Ukraine lawmakers appeal for Western aid of $35b and also a arrest warrant aganist the oust president has been issued

Kiev: Ukraine issued an arrest warrant on Monday for ousted President Viktor Yanukovych over the “mass murder” of protesters and appealed for $35 billion in Western aid to pull the crisis-hit country from the brink of economic collapse. The dramatic announcements by the ex-Soviet nation’s new Western leaning team approved by Parliament over a chaotic weekend that saw the pro-Russian leader go into hiding came as a top EU envoy arrived in Kiev to buttress its sudden tilt away from Moscow. Three months of unceasing protests over Mr Yanukovych’s shock decision to spurn an historic pact with the Eur-opean Union in favour of closer ties with its old masters in the Kremlin culminated in days of carnage last week in Kiev that claimed almost 100 lives. Ukraine’s new interim head of the federal police said he held Mr Yanukovych and his team of feared security insiders directly responsible for the deaths.
“A criminal case has been launched over the mass murder of peaceful civilians. Mr Yanukovych and a number of other officials have been put on a wanted list,” acting interior minister Arsen Avakov said in a statement.
Mr Avakov added the ousted leader had tried to flee the country on Saturday.