Opposition sets up own 'national guard'

The Ukrainian opposition announced last night that it had set up a "national guard" to co-ordinate members of the army and police who had defected.

Moments after the announcement made by Viktor Yushchenko, the opposition leader, to hundreds of thousands of his supporters in the centre of Kiev, a number of military officers stood on stage to declare their loyalty to him.

A lieutenant-colonel and a major said that fellow officers and the men they commanded wanted to be placed under Mr Yushchenko's command. The colonel said: "We will not carry out illegal orders to use force against the people. We support president Yushchenko. If he orders, we will come here with a thousand men tomorrow."

The officers said that, in the four days of demonstration in the Ukrainian capital, soldiers had been arriving to join the protesters and were ready to help in the event of any attack against them. Yesterday was the first time serving officers of the security forces had emerged alongside opposition politicians to declare their loyalty to Mr Yushchenko.

Many local and regional governments across Ukraine have declared loyalty to Mr Yushchenko and members of the security forces have said they will obey the orders of the pro-Yushchenko authorities. Armed forces from some cities have been escorting Yushchenko supporters into Kiev through cordons designed to keep them out. There have been no reports of armed conflict between different forces.

Demonstratorssurrounding the presidential administrationhave been exchanging friendly remarks with special police units, armed with helmets and shields, who are guarding the building. Demonstrators were presenting armed men with flowers yesterday and, when the opposition crowd sang the national anthem yesterday, some of them mouthed the words.