Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), left, takes a photograph as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) makes a speech to pro-European integration protesters in Kiev Sunday.

A showdown between Russia, on one side, and the United States and the European Union, on the other, drew closer here Sunday, as two American senators told a crowd of hundreds of thousands of protesters that Ukraine’s future lies to the west, not the east.

“We are here,” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), “to support your just cause: the sovereign right to determine [Ukraine’s] own destiny freely and independently. And the destiny you seek lies in Europe.”

Added Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.): “Ukraine’s future stands with Europe, and the U.S. stands with Ukraine.”

“Molodtsi,” the crowd chanted in Ukrainian, indicating its approval. But the president whom the opposition so despises, Viktor Yanukovych, is heading Tuesday for Russia to cement deals involving natural gas purchases and financial credits to prop up his country’s ailing economy.

Yanukovych has vowed that he will not commit Ukraine to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s new Eurasian Customs Union, but the Ukrainian opposition doesn’t believe him.

Murphy, McCain and European politicians who addressed the crowd in Kiev on Sunday turned up the pressure on Yanukovych, promising that their governments will consider individual financial sanctions against responsible Ukrainian officials if there is any further outbreak of police violence against the protesters who come and go at the semi-permanent encampment on Kiev’s Independence Square.

【麦凯恩乌克兰“示威” 为反对派助阵】相关文章：

★ 双语：坏习惯快走开 8条建议让你告别自己的陋习

★ 360与百度在搜索领域展开攻防战

★ 克里姆林宫如何“摆平”寡头？

★ 阿里巴巴业绩大幅增长

★ 美国商学院遭遇募资难

★ 奥巴马称赞缅甸政治改革

★ 加媒抱怨“亚洲学生太多” 亚裔表示强烈不满

★ 双语：中国人均寿命增速有点慢

★ 保障全球粮食供应安全亟待行动

★ 公司“首席”何其多