Mr Yushchenko has been battling his prime minister for months
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A new round of crisis talks between Ukraine's feuding leaders is due to take place in the capital, Kiev.
President Viktor Yushchenko has been locked in a power struggle with PM Viktor Yanukovych for several months.
The two held late-night talks on Friday amid worsening tensions, but the meeting broke up without agreement.
The talks come amid reports around 2,000 interior ministry troops loyal to Mr Yushchenko are trying to head towards the capital.
"According to our information, 82 vehicles are moving
towards Kiev now with 2,050 interior troops in them," Interior Ministry
deputy head Mykhaylo Korniyenko told a televised news conference.
They were being led by a commander loyal to Mr Yushchenko and acting in defiance of orders from the interior minister, he said.
But "practically all of them have been stopped in different places", AFP news agency quoted him as saying.
A spokesman for the troops, meanwhile, told Ukrainian
television that they were going to Kiev following an order from the
president to assist the State Guard Directorate.
Growing concern
The talks were due to start at 1200 (0900 GMT) but they have been delayed for several hours.
They come amid escalating tension between the two men and growing international concern over the crisis.
On Thursday, Mr Yushchenko sacked the country's prosecutor-general, a member of Mr Yanukovych's party.
But Interior Minister Vasily Tsushko, who backs Mr
Yanukovych, ordered riot police into the prosecutor-general's office to
protect him.
Mr Yushchenko then said he was assuming command of the
40,000 troops controlled by the Interior Ministry, a move Mr Yanukovych
condemned as unconstitutional.
The two men held three hours of talks on Friday, but no agreement was reached.
Thousands of supporters of each side are gathering in the capital and security has been stepped up.
Bitter rivals
Mr Yushchenko became president in January 2005,
following the pro-democracy Orange Revolution, which overturned a
rigged victory for Mr Yanukovych.
But Mr Yushchenko was forced to accept his rival as
prime minister after his allies failed to win a majority in the March
2006 parliamentary election, and the two men have repeatedly clashed.
The crisis has been deepening since April, when Mr
Yushchenko dissolved parliament and called a snap election, accusing
his rival of using illegal methods to expand his parliamentary
majority.
The president favours closer ties with the West, while the prime minister is seen as more pro-Russian.
The EU has urged both parties to settle the deepening crisis though negotiation and not resort to violence.
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