SEVERDONETSK, Ukraine, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Ukraine is only a step away from "the abyss," its controversial president-elect Viktor Yanukovych said Sunday.
Yanukovych, who has been declared president elect by the Ukrainian Central Elections Commission, told a congress of representatives of local governments from 15 regions of the former Soviet republic that the nation was "a step away from the abyss," Interfax-Ukraine news agency said.
Supporters of Viktor Yushchenko, Yanukovych's opponent in the Nov. 21 run off presidential election claim that the results were fixed to secure Yanukovych's ivictory. Ukraine has been shaken by massive popular protests over the past week.
"I am pleading to you not to take any radical measures. If only one drop of blood is shed, we won't be able to stop the flow. It will remain on the consciences of the people who provoked the situation," Yanukovych said according to the Interfax-Ukraine report. "There remains one step to the abyss today."
"Regions in the west are not paying for the fuel they are receiving today," he said. "Payments to the budget have been virtually stopped. After a little while everything will fall into an abyss. And I request you to stop that."
