talked to the foreign minister about half an hour ago, is that President Yanukovych has gone out to Kharkiv... to some kind of a meeting that is taking place out there, and that he has now arrived," the official said.

Asked about rumours that Mr Yanukovych had "fled" Kiev, after signing a deal with the Ukrainian opposition, the official appeared to play down the suggestion.

"As you know, it is not unusual after he makes large political moves for him to visit the east, where his base is," the official said.

Ukraine's leader agreed on a deal with the opposition in an effort to end the ex-Soviet country's worst crisis since independence, after three days of carnage left nearly 100 protesters dead.

But Mr Yanukovych's dramatic decision to hold early elections and form a new unity government while granting amnesty for those involved in the violence was met with skepticism or even hostility by nearly 40,000 protesters who gathered on central Kiev's main square - many of them frustrated the leader was not stepping down.

The president's trip to Kharkiv came as Barack Obama rang his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to discuss the fragile peace in Ukraine.

The men agreed that a deal aimed at halting bloody clashes between government forces and protesters in Ukraine needs to be quickly implemented so that the country stabilises, a US official said.

"They agreed that the agreement reached today needed to be implemented quickly, that it was very important to encourage all sides to refrain from violence, that there was a real opportunity here for a peaceful outcome," a senior State Department official told reporters on a conference call.

The White House said details of the agreement are consistent with what the United States had been urging, such as a de-escalation of the violence, constitutional change, a coalition government and early elections.

The State Department official warned that the deal remains "very, very fragile".

"This has been a very tough sell and will continue to be a tough sell for the opposition to make to those on the streets. This is not least because of the horrible, horrible violence of the last two days," the official said.

Edited by Bonnie Malkin