As the sun rises on Kiev, here is an update on what happened during the night. A renewed push by riot police in the early pre-dawn hours followed the bloodiest day in the country’s post-Soviet history.
Riot police launched a renewed assault on the protest camp at 4am local time.
Large explosions, with reports of tear gas, flash grenades, and molotov cocktails as police advanced on protesters in the square, clashing at the front line.
Water cannons were brought in and used unsuccessfully to try and douse fires which also burned dow the Trade Union Hall. Several people were rescued by crane from the upper levels of the building which had become a makeshift headquarters for the protest movement.
The death toll is believed to be around 22, including Ukrainian journalist Vyacheslav Veremei of Kiev based newspaper, Vesti.
President Viktor Yanukovych has laid the blame for deaths at the opposition, and called for them to disassociate themselves from “radical forces.”
Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko addressed the 20,000 odd people camped out at Independence Square, and urged them to hold their ground. He also said he’d walked out of talks with Yanukovych after the president demanded protesters leave the square unconditionally.
US senator John McCain added his voice to US and European leaders who urged Yanukovych to show restrain.
I’ll be handing over the blog to colleagues shortly who will take you through the day. The situation is showing no signs of resolution any time soon.
Riot police clash with anti-government protesters during a crackdown in Kiev, Ukraine, that has left the country counting its dead from the worst violence since the end of the Soviet era. Protesters have been defending a camp in Independence Square where they dug in against the president, Viktor Yanukovych, after he refused to sign a pro-EU treaty due to pressure from Russia. Guardian
As daylight dawns over the square, the following is a report from Maria Danilova with Associated Press on what’s been going on during the last few hours:
Amid cries of “Glory to Ukraine!” and with flaming tires lighting up the night sky, thousands of riot police armed with stun grenades and water cannons attacked the sprawling protest camp in the centre of Kiev, following a day of street battles that left at least 18 people dead and hundreds injured.
The violence on Tuesday was the deadliest in nearly three months of anti-government protests that have paralyzed Ukraine’s capital in a struggle over the identity of a nation divided in loyalties between Russia and the West, and the worst in the country’s post-Soviet history
With the boom of exploding stun grenades and fireworks nearly drowning out his words at times, opposition leader Vitali Klitschko urged the 20,000 protesters to defend the camp on Independence Square that has been the heart of the protests.
“We will not go anywhere from here,” Klitschko, a former heavyweight boxing champion, told the crowd, speaking from a stage in the square as tents and tires burned around him, releasing huge plumes of smoke. “This is an island of freedom and we will defend it,” he said.
Protests leaders address the crowd in Independence Square, Kiev as violent clashes between demonstrators and police again flare up on Tuesday night. Photograph: /Espreso TV Photograph: Espreso TV
Prime minister Yanukovych has released a lengthy statement, calling the deaths tragic and clashes a “difficult” test that the people of Ukraine have to overcome. Yanukovych said he has called for dialogue since the beginning of the protests, which somewhat disputes statements made earlier by opposition leader Vitali Klitschkowhich said talks between the two collapsed due to demands by Yanukovych that all protesters leave the square unconditionally.
Yanukovych accused the opposition of ignoring “the basic principal of democracy” and called for them to disassociate themselves from “radical forces that provoke bloodshed.”
He said it was “not to late” to end the conflict.
Below is a Google-translation of a portion of the statement.
Dear compatriots! Dear people who lost loved ones in this senseless conflict, let me express my deepest sympathy to you. I know that the words of grief do not help. I understand that you have suffered a terrible tragedy. But I would like to make you feel at that moment my support and my sincere regret.
There are reports that Ukrainian journalist Vyacheslav Veremei of Kiev based newspaper, Vesti, has died of injuries sustained in the clashes. There are reports from a colleague and a Euromaidan twitter account that he had been shot.
Despite police attempts to douse the fires with water cannons, the fires are burning greater than before, and protesters have not moved on from the square.
Police try to douse large fires in Independence Square, Kiev with water cannons. Photograph: /Espreso TV Photograph: Espreso TV
The Australian government has been urged to impose sanctions on Ukrainian government officials in response to the violence.
We’re talking about visa sanctions, high level government officials not being allowed to travel,” The Chairman of the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations, Stefan Romanov told SBS Radio.
“Secondly, looking at assets that people like President Yanukovch’s son and other oligarchs have around the world- freezing those assets and doing an international audit if those assets are seen as laundered money and for those assets to be confiscated- that’s the only language that they really understand.”
A fire in the Trade Unions Building has reached the conservatory. Several people have been rescued from the upper floors.
A fire truck is used to rescue people from the upper floors of a burning Trade Unions Building, which has been used as the de facto headquarters for anti-government protesters, on February 19, 2014 in Kiev, Ukraine. Photograph: Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images Photograph: Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images
Police forces are lining up against the protesters. The Interpretor reports Berkut riot police have clashed with some on the front line. They also report water cannons have been brought in but have been used to douse fires, rather than disperse crowds.
