House fit for a tyrant: Protestors storm the sprawling, luxury estate of Ukraine's fugitive president which has its own private zoo, golf course and is half the size of Monaco



P rotestors took full control of the residence after the security detail charged with protecting the compound fled



Property is around an hour's drive from Kiev and stands as a symbol of the folly of the country's ousted president

Visitors rubbed their eyes in disbelief as they entered the compound and saw the scale of opulence

140-hectare estate has a garage full of luxury sports cars below the house in Mezhyhirya, an hours drive from Kiev

Anti-government demonstrators stormed the house on the day President Viktor Yanukovich fled the capital

His arch-nemesis Yulia Tymoshenko was released from prison and made a speech at Independence Square

Congratulated protestors for freeing the 'cancer' from Ukraine and called victims of the violence 'heroes'

The root of the problems in Ukraine stem from a political divide between the east and west




A beautiful forested estate of graceful waterways, summer houses and exotic gardens.

This is the home of Ukraine's fugitive president, who was dramatically ousted from power after one of the worst periods of violence in the country's history.



Ukraniains streamed to see Viktor Yanukovich's luxury estate, which has been closed off to the world for nearly a decade, and rubbed their eyes in disbelief when they were confronted by the scale of the opulence he built around him.

The property in Mezhyhirya, an hours drive from Kiev, has a golf course, helicopter pad and is situated in a country where the average salary is less than £300 a month.

Below the house, a garage is filled with classic sports cars worth millions, while in the exotic gardens Australian and African ostriches stretch their legs.

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Opulence: Ukranians walk around President Yanukovych's countryside residence in Mezhyhirya. The property has been closed off to the public during his reign The house became a tourist attraction for the day. Visitors were able to take a look at the exotic gardens and monuments dotted around the estate People wander around President Viktor Yanukovych's Mezhyhirya estate, which was abandoned by security Protesters try to play on a golf course at the Ukrainian President Yanukovych's countryside residence in Mezhyhirya, Kiev's region. Ukrainian security and volunteers from among Independence Square protesters have joined forces to protect the presidential countryside retreat from vandalism and looting A man wearing a kevlar vest and combat trousers plays golf on the president's private course A protester poses in a bathtub at the residence has the crowds take photos of some of the sprawling outhouses

Locals said that up to 3,000 security and support staff would arrive when Yanukovich planned a major social event.

Yanukovich, 63, who fled into hiding on Saturday as the turmoil of three months confrontation with his people caught up with him, relaxed at weekends in luxury behind high walls patrolled by scores of security guards.

When the dream ended and Yanukovich's staff fled the Gatsby-like mansion in the early hours of Saturday, the Kiev protest movement that had opposed him invited Ukrainians to go to see the opulence Yanukovich lived in.

As they poured in their thousands, by foot and by car, onto the 140-hectare grounds for a first glimpse at a luxury they could only suspect, Ukrainians gawped in wonderment at the fairytale surroundings.



People gaze through the windows of the lavish residence to see a long dining table below a two-tiered chandelier The marble floors are covered in intricate patterns and the room is surrounded by vases filled with roses A man gives a thumbs up behind the bar which is nestled in a corner of the residence The immaculate lavatory still has neatly folded towels hanging on rails inside

A man wearing a kevlar vest and a helmet gives a peace gesture to the cameras as he relaxes on a sofa with a fellow protestor

A protestor waves the European Union flag outside the front door of the sprawling mansion. Opposition icon Yulia Tymoshenko told supporters on her release from prison that she believed Ukraine would be joining the EU The curtains were drawn shut and the doors were locked on the outside of the house, but the scale of the luxury house is evident from the outside Protestors watch a ship, which was converted into a restaurant. Protestors took full control of the premises after Yanukovych was ousted from power

Protestors sort through documents which were left in the house. In the background is a hovercraft and jet-propelled boat Some documents were discovered burnt as protestors took control of the property

What they saw reflected more the inflated dreams of a Middle East potentate - with all the attendant obsessions with security - rather than a rough-hewn man from the gritty eastern Ukraine who got to the top the hard way.

