At least 21 civilians were killed in fresh fighting in Kiev on Thursday, shattering an overnight truce declared by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, and a presidential statement said dozens of police were also dead or wounded. That raised the death toll since Tuesday to at least 43, by far the bloodiest hours of Ukraine's 22-year post-Soviet history.
Activists hurling
petrol bombs and paving stones drove riot police off a corner of the
central Independence Square, known as the Maidan, and appeared to
capture several uniformed officers. Police responded with stun grenades.
The
clashes erupted shortly before three visiting European foreign
ministers were due to meet the Russian-backed Yanukovich to push for a
compromise with his pro-European opponents. The meeting was delayed for
security reasons but began an hour late.
A
Reuters photographer counted 21 bodies in civilian clothes in three
places on the square, a few hundred meters (yards) from the presidency.
A
statement from Yanukovich’s office said: “They (the protesters) went on
to the offensive. They are working in organized groups. They are using
firearms, including sniper rifles. They are shooting to kill.
“The number of dead and injured among police officers is dozens,” the statement on the presidential website said.
Shortly
after 9 a.m., the protesters advanced to a line closer to
Yanukovich’s office and parliament. Television showed activists in
combat fatigues leading several captured, uniformed policemen across the
square.
Both sides have accused the other of using live ammunition.
The
foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland were expected to
present Yanukovich with a mixture of sanctions and enticements to make a
deal with his opponents that could end the bloodshed.
“Black
smoke, denotations and gunfire around presidential palace … Officials
panicky,” tweeted Polish minister Radoslaw Sikorski to explain the
delay in the meeting.
Pro-EU
activists have been keeping vigil in the square since the president
turned his back on a trade pact with the bloc in November and accepted
financial aid from Moscow.
Russia,
which has been holding back a new loan installment until it sees
stability in Kiev, has condemned EU and U.S. support of the opposition
demands that Yanukovich, elected in 2010, should share power and hold
new elections.
In an
apparent criticism of Yanukovich’s handling of the crisis, Russian Prime
Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that Moscow could only
cooperate fully with Ukraine when its leadership was in “good shape”,
Interfax reported.
“TRUCE”
The crisis in the sprawling country of 46 million with an ailing economy
and endemic corruption has mounted since Yanukovich, under pressure
from the Kremlin, took a $15-billion Russian bailout instead of a
wide-ranging deal with the EU.
The
United States stepped up pressure on Wednesday by imposing travel bans
on 20 senior Ukrainian officials, and European Union foreign ministers
are due to meet in Brussels later on Thursday to consider similar
measures.
A statement on
Yanukovich’s website announced an accord late on Wednesday with
opposition leaders for “the start to negotiations with the aim of ending
bloodshed, and stabilizing the situation in the state in the interest
of social peace”.
Responding
cautiously, U.S. President Barack Obama deemed the truce a “welcome
step forward”, but said the White House would continue to monitor the
situation closely to “ensure that actions mirror words”.
“Our
approach in the United States is not to see these as some Cold War
chessboard in which we’re in competition with Russia,” Obama said after a
North American summit in Mexico.
“Our goal is to make sure that the people of Ukraine are able to make decisions for themselves for the future,” he said.
At
the Winter Olympics in Sochi, being hosted by Russia, some members of
Ukraine’s team have decided to leave, the International Olympic
Committee said on Thursday.
COMBATIVE MOOD
Protesters
were in a truculent mood despite the overnight lull and columns of men,
bearing clubs and chanting patriotic songs headed to Independence
Square at 8:30 a.m. (0630 GMT).
“What
truce? There is no truce! It is simply war ahead of us! They are
provoking us. They throw grenades at us. Burn our homes. We have been
here for three months and during that time nothing burned,” said
23-year-old Petro Maksimchuk.
“These are not people. They are killers. Sanctions will not help. They all should be sent into isolation in Siberia.”