Police forces line up in front of protesters shortly before 5am Photograph: /Espreso TV Photograph: Espreso TV
Ukrainian media website hvylya reports that Yanukovych has tried to reach Russia’s president but Putin will not take the call. They cite sources inside the presidential administration.
Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko says Yanukovych has misread the situation in ordering people to lay down their arms and leave the square.
Instead Klitschko suggested authorities immediately withdraw while people continue to die.
“This is what I’ve told Yanukovych. Could talks be a solution while blood has been shed? But unfortunately he has no understanding of the situation,” Klitschko said.
After some particularly loud explosions the voice over the amplifier - which had led crowds in song just a moment ago - ceased. The sound of marching followed.
Chanting resumed a few minutes later, as did large explosions and white flashes. Below is what the scene at the square looks like.
It's past 4AM in the Kyiv, the Independence Sq is still burning, clashes are on for almost 20 hours now
pic.twitter.com/F2qvl9YYEK
The body of a man found on Trukhanov Island near the Dnipro River has been identified as Volodymyr Naumov, a member of the EuroMaidan “people’s self-defense” team, the Kyiv Post reports.
Flashes and explosions are visible on the live stream of Maidan. Gunfire can be heard and what looks like tracer bullets shoot over the street. Unseen crowds are cheering at one man’s statements over an amplifier.
There were rumours of a 4am raid by police forces, and it appears clashes may be heating up again.
This is Helen Davidson, taking over the live updates from Ben and Kayla.
US Senator John McCain has called for support of the protesters and warned the US to be wary of Russian President Vladamir Putin, in an interview with CNN.
We have to side with the protesters and the power has to be dispersed from the hands of Yanukovych, who changed the constitution and put virtually all power in the hands of the President,” said McCain.
“We ought to tell Putin that interference ... in the ways that he might do it, would be totally unacceptable to the United States,” said McCain.
With clashes between anti-government protesters still ongoing in the centre of Kiev, here’s a summary of developments over the course of today:
Ukrainian riot police charged protesters occupying a central Kiev square early on Wednesday after the bloodiest day in the country’s post Soviet history.
Police battled their way into Independence Square, centre of three months of protests against President Viktor Yanukovich, but demonstrators, some armed with clubs and wearing helmets and body armour, tried to stand their ground.
At least 14 protesters and seven policemen were killed during the violence that erupted in Kiev on Tuesday and continued into the early hours of Wednesday.
Many were killed by gunshot and hundreds more injured, with dozens of them in a serious condition, police and opposition representatives said.
Anti-government protesters also seized government buildings in a few cities in the western part of the country.
According to one report, protesters torched the main police station in Ternopil and were trying to seize the headquarters of regional administration.
A travel warning has been issued by the US department, which says that there has been “a sharp escalation in violence between protesters and police”.
The statement, which can be read in full here, says that groups of young men, popularly called “titushky,” have attacked journalists and protesters and committed other random acts of violence in Kyiv and other cities.
It adds:
The situation in Ukraine is unpredictable and could change quickly. Further violent clashes between police and protesters in Kyiv and other cities are possible.
The location and nature of demonstrations and methods employed by the police can change quickly and without warning.
Protest sites have drawn large crowds, and protesters have blocked roads in Kyiv and other cities and may do so again.
Ukraine’s oligarchs have been calling for an end to the hostilities. Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man and a longtime backer of President Yanukovich, intervened earlier this evening, saying:
Rinat Akhmetov strongly believes that there are no circumstances that would justify the use of force against peaceful citizens. Peaceful citizens must not suffer in any situation.
This must be the main objective for the government, the opposition and all conflicting parties. Human losses and injuries suffered by protesters and law-enforcers during street clashes is an unacceptable price for political mistakes.
Rinat Akhmetov urges an end to the bloodshed in the streets of Kiev and calls on all the opposing parties to return to the negotiation process immediately and continue to work without any delay until a solution is found that would take Ukraine out of this deep political crisis.
Victor Pinchuk, who built up a huge fortune while his father-in-law was president and has now rebranded himself as a philanthropist, also said in a statement:
A peaceful solution must be found, it is imperative to refrain from the use of force and find a compromise. Ukraine since its independence has avoided bloodshed.
We must return to this tradition immediately. From this minute, this is the responsibility of everyone - those in power, the opposition, civil society, business.
It is time for all sides to take courageous steps towards compromise that they may not yet have been ready to take even this morning. For each of us, love for Ukraine must be immeasurably more important than any other feelings and interests.
Vitali Klitschko, the opposition’s most prominent leader, has said that he quit tonight’s talks with President Viktor Yanukovich without reaching any agreement on how to end the violence in Kiev.
