DHAKA: Ukraine interim president Oleksandr Turchynov said on Wednesday as he opened round-table talks on Ukraine’s deepening crisis that Kiev was ready to listen to pro-Russian rebels in the east but would not bow to blackmail.

‘Those with weapons in hand who are waging a war against their own country and dictating the will of a neighbouring country will answer before the law. We will not yield to blackmail,’ he said, reports The Straits Times.

‘We are ready to listen to the people of the east but they must not shoot, loot or occupy government buildings.’

BDST: 2131 HRS, MAY 14, 2014