Profile: Ukraine's key protest figures

This is a quick excerpt of Parties and Leaders in Ukraine as reported by the BBC...

I have heavily edited this body of thread to fit... in the comments I include a more full excerpt...

.............. (Udar)

.............. Vitali Klitschko

The former world heavyweight boxing champion is arguably the most prominent figurehead of the protest camp on Kiev's Maidan (Independence Square).

Mr Klitschko heads the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reforms (Udar), whose acronym means "Punch". The pro-EU party came third in last year's parliamentary elections. It campaigns against what it perceives to be rampant government corruption.

Mr Klitschko, 42, has rejected the role of deputy prime minister offered by President Viktor Yanukovych, calling it a "poisoned" gesture aimed at splitting the opposition.

He has been a vocal Yanukovych critic for more than a decade, accusing him of nepotism and deliberately sabotaging the country's EU ties.

.............. Oleh Tyahnybok

The leader of the far-right Svoboda party (meaning Freedom), Oleh Tyahnybok, regularly appears alongside Mr Klitschko as one of the key protest participants.

Previously known as the "Social-National Party", Svoboda promotes itself as a fervent defender of traditional Ukrainian culture and language against foreign influence - and is seen by some as a fascist organisation.

Mr Tyahnybok, who insists that Svoboda is neither xenophobic nor anti-Semitic, was expelled from parliament in 2004 for proclaiming that a "Muscovite-Jewish mafia" controlled the country.

.............. Fatherland

.............. Yulia Tymoshenko

Ukraine's second-largest party is led by the jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, an arch-rival of President Yanukovych.

A heroine of the 2004 Orange Revolution, she was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2011 for abuse of power. Supporters say this was simply Mr Yanukovych taking out his most prominent opponent.

Many analysts still see her as the most likely challenger to Viktor Yanukovych - but critics say she is no solution to Ukraine's problems, and that her own hands are dirty.

.............. Arseniy Yatsenyuk

A close ally of Tymoshenko, Arseniy Yatsenyuk is the parliamentary leader of the Fatherland party, and has been its main negotiator during the protests.

Like Mr Klitschko, Mr Yatsenyuk campaigns for EU integration and to rid Ukraine of corruption.

The former lawyer has held top posts in previous governments, including foreign minister and deputy governor of the central bank. Mr Yatsenyuk unsuccessfully ran for president in 2010.

.............. Yuriy Lutsenko

Ukraine's ex-Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko made headlines in mid-January when he was badly hurt during clashes with police.

Although the vocal opposition leader does not belong to any political party, he is closely affiliated with the Fatherland party.

Like Yulia Tymoshenko, he himself was jailed for abuse of office and embezzlement, but pardoned under EU pressure in April 2013.

After leaving jail, he set up a "civic movement" called the Third Ukrainian Republic, which analysts say could be a sign of growing political ambitions.

.............. Right Sector

In the early days of the protests in Kiev, the most radical activists on Independence Square created the Right Sector movement, which have taken an active part in violent clashes with police.

The group consists mostly of young men with right-wing views. They come from different regions of Ukraine, and there are both Ukrainian and Russian-speaking people among them.

Unlike other protesters, most of the Right Sector activists do not support the idea of joining the EU, which they consider to be an "oppressor of European nations".

The organisation believes the current situation is an opportunity "to destroy the state skeleton" and start building a new state.

The Right Sector does not associate itself with the nationalist Svoboda, which it considers to be too liberal and conformist.

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