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PULLED APART by its historical ties with Russia and its government's ambition to join the European Union and Nato, Ukraine is in a precarious position following Moscow's military intervention in Georgia. Warnings of further Kremlin destabilisation of the Black Sea region have focused on Ukraine's mostly ethnic-Russian Crimea peninsula, where Russian and Ukrainian nationalists have clashed in the key port of Sevastopol, home to one of Moscow's most powerful naval fleets.

But the danger perceived by the United States and European Union, and the potential opportunity perhaps seen by an increasingly assertive Kremlin, has fostered anything but unity among Ukraine's pro-western leaders. As Washington and Brussels were trying to forge a united front against Moscow, following its recognition of the rebel Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Ukraine's president and prime minister were re-igniting their bitter feud. Only months after the 2004 Orange Revolution propelled them to power and ousted pro-Moscow presidential candidate, Viktor Yanukovich, pro-western leaders Yulia Tymoshenko and Viktor Yushchenko were fighting each other, instead of implementing vital reforms. Mr Yushchenko sacked Ms Tymoshenko from the post of prime minister in 2005, but reinstated her last year, after her party's powerful showing in a general election - but it took only weeks for cracks in their relationship to reappear.