Yanukovich bought a small house on the plot at the start of his presidency in 2010. Subsequently, according to local media, he acquired control of the full estate which exists today through a chain of companies with which he had close interests.

Beyond a five-floor Russian-style house - some said it was his guest house - a stone staircase opened up to a landscaped vista of water features, arboreal walkways and tree-lined avenues stretching into the distance.

Few people - apart from Yanukovich's chosen few and family - have visited a secret place which has been charted by satellite images that show a helicopter pad and a golf course.

With Yanukovich obsessed by security and fear of attack, they had to leave their mobile phones at the entrance to the grounds and pick them up only on leaving, locals said.

'This is a monument to a tyrant which we want to show the people,' said Eduard Leonov, a parliamentary deputy from the far-right nationalist Svoboda party.

One visitor takes in the view of the house from across the artificial lake. Hundreds of people entered the grounds but not one has entered the building itself

One visitor carried a Ukranian flag while touring the grounds of the house while a man in the distance takes a photo. There is a private golf course and zoo nestled in the estate A protester guards the entrance to Ukrainian President Yanukovych's countryside home. Viktor Yanukovych is not in his official residence of Mezhyhirya, which is about 20 km (12.5 miles) north of the capital

Graeco-Roman statues - a Goddess covering her modesty with her hair, lovers intertwined - decorated the lawns. Ornate ponds - half frozen on Saturday - nonetheless bubbled with water being pumped through them. Love-seats and colonnaded meeting places dot the estate.

There is a Russian bath-house - closed to the public on Saturday with an opposition protester's helmet on a chair across the door. On a hilltop, looking down on the Dnipro river through trees, was a plaza for a barbecue.

Families and lovers out for a different sort of Sunday afternoon excursion, posed for family album snaps at a once-in-a lifetime occasion.

Most shook their heads in wonderment at the ambitions of a president who had always proclaimed that he was on the side of the poor people of Ukraine.

'We did not expect anything like this. It is really extensive and all done with our money, the money of ordinary people. It really is too much for one person. It's very emotional when you see something like this,' said Serhiy Remezovsky, who had brought his wife and nine-month old son.

'You have the right to rule': Ex-PM Yuila Tymoshenko tells 'hero' protesters they have 'removed cancer from Ukraine' after her release from prison sentence



Ukrainian opposition icon and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko spoke to supporters at a Kiev protest camp just hours after being released from a hospital where she was incarcerated.



She arrived on stage in Kiev in a wheelchair and looked frail as she addressed thousands of demonstrators who had packed into Independence Square.



Tymoshenko, heroine of the 2004 Orange Revolution, is the chief rival of President Viktor Yanukovych.



His rule is crumbling after protesters took control of the capital Saturday and parliament voted to remove him from power.

Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko addresses anti-government protesters on Independence Square in Kiev hours after she is released from a prison sentence Looking frail after suffering a crippling back problem for years, she said the people who had been killed in the violence were Ukraine's heroes and they now have the 'right to rule'

You are heroes, you are the best thing in Ukraine' she said of those killed in the violence, looking tired and speaking from a wheelchair as she addressed the euphoric crowd.

She also congratulated the protestors for 'removing the cancer from Ukraine' and demanded the ousted President Yanukovych be brought to Independence Square.



'This is your victory, no politicians could do what you have done,' she said.



'This country is now free, you have given this country its freedom.



'You have removed this cancer from our country. I am convinced that any bullet shot through the heart of the people went through the heart of each Ukrainian.

The appearance brought Tymoshenko back to the square where she attracted world attention in the 2004 Orange Revolution protests, a riveting figure then for her rhetoric, her elaborate blond peasant braid and her fashionable clothing Anti-government protesters hold a portrait of Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko while she speaks to a crowd at a rally

Upon her release, Tymoshenko promised to run for president and immediately went to Kiev's Independence Square.



'When I came to Kiev the first thing I wanted to do was come to the barricades,' she added.



'I wanted to feel the feelings that had all these boys and girls on the barricades had been through.

'All the people responsible will be brought to justice.'

