ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia >> Fugitive Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych on Friday pledged to fight for his country’s future, in his first public appearance since disappearing from Ukraine.

“I intend to keep fighting for the future of Ukraine against those who are using fear and terror to seize the country,” he told a news conference in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. Ukraine’s president was last seen on Saturday.

Yanukovych also insisted he “did not flee anywhere” but left for Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine.

Yanukovych lambasted the West for allegedly betraying a Feb. 21 agreement between the government and the opposition, saying that recent actions by the opposition run counter to the EU-brokered agreement.