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The most important part of the agreement, however, was devoted to early presidential elections, to be held no later than December.

The two sides also agreed that an objective investigation into the recent protester deaths would be conducted under monitoring by the opposition and the Council of Europe.

The agreement buried the idea of introducing a state of emergency in the country and compelled parliament to pass a new amnesty for protesters involved in the recent clashes.

The agreement bound the opposition to hand over to authorities all illegal weapons within 24 hours as soon as a special law to that effect is passed.

On behalf of the opposition, the agreement was signed by its leaders, Vitali Klitschko, Oleg Tyagnibok and Arseny Yatsenyuk.

The signing in the Presidential Administration building was witnessed by Polish and German foreign ministers and a high-ranking French diplomat

“In these tragic days when Ukraine suffered such heavy losses, when people died on both sides of the barricades, I consider it my duty in solemn memory of the slain to state that there is nothing more important than human life,” Yanukovich said in a statement published on his official website after the signing. “There are no such steps which we ought not to take together to restore peace in Ukraine.”

Ukraine’s parliament later in the day endorsed the amnesty, and restored much of the 2004 constitution, turning the tables once again in favor of parliament.

In another concession to the opposition, parliament fired Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko, hated by protesters, whom he frequently referred to as extremists and who hold him responsible for numerous alleged crimes committed by the police against protesters.

To add insult to injury for Yanukovich, 17 lawmakers from his ruling party announced Friday that they were abandoning the party.

Some experts called Friday’s events revolutionary but doubted that a majority of the protesters could be persuaded to accept the compromise.