The appearance brought Tymoshenko back to the square where she attracted world attention in the 2004 Orange Revolution protests, a riveting figure then for her rhetoric, her elaborate blond peasant braid and her fashionable clothing.



The square has been the nucleus of a three-month protest movement that pushed Yanukovych to major concessions this week.

Parliament arranged the release of the current President Viktor Yanukovych's arch-rival, who has been imprisoned since 2011, but the president said he would not recognize any of the lawmakers' decisions as valid.



Her release will send shockwaves through Ukrainian politics, at a moment of deep turmoil following the worst unrest in the sprawling country since the days of the Soviet Union.

Protesters claim full control of Kiev as President Yanukovych flees the capital for his support base in the Russian-friendly east

Protesters in the Ukrainian capital claimed full control of the city Saturday following the signing of a Western-brokered peace deal aimed at ending the nation's three-month political crisis.



They were seen demanding the resignation of their president and attacking politicians, a move which President Victor Yanukovych branded 'a coup' and likened it to the rise of Nazis in the 1930s.

Viktor Yanukovych also says he has no intention of resigning or leaving the country. Hours after he and opposition leaders signed an agreement aimed at resolving the country's turmoil yesterday, Mr Yanukovych went to Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, the heartland of his support.



Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych winking at his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during a signing ceremony at the Kremlin in December The last time Viktor Yanukovich was seen was when he signed a peace deal with opposition leader Vitali Klitschko. The pair shook hands after signing the agreement in the Presidential Palace, bringing the violence to a temporary end The ousted President looked defeated as he waited to sign the agreement aiming to end the violence which has engulfed the Ukrainian capital

FILLING THE POLITICAL VACUUM: WHO IS NOW IN CHARGE OF UKRAINE?

After a day of high drama in which Ukraine's parliament voted to oust the president, who was left ruling the country?

According to the parliament, it was certainly not Viktor Yanukovich.

Shortly after the appointment of a speaker hostile to him, the assembly voted Yanukovich out of office on and called a presidential election for May 25.

Who now fills the vacuum is not entirely clear, partly because the parliament chose to revert to the 2004 constitution to take away some of the president's powers.

Under the 2004 constitution, the No. 2 is the parliamentary speaker, Oleksander Turchynov, an ally of Yanukovich's bitter enemy, Yulia Tymoshenko.

Under the 1996 constitution, which was revived by Yanukovich in 2010 to strengthen the presidency, the No. 2 was the prime minister.

That would mean power lay in the hands of acting Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov.

'Right now the parliament is the only legitimate organ in the country,' said Eduard Leonov, a parliamentary deputy from the far-right nationalist Svoboda party.

The armed forces made clear they would not intervene on the president's behalf, saying they were 'loyal to their constitutional obligations and cannot be pulled into domestic political conflict.'

The Interior Ministry sided with the protesters, saying it favoured 'speedy change' and urging people to unite in ensuring security and an 'independent, democratic and just' country.

But then, who leads the opposition?

For now it is the three men who signed Friday's agreement with Yanukovich: Vitaly Klitschko, Arseny Yatsenyuk and Oleh Tyahnibok.

On Saturday, he made the coup accusation in a televised statement.



The opposition has demanded a new election be held by May 25, as the pro-Russian leader's grip on power rapidly eroded following bloodshed in the capital.



The nation's embattled president, Viktor Yanukovych, reportedly had fled the capital for his support base in Ukraine's Russia-leaning east.

Ukraine's border guard service said that a leading governor and a mayor from the president's eastern base have fled to Russia.



A spokesman for the border guard service, Oleh Slobodyan, said Kharkiv regional governor Mikhaylo Dobkin and Kharkiv Mayor Hennady Kernes left Ukraine across the nearby Russian border.

Both are top allies of President Viktor Yanukovych, whose rule appeared increasingly under question after protesters took over the capital and parliament voted to remove him.



There are fears that Ukraine might split in two, creating a Russian-leaning east and Europe-leaning west.



Police abandoned posts around the capital, and protesters took up positions around the presidential office and residence.

Parliament discussed voting on impeaching Yanukovych and setting a quick date for new elections to end a crisis over Ukraine's identity and future direction.