Serhiy,
a 55-year-old from the western city of Lviv who declined to give his
surname, added: “It is bad that Ukraine is already broken into two
parts. In the west the police and army are with us but in the east, they
are against us.
“It is the ‘Yanukovichers’ who are dividing us.”
In
Lviv, a bastion of Ukrainian nationalism since Soviet times, the
regional assembly declared autonomy from Yanukovich and his
administration, which many west Ukrainians see as much closer to Moscow
and to Ukraine’s Russian-speaking east.
The
health ministry revised upwards the death toll in Tuesday’s violence to
28 as of 6 a.m. on Thursday – three hours before the latest violence
and the 15 dead counted by Reuters.
Yanukovich,
who replaced the head of the armed forces, had denounced the bloodshed
in central Kiev as an attempted coup. His security service said launched
a nationwide “anti-terrorist operation” after arms and ammunition dumps
were looted.
Reflecting
Western outrage at the crackdown, EU ambassadors discussed a series of
possible steps including asset freezes and travel bans, even though
diplomats doubt the are effective.
Jumping
out ahead of its EU allies, Washington imposed U.S. visa bans on 20
government officials it considered “responsible for ordering human
rights abuses related to political oppression”, a State Department
official said.
“These
individuals represent the full chain of command we consider responsible
for ordering the security forces to move against” the protesters, the
official said.
YANUKOVICH EXCLUDED
EU officials said Yanukovich himself would be excluded from such measures in order to keep channels of dialogue open.
As
well as asset freezes and visa bans, ministers will discuss measures to
stop riot gear and other equipment being exported to Ukraine and could
consider arms restrictions.
Diplomats
said the threat of sanctions could also target assets held in the West
by Ukrainian business oligarchs who have either backed Yanukovich or are
sitting on the fence.
The
United States, going head to head with Russia in a dispute reminiscent
of the Cold War, urged Yanukovich to pull back riot police, call a truce
and talk to the opposition.
Obama
warned the Ukrainian armed forces that the crackdown could damage “our
defense relationship”. But Washington appears to have little direct
leverage in Kiev.
Russian
President Vladimir Putin, who has met Yanukovich six times since the
crisis began, has kept quiet on the flare-up. But Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov blamed the West for encouraging opposition radicals “to
act outside of the law.”
Moscow
said on Monday it would resume stalled aid to Kiev, pledging $2 billion
just hours before the crackdown began. The money has not yet arrived,
and a Ukrainian government source said it had been delayed until Friday
“for technical reasons.”
Putin’s spokesman said on Thursday that Moscow was waiting for the situation to normalize before paying up.
Ukraine’s
hryvnia currency, flirting with its lowest levels since the global
financial crisis five years ago, weakened again on Thursday.
Possibly
due to the risk of sanctions, three of Ukraine’s richest entrepreneurs
have stepped up pressure on Yanukovich to hold back from using force.
“There
are no circumstances which justify the use of force toward the peaceful
population,” steel and coal magnate Rinat Akhmetov said in a statement
late on Tuesday.
Akhmetov,
who partly bankrolled Yanukovich’s election campaign in 2010 and whose
wealth is put by Forbes at more than $15 billion, said: “People’s deaths
and injuries on the side of protesters and the security forces in
street battles are an unacceptable price for political mistakes.”
Viktor
Pinchuk, another steel billionaire known in the West for his
philanthropic activity, said: “A peaceful solution must be found. It is
imperative to refrain from the use of force and find a compromise.”
Dmytro
Firtash, a gas and chemicals magnate who is part owner of a popular TV
channel, said in a statement: We, through our joint actions, must end
the bloodshed. We are against radical actions by whomever it might be.”
(The strory Inserts dropped word “meet” in 3rd paragraph)
(Additional
reporting by Natalya Zinets, Pavel Polityuk and Alessandra Prentice in
Kiev; Writing by Richard Balmforth and Paul Taylor; Editing by Alastair
MacDonald)
