Assaults, pickets, Maidan in all Ukraine (Video)

Protests in Ukraine appear to be spreading further outside the capital Kiev, with reports of unrest to the east, north and south of the country.

Protesters besieged government buildings and in some cases clashed with police and government supporters, BBC informed.

It comes after opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk rejected President Viktor Yanukovych's offer to appoint him prime minister.

He said key demands must be met, including new elections.

As well as his offer to Mr Yatsenyuk, he suggested another opposition figure, former boxer Vitali Klitschko, take the post of deputy prime minister following talks on Saturday.

The BBC's David Stern, in Kiev, says the opposition - confident in its position - appears to have taken Mr Yanukovych's offer of concessions as a sign of weakness on his part, and is forging ahead with the campaign to unseat him.

The demonstrations began in November after Ukraine decided not to sign an accord on more co-operation with the EU. Instead, the government opted to deepen ties with neighbouring Russia.

People's assemblies

On Friday protesters seized a number of government buildings in Ukrainian cities outside Kiev, particularly in the west, which has traditionally favoured closer ties with Europe, including in the cities of Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lutsk and Lviv.

On Saturday the protests spread to cities further east, including Vinnytsya, west of Kiev.

The interior ministry says residents of western Ukraine, whom it calls "provocateurs", are being parachuted in to other parts of the country to stir up trouble, said Interfax-Ukraine.

Meanwhile, in Kiev, thousands mourned a protester who was killed last week.

Crowds chanted "Hero!" as the open coffin of Mikhail Zhiznevsky, 25, was carried through the streets of the capital.