I will be back to Kyiv once I have a chance - Victor Yanukovych

Ukraine's former pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych, whose ouster early last year led to the insurgencyraging in east Ukraine, said in an interview released Saturday: "I'll be back."

Russia's Channel One published the excerpt as both Ukraine and Russia marked -- very differently -- the one-year anniversary of the pro-Western uprising in Kiev that sent Yanukovych fleeing to exile in Russia.

"I'll be back and will do everything in my power to make life easier in Ukraine," Yanukovych promised in the interview, which will be broadcast in full on Monday.

He claimed that "his heart ached" at seeing the conflict Ukraine has slipped into, with "entire regions destroyed".

Victor Yanukovych was elected as Ukraine’s President on February 25, 2010. He was ousted in February, last year, as a result of massive protest. His whereabouts is still unknown, though reportedly, he is in Russia.