Fox NewsViolence between Ukrainian security forces and anti-government protesters broke out again Thursday in the capital, Kiev, leaving at least 22 people dead, as a truce called by President Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leaders fell apart.
An Associated Press reporter saw 21 bodies Thursday laid out on the edge of the sprawling protest encampment in central Kiev’s Independence Square. In addition, one policeman was killed and 28 suffered gunshot wounds Thursday, Interior Ministry spokesman Serhiy Burlakov told the AP.
Sky News later reported that 11 bodies had been laid out in the lobby of the Hotel Ukraina, which is close to the square and is also where many foreign media members are staying. All of the bodies were reportedly civilians.
The deaths Thursday brought the week’s toll to at least 50 in Kiev, with hundreds injured. Protesters dispute those numbers though, claiming that the true toll is much higher. Yanukovych announced the truce late Wednesday after two days of fierce street fighting.
Sky News correspondent David Bowden reported
Thursday that snipers could be seen on rooftops aiming at protesters in the square below. Bowden reported that one bullet had gone through the window of his hotel room and “took a chunk” out of the ceiling.
“The police seem to have been caught off guard and they’re reacting very aggressively and basically just shooting people,” Bowden said. “I’ve seen at least a dozen people pulled out injured. I do think this is going to be a fairly bloody day.”
Smoke from burning barricades surrounding the protest camp rose above the Kiev skyline Thursday morning, as several thousand protesters remained on the square and hurled Molotov cocktails and rocks at lines of police, who responded with stun grenades. An Associated Press cameraman saw one unconscious protester being taken off the square in a stretcher, as well as numerous others with minor injuries.
Earlier in the day, the ministry had claimed in a statement that 20 police officers had been injured by gunfire. The statement did not specify when the police were wounded, but it did say the gunfire appeared to be coming from the national music conservatory, which is on the edge of the square. Also Thursday, the parliament building was evacuated because of fears protesters were preparing to storm it, said parliament spokeswoman Irina Karnelyuk.
Amid the carnage, signs were emerging that Yanukovych is losing loyalists as the crisis roils. The chief of Kiev’s city administration, Volodymyr Makeyenko, announced Thursday he was leaving Yanukovych’s Party of Regions.
“We must be guided only by the interests of the people, this is our only chance to save people’s lives,” he said, adding he would continue to fulfill his duties as long as he had the people’s trust.
Another influential member of the ruling party, Serhiy Tyhipko, said both Yanukovych and opposition leaders had “completely lost control of the situation.”
In a statement Thursday, Yanukovych claimed that police were not armed and “all measures to stop bloodshed and confrontation are being taken.”
The Interior Ministry on Thursday said Kiev residents should limit their movements or stay home altogether because of the “armed and aggressive mood of the people.”
The foreign ministers of European Union members France, Germany and Poland were meeting with Yanukovych Thursday ahead of EU meeting to decide possible sanctions against Ukraine. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius had said that he and his counterparts would meet both sides and hope they “will find a way for dialogue.”
Possible sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes, which could hit hard the powerful oligarchs who back Yanukovych.
The latest wave of street violence began Tuesday when protesters attacked police lines and set fires outside parliament, accusing Yanukovych of ignoring their demands to enact constitutional reforms that would limit the president’s power — a key opposition demand. Parliament, dominated by his supporters, was stalling on taking up a constitutional reform to do so.
The protests kicked off three months ago after Yanukovych shelved an association agreement with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Russia. After that move, Russia announced a $15 billion bailout for Ukraine, whose economy is in tatters.
But the Kremlin said it put the next disbursement of its bailout on hold amid uncertainty over Ukraine’s future and what it described as a “coup attempt.”
The ongoing violence on the square Thursday indicates that more radical elements among the protesters may be unwilling to observe the truce and may not be mollified by the prospects of negotiations. Although the initial weeks of protests were determinedly peaceful, radicals helped drive an outburst of clashes with police in January in which at least three people died, and the day of violence on Tuesday may have radicalized many more.
Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko, who along with two other leaders met with the president late on Wednesday to discuss a truce, said the president assured them that police would not storm the protesters’ encampment on Kiev’s Independence Square, according to the Interfax news agency.
But a brief statement published on the president’s website late on Wednesday did not give details of what terms a truce would entail or how it would be implemented. Nor did it specify how the negotiations would be conducted or give an indication of how they would be different from previous meetings of the president and the opposition leaders.
President Barack Obama stepped in Wednesday to condemn the violence, warning “there will be consequences” for Ukraine if it continues. The U.S. has raised the prospect of joining with the EU to impose sanctions against Ukraine.
On a visit to Mexico, Obama said the Ukrainian military should not step into a situation that civilians should resolve and added that the U.S. holds Ukraine’s government primarily responsible for dealing with peaceful protesters appropriately.
On Wednesday, the U.S. also denied admission to the United States for about 20 Ukrainians the U.S. believes are responsible for some of the violence. This action means that if they were to apply for visas, they would be denied.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, described the violence as an attempted coup and even used the phrase “brown revolution,” an allusion to the Nazi rise to power in Germany in 1933. The ministry said Russia would use “all our influence to restore peace and calm.”
In Kiev, Ukraine’s top security agency also accused protesters Wednesday of seizing hundreds of firearms from its offices and announced a nationwide anti-terrorist operation to restore order.
Before the truce was announced the bad blood was running so high it has fueled fears the nation could be sliding toward a messy breakup. While most people in the country’s western regions resent Yanukovych, he enjoys strong support in the mostly Russian-speaking eastern and southern regions, where many want strong ties with Russia.
Opposition lawmaker Oleh Lyashko has warned that Yanukovych himself was in danger.
“Yanukovych, you will end like (Muammar) Qaddafi,” Lyashko told thousands of angry protesters. “Either you, a parasite, will stop killing people or this fate will await you. Remember this, dictator!”
Before the truce announcement, Yanukovych had blamed the protesters for the violence and said the opposition leaders had “crossed a line when they called people to arms.”
He called for a day of mourning Thursday for the dead.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
I heard the “rebels” just seized a cache of government weapons, but it’s just as likely that they were given to them by the CIA.
I’m still not 100% sure what’s going on here, but one thing I am sure of is that I’m not going to find out by reading the FOX news version of the events.
The reality is that the Ukraineians are fighting against a totally corrupt government that has reduced them to starvation. The EU and Russia both saw a chance to gain control of the country for their own benefits, and neither could care less about the people. In fact the people don’t want to be part of the EU any more than they want to be part of Russia; and they damn sure don’t want anyone working with their corrupt government. They want that government gone!