KIEV, Nov. 25 - President Viktor Yanukovych said economic problems are the most difficult issues confronting Ukraine's European integration.

"We have passed a long way and we have yet to go a long distance. Economic problems have been the most difficult issues on this road," he said in an appeal to the nation, posted on his Web site.

"But I would have been dishonest and unfair, if I had not thought about the most vulnerable people who could have carried the heaviest burden of the transitional period. I would have been wrong, to put it mildly, if I don't do what I ought to have done to ensure that people do not lose their jobs, and get their salaries, pensions and grants," Yanukovych said.