BRUSSELS (AP) The European Union's top diplomat is heading to Kiev to try to help Ukrainians find an exit from the political standoff dividing them.
Catherine Ashton will be in Ukraine's capital Tuesday and Wednesday. EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso says she will try to help defuse "the very tense solution that Ukraine is living today."
Protesters flooded Kiev's streets after Ukraine's president refused to sign a partnership agreement with the European Union and opted instead for closer ties with Russia. Barroso hailed the demonstrators Monday, saying they are "writing the new narrative for Europe."
Barroso said: "When we see in the cold streets of Kiev, men and women with the European flag, fighting for that European flag, it is because they are also fighting for Ukraine and for their future."
