The National Resistance Headquarters established by the Ukrainian opposition says it is ready to shoulder all the responsibility for the situation in Ukraine if the state of emergency is announced in the country.

"If [Ukrainian President Viktor] Yanukovych attempts to unconstitutionally introduce the state of emergency in Ukraine, the National Resistance Headquarters, supported by the people's will, will consider the president, the Cabinet of Ministers and other state agencies to be illegitimate and will be forced to take the entire responsibility for the situation in the country upon itself," the Headquarters said in an address to the Ukrainian people regarding the possible introduction of the state of emergency.

The National Resistance Headquarters said that if Yanukovych tried to introduce the state of emergency, all Ukrainian citizens should come immediately on Kyiv's Independence Square, or Maidan Nezalezhnosti, in order to protect the Constitution, rights and freedoms and the very independence of Ukraine and to fight the regime "with all means available."

Law enforcement agencies should not "participate in the illegitimate actions of the regime limiting rights and freedoms of citizens," the statement said. "You have a clear ground for this –the Ukrainian Constitution's Article 60, according to which no one is obliged to comply with evidently criminal demands or orders," the National Resistance Headquarters said.

Opposition activists said they urged the Ukrainian Armed Forces "to implement the constitutional duty in accordance with Article 17 of the Constitution and not to let deprive Ukraine of the independence due to the introduction of the state of emergency."

Pro-EU activists protesting on Kyiv's main square said they asked the pro-government parliamentary majority "to remember the oath." "Therefore we demand that the Verkhovna Rada should not support the scenario of the liquidation of Ukraine's independence, which was masterminded abroad, and should not vote for the state of emergency," the opposition said in the announcement.

The introduction and operation of the state of emergency is regulated by the Ukrainian law on the Legal Regime of the State of Emergency. The Ukrainian president cannot decide to announce the state of emergency single-handedly without the parliament's approval.

The proposal to introduce the state of emergency shall be submitted to the president by the National Security and Defense Council. The president can appeal via mass media outlets to those, whose actions could be the reasons for announcing the state of emergency in order to demand that the illegal actions be stopped and to warn of the possibility of introducing the state of emergency.

At the same time, if the situation requires an immediate response, the appeal could be skipped.