Opposition leaders in Ukraine have announced that they will launch nationwide street protests against President Leonid Kuchma in two weeks' time.

An opposition leader and a former deputy prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, told a news conference in the capital, Kiev, that the communists, socialists and her own party had reached an agreement on joint action.

Yulia Tymoshenko says opposition parties will unite in protest

The protests are also to be joined by the centre-right party, Our Ukraine, led by the former prime minister, Viktor Yushchenko.

The opposition leaders say they will call for early presidential elections, the removal of the old elite from the government and the establishment of an independent judicial system.

The opposition accuses the government of corruption, and says it has strangled the economy.

The protest has been timed to mark the second anniversary of the disappearance of anti-government journalist Georgiy Gongadze.

The furore over his disappearance, and the subsequent discovery of what was believed to be his headless body, sparked months of protests against President Kuchma.

Legal arguments are continuing over whether the body is in fact that of Mr Gongadze.

Audio tapes released by a former presidential bodyguard allegedly revealed Mr Kuchma saying that he wanted Mr Gongadze dealt with, although Mr Kuchma has denied any involvement in the journalist's fate.