Reuters reports:
“Unfortunately, I bring nothing good from the talks,” Ukrainska Pravda website quoted Klitschko as saying.
He said that he left the talks after the president demanded that the central square in Kiev occupied by anti-government protesters be unconditionally cleared.
It was not clear from the report whether talks between the president and the two remaining opposition leaders were continuing.
Here’s an image that’s almost as reminiscent as it gets of urban, armed warfare, and one that suggests that events in Kiev have escalated to a very dramatic degree (via Jim Roberts)
According to the Russian news agency, Interfax, Ukraine’s President is in talks with opposition leaders and has called for a “peaceful resolution” of the conflict.
I’ve also been speaking to the Guardian’s own Moscow Correspondent, Shaun Walker, who has spent a considerable time covering events in Independence Square, and is currently in Sochi for the Olympics.
He says that the timing of tonight’s major police operation in Kiev has surpried many commentators who had not expected Ukraine’s President, Viktor Yanukovych, to risk overshadowing the Olympics, an event dear to the heart of his long-term ally, Vladimir Putin.
Shaun says:
There was always the option of a clampdown from President Yanukovych but I think he has been under huge pressure internationally and from the oligarchs in Ukraine, and really the events of the last two months have shown that for him to win this it was going take a lot of blood. Very few people had expected him to go for that.
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There has been too much “howl-round” in Ukraine tonight, says Daniel Sandford, the BBC’s respected Moscow Correspondent, who makes a plea for everyone to stick to reporting what they see.
He has also sent out a number of tweets designed to clarify some of the confusion around certain issues. Among them:
Fact 5 it is 2am and the fighting continues sporadically. Petrol bombs and stun grenades. There are dead on both sides
More than ever, Kiev’s Independence Square is resembling a medieval battlefield. Here are some of the more incredible images coming in.
Police, backed by water cannon, move in on anti-government protesters in central Kiev. Photograph: Alexander Koerner/Getty Images Photograph: Alexander Koerner/Getty Images
Ukrainian riot police stand in front of the fire ring around of the Independence Square. Photograph: SERGEY DOLZHENKO/EPA Photograph: SERGEY DOLZHENKO/EPA
Anti-government protesters lining up earlier at their camp in Kiev's Independence Square. Photograph: News Pictures/REX Photograph: News Pictures/REX
The US Vice President, Joe Biden, has called Ukraine’s president to express “grave concern” about violent clashes in the capital of Kiev, reports the Associated Press.
The White House says Biden called on President Viktor Yanukovych Tuesday to pull back government forces and exercise maximum restraint.
The White House says Biden made clear that while the United States condemns violence by all parties, the government bears “special responsibility to de-escalate the situation.”
Biden also called on Ukraine’s government to address the protestors’ “legitimate grievances” and put forward proposals for political reform. Biden has spoken frequently with Yanukovych during the standoff between the government and protesters.
We’ve seen Carl Bildt, Sweden’s foreign minister, say earlier tonight on Twitter that the EU would “not hesitate on measures against interests of persons associated with repression in Ukraine”.
But exactly what type of measures are open to the EU? And how effective would they be?
I’ve been talking about that to Orysia Lutsevych, research fellow on the Russia and Eurasia Programme at the London-based foreign policy think tank, Chatham house.
You can listen here:
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The death toll has now reached 18 in Kiev, following the death of further five people, according to the Associated Press, which is attributing that information to “officials”.
Reports are coming through that an opposition leader, Oleksander Turchinov, has been shot. A Ukrainian journalist, Maxim Eristavit, appears to have been one of the first to tweet, while the Russian news agency Interfax also carries a report.
Opposition leader Turchinov apparently has a gun wound,is being treated by medics at main #Euromaidan stage.Don't know how bad his injury is
John Herbst, a former US ambassadfor to Ukraine, says that there are two ways in which the crisis can be resolved - either by a major crackdown or by the government offering “real concessions”.
He told the BBC News Channel:
Thus far the government in Ukraine has been either unwilling or unable to do either. It’s also not clear they have the ability to crackdown in a way that would clear the streets.
Of Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yanukovich, he added:
My sense is that he does nto want to give up real power. He would like to retain all the authorities he currently enjoys until the presidential election of 2015. On the other hand, it’s not clear that he has the forces to conduct a real crackdown and he understands that even if he does, such a crackdown would be very unpopular throughout the country, including in places that normally support his party.
A Ukrainian photojournalist, Vlad Sodel, has also been posting some extraordinary pictures from today on his Twitter account. They get bloody very quickly.
A reminder now of the potential for the clashes in Kiev to spread. Around 500 protestors have seized control of a regional administrative building and the police headquarters in the pro-EU western city of Lviv, according to AFP.
