Flowers are left at a makeshift memorial at barricades near the Dynamo Kiev stadium in central Kiev on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

 Ukraine's interim leader on Tuesday delayed the appointment of a new unity government until Thursday, as Russia and the West traded words over the crisis in the country.

"On Thursday a coalition of national faith must be elected," Interim President Oleksandr Turchynov told legislators in parliament, where a new cabinet and prime minister had been due to be unveiled on Tuesday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Tuesday said that Ukraine must not be forced to choose between close ties with Russia or the West.

The comment was the latest in a series of warnings from Moscow to the EU and US to not try to shape the ex-Soviet state's future.

"It is dangerous and counterproductive to try to force upon Ukraine a choice on the principle: 'You are either with us or against us'", Lavrov told reporters on Tuesday.

However, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Tuesday urged Russia to behave like a good neighbor towards Ukraine and let it move forward in the way it chooses after three months of unrest and conflict.

She spelled out no details of any foreign financial assistance, saying the EU would work with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) but the IMF would make its own assessment of the situation. Francois Hollande on Monday also told Russia's Vladimir Putin that Ukraine must have a "peaceful transition", saying it was vital to ensure the country remained unified.

Hollande said the formation of a new government in Ukraine must lead to a presidential election and vital reforms, in a telephone conversation with the Russian president.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told France 2 television that nobody was trying to force a choice on Ukraine.

Oleksandr Turchynov on Tuesday warned of "dangerous signs" of separatism amid fears that pro-Russian eastern regions could agitate for partition as the country tries to resolve its worst post-Soviet crisis. "In several regions of Ukraine there are very dangerous signs of separatism," Oleksandr Turchynov told parliament. He said he was consulting with security forces over the issue.

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