Yanukovych's whereabouts were unclear Saturday morning. Media outlets reported that he left Kiev for his native eastern Ukraine after surrendering much of his powers and agreeing to early elections by the end of the year.

But despite the promise of an election and significant concessions, protesters blame him for police violence and amassing too many powers and want him ousted immediately.



At a special parliament session on Saturday, Oleh Tyahnybok, head of the nationalist Svoboda party, called for discussion of impeachment.

The parliament speaker — Yanukovych ally Volodymyr Rybak — announced resignation, citing ill health as the reason.



The president's representative in parliament warned against splitting the country in two, an outcome that worries many but is increasingly seeming a possibility.

The country's western regions want to be closer to the EU and have rejected Yanukovych's authority in many cities, while eastern Ukraine — which accounts for the bulk of the nation's economic output — favors closer ties with Russia.

The president's concessions came as part of a deal intended to end violence that killed scores and left hundreds wounded in Kiev this week as snipers opened fire on protesters. It was the worst violence in Ukraine's modern history.

Andriy Parubiy, a leader of the protest camp on Independence Square, known as the Maidan, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying that Yanukovych fled for Kharkiv, the center of Ukraine's industrial heartland. Kharkiv was the capital of Soviet Ukraine from 1919-1934.

The claims of the president's departure could not be immediately confirmed, however.

A group of protesters in helmets and shields stood guard at the president's office, with few police in sight.



Protesters booed opposition figures who took to a stage last night to present their deal with the president, which cuts Yanukovych's powers.

'Death to the criminal!' some chanted, referring to Yanukovych.

Protestors began to dismantle statues of Lenin in the city of Bila Tserkva during the political turmoil The toppling of Lenin statues in the central Ukrainian city came after protesters top brought down a similar statue in the Ukrainian capital Kiev

THE ROOT OF THE FORMER SOVIET NATION'S TURMOIL: THE DIVISION BETWEEN THE RUSSIAN-SPEAKING EAST AND ANTI-YANUKOVYCH WEST

The map shows the political divide that has developed since the country gained independence in 1991 The violence witnessed in Kiev this week is the worst seen in the country's 22 years as an independent nation, but the problems began when it broke away from the USSR and the leadershuip of worsened when Yanukovich took power. When he took power in 2010, the country had two possible futures: One was under his authortiran rule, the other was as a member of the EU.

But while some tried to shake off the Soviet past, others were still under the influence of Russia.

The west of the country is denouncing Yanukovych's rule while the east and south want the rebels to be confroted with the force of government troops.

When the country separated from the Soviet union in 1991, it did so passively while obtaining vast wealth. It never fought for its independence like other former bloc states, incuding Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. The main problem however stems from the political divide.

The industralised east, including the Crimea, and mid-western Ukraine have always been at odds over their identity.

Yanukovych is reported to have developed a large property in the Crimea on the Black Sea coast While the east has maintained ties to Russia, people in the West have opposed the regimes and refused to recognise Yanukovych's tight grip on power.

In 2004, Mr Yanuokvich was accused of trying to steal the election, and protestors reacted violently.

His opponents Viktor Yuschenko and Yulia Tymoshenko (who was released from prison on Saturday) took power instead in what has become known as the Orange Revolution.

But just six years later, Yanukovich was democratically elected. After his election the West turned a blind eye to his accumtalion of power and wealth, even though a Kremlin-style of governance was taking shape.

When he began negotiating with the European Union with the aim of joining the free trade movement, he used it as an opportunity to tighten his grip over the country.

During the talks, Vladimir Putin held a secret meeting with Yanukovich, and agreed to provide the ex-Soviet state with cheap gas and £9billion in credit. As a result, the EU deal was shelved.

The Russian president has never come to terms with Ukraine's independence and sovereignty. It was this attitude to former Soviet states which resulted in a five-day war with Georgia following NATO's attempt to recruit them as a member nation.

Now the geographical divisions have grown. The head of Ukraine's security service says that police stations are being taken over by anti-government demonstrators.

The Crimea, however, holds most of Russia's naval fleet. There have been talks of the region succeeding from the main state.