Meanwhile, the dramatic images from Kiev keep coming in.
An elevated view of Kiev's Independence Square this evening. Photograph: GENYA SAVILOV/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: GENYA SAVILOV/AFP/Getty Images
Flames flicker amid clashes between anti-government protesters and police during their storming of Independence Square in Kiev. Photograph: GENYA SAVILOV/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: GENYA SAVILOV/AFP/Getty Images
Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko (pictured below earlier today) has arrived at President Yanukovich’s office for talks, an opposition spokeswoman had told Reuters.
Earlier, Klitschko called on women and children to quit the protest camp in the centre of Kiev ahead of a police deadline calling for calm to be restored.
As some 25,000 people stood their ground, he told the crowd:
We will not leave here. This is an island of liberty. The state has launched a war against its own people. Responsible democratic countries cannot stand back and let this happen.
Vitali Klitschko (left) outside Ukraine's parliament building in Kiev. Photograph: ITAR-TASS/Barcroft Media Photograph: ITAR-TASS / Barcroft Media
Armoured personnel carriers are moving towards Kiev’s Independence Square and have come under fire from protesters throwing molotov cocktails, according to Reuters.
The latest death toll from today’s violence has now reached 14, a figure that includes six policemen.
An anti-government protester prepares to throw a molotov cocktail. Photograph: Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photograph: Efrem Lukatsky/AP
Is Ukraine’s president answering the phone? Laurence Norman, who covers Brussels for the Wall St Journal and Dow Jones, has this tweet about western attempts to reach Viktor Yanukovych
Looking back on the earlier violence today, one particular area of controversy revolves around claims that live ammunition has been used. On this, the New York Times reports:
Protesters reported that the police were using live ammunition, but this could not be confirmed. Cartridges scattered on the street suggested that most, if not all, of the firing from police lines involved rubber bullets.
Some demonstrators carried firearms, too, though it was unclear whether they had used them. On Instyuts’ka Street, a crowd pulled a man from a parked car after discovering a rifle in the car’s trunk.
As he was jostled by the crowd, the man objected he had came to “fight for freedom,” indicating he was on the side of protesters. He was allowed to drive away with the rifle.
It was shut down earlier, but Ukraine’s Channel 5 is now broadcasting via YouTube.
My colleague, Kayla Epstein, draws attention to this link for the feed from the channel, which was also corresponding directly on Twitter earlier with Carl Bildt.
While the police have yet to actually begin a full assault on the protest camp in the centre of Kiev tonight, many commentators on the ground there expect that this will happen tonight.
Yulia Bragina, for Sky News, has spotted what could be police reinforcements ahead of that:
Rows of police vans on Institutska str., leading from maidan to government district. pic.twitter.com/bBm1JNTvdS
There are suggestions coming from commentators on the ground in Kiev that Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yanukovych, will be meeting with opposition leaders in the next two hours.
That’s unconfirmed though. As yet, there doesn’t appear to have been any formal statement from Yanukovych’s office, or a response from opposition leaders.
Here’s a particularly strong comment on the crisis this evening from the Swedish foreign minister, Carl Bildt, although he doesn’t say quite what measure he has in mind.
EU will not hesitate on measures against interests of persons associated with repression and violence in Ukraine.
Traffic to Kiev will be restricted from midnight “to prevent the escalation of mass unrest in the city”, Ukraine‘s government press service has announced.
Hopes for a settlement of Ukraine’s three-month crisis are evaporating tonight in what is potentially its most serious escalation yet amid scenes of rioting, burning buildings, and the firing of police rubber bullets in Kiev. Up to nine protesters are reported dead today and more than 100 seriously injured.
The security services issued an ominous warning earlier, ordering tens of thousands of protesters to get off the streets by Tuesday evening or face a crackdown.
In the last hour, Ukrainian police are moving in on a large protest camp in the centre of the city. A number of water cannon are being used, along with stun grenades.
Today’s violence was some of the worst since a government-opposition confrontation erupted last November, and came after President Viktor Yanukovych, the main target of the protests, stalled on outlines of an agreement to appoint a new technocratic coalition government or to have his powers cutback.
Columns of riot police sought to banish crowds of protesters from encroaching on the country’s parliament, while demonstrators also partially ransacked offices of Yanukovych’s political party.
A statement by the security services said:
Extremists are killing innocents on the streets of the capital, burning buildings and cars. Unless the disorder stops, we will have to restore order by all means envisaged by law.
The foreign ministries of Ukraine and Russia issued what appeared to be co-ordinated statements blaming Europe for fomenting the unrest.
A statement by protesters said:
The violent clashes today have to date resulted in deaths by bullets and hundreds of injuries, including seven people in a critical position. Snipers posted on roofs are targeting the heads and chests of protesters.
Ambulances blocked by security forces are not able to provide first aid to the injured.
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