By Li Hongmei

Ukraine's deputy prime minister on Thursday said that his financially troubled country will soon sign a trade and cooperation deal with the EU after the bloc promised more aid to the former Soviet republic.

Serhiy Arbuzov's comment came after a day of talks with EU commissioner Stefan Fuele in Brussels, which were being closely watched by anti-government protesters in Ukraine who are demanding such a deal.

"Ukraine will soon sign this association agreement with the European Union," said Arbuzov. That would mark a U-turn by President Viktor Yanukovych, who had refused to close such a deal with the European Union at a summit in Lithuania two weeks ago.

Fuele said such an agreement would lead to "bigger and bigger" EU financial aid to Ukraine, and that the bloc has "made a clear commitment to match in our financial support the level of ambitions of our Ukrainian partners".

Earlier on Thursday, the bloc's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said that Yanukovych had told her he "intends to sign" at some point the trade and cooperation agreement he had rejected.

For weeks, activists have been amassed in Kiev, Ukraine's capital, to protest Yanukovych's decision regarding the EU deal.