George W. Bush will arrive in the city on Monday evening for talks with President Viktor Yushchenko expected to focus on Ukraine's plans to join the Western military alliance, before leaving for Bucharest on Tuesday afternoon for a NATO summit.
"We are now on our way to the United States Embassy with a resolution and message for the American people, asking them to pacify their hawks - Bush and [State Secretary] Condoleezza Rice," a protest organizer who asked to remain anonymous told RIA Novosti.
Activists on Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti) are displaying banners with the slogans "NATO is worse than the Gestapo" and "Put Bush's bloody dictatorship under an international tribunal."
The organizer said between eight and nine thousand people are expected to take part in today's protest, which will run until April 4, the final day of the NATO summit.
During the April 2-4 meeting, NATO members will consider whether to let Croatia, Albania and Macedonia into the alliance. Bush has made clear his support for Ukraine's membership plans, and is likely to raise the issue at the summit, which will be his last as U.S. leader.
However, European NATO members, in particular France and Germany, have voiced doubts over allowing Kiev into the alliance, saying it would create dangerous tensions with Ukraine's neighbor Russia. Moscow has warned it could target missiles at Ukraine if the country joins NATO.
Protesters in Kiev have set up about a dozen tents on Independence Square, which was the focus of "orange revolution" protests that helped pro-Western Yushchenko into power in 2004.
Ukraine's drive toward NATO membership has triggered domestic parliamentary opposition protests amid widespread antipathy toward the alliance. A survey published earlier this month said only 11% of Ukrainians supported the idea of NATO membership, while almost 36% were strongly opposed.
The ex-Soviet republic requested to join the Membership Action Plan, a precursor to full membership in the Western military alliance, in January.
The protest organizer said; "If Ukraine is not accepted into the Membership Action Plan, we will remove the tents. But if Ukraine joins the plan, we will toughen the measures."
The protesters will gather on Tuesday morning in front of the presidential administration, where Bush will be meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart for closed-door talks.
