Ukraine's capital braced for a tense weekend today as supporters of President Viktor Yanukovych prepared to mount a massive rally right next to the camp of pro-EU protesters who demand his resignation.
Despite freezing conditions protesters have barricaded themselves on Kiev's Independence Square, where they have camped out for three weeks of protests sparked by Yanukovych's refusal to sign an integration deal with the European Union.
But perhaps adding fuel to the country's worst political crisis of a decade, supporters of the president announced they will hold a rally of their own and began to set up dozens of field kitchens not far from the protest camp tomorrow morning.
Ukraine's security services went on high alert, citing the continuing tension in Kiev's city centre and several recent anonymous bomb threats.
Organisers of the pro-government rally plan to bring 200,000 supporters to central Kiev and may stay there indefinitely, said Kiev police spokeswoman Olga Bilyk.
"Policemen will separate the two protests," she said.
On the square, known as the Maidan, several thousand of pro-EU protesters continued to build up the massive barricades overnight and stockpiled food and firewood.
The opposition has decried the rival rally as an artificial creation by Yanukovych's Regions Party that has brought in state employees under threat of firing them and planned to disrupt their three-week-long camp.
Under intense pressure, the Ukrainian leader is running out of time to decide whether to turn his politically volatile nation towards the West by signing a deal with the EU, or join a Moscow-led Customs Union.
As the embattled 63-year-old president hedges his bets, the opposition has called for another monster rally after hundreds of thousands swelled the central square last weekend.
The US State Department warned Washington would be watching the rallies closely, urging Ukraine authorities to steer clear of strong-arm tactics just days after riot police stormed protesters' barricades in a failed bid to reclaim the square.
Protesters have now sealed it with barricades topped with barbed wire and the blue and yellow flags of Ukraine and the EU.
Various celebrities have been keeping the protest mood going, including sports idol and heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, the younger brother of opposition leader and boxing champion Vitali.
"When you have a dream, desire, and potential, you will persevere anything," Klitschko said from the stage late Friday.
