The head of the
protesters' medical service said 100 people died and 500 were injured in
clashes on Thursday, just hours after the government declared a truce
in fighting that had shocked world leaders with the deaths of 28 people
two days before.
The Ukrainian government
has not released its own casualty figures, but Interior Minister Vitali
Zakharchenko said 25 police officers had been wounded and an unspecified
number of them had died. Some others had been taken hostage, he said.
If Thursday's death toll is confirmed, it would make it the deadliest day in Ukraine since protests began.
The violence inflames a
crisis that started in November, when President Viktor Yanukovych
reversed a decision to sign a trade deal with the European Union and
instead turned toward Russia. Ukraine has long been divided between
historic loyalties to Europe and its eastern neighbor.
Russia announced it is
sending a mediator to Kiev at the request of Yanukovych, Russian state
news agency Ria Novosti said Thursday, citing a Kremlin spokesman. Human
rights ombudsman, Vladimir Lukin, is being sent by Russian President
Vladimir Putin as a mediator to negotiate with the opposition, Putin
spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
It's unclear what
prompted Thursday's clashes. CNN crews at the scene reported that as
security forces were moving away from the area, a group of protesters
pursued them throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails.
Zakharchenko said the
violence had been "provoked exclusively by the opposition leaders,"
echoing an earlier statement from Yanukovych's office accusing
protesters of breaking the truce.
"The opposition used the
negotiation period to buy time, to mobilize and get weapons to
protesters," the statement from the President's office said.
However, a doctor
volunteering to treat protesters, Olga Bogomolets, accused government
forces of shooting to kill, saying she had treated 13 people she
believed had been targeted by "professional snipers."
"They were shot directly
to their hearts, their brain and to their neck," she said. "They didn't
give any chance to doctors, for us, to save lives."
CNN could not independently confirm Bogomolets' claim of sniper fire.
At a hotel converted
into a triage center, bodies covered in bloodied sheets lay on the
floor. Orthodox priests prayed over them.
In a statement that
appeared to increase pressure on protesters, the Interior Ministry said
it reserved the right to use force to free about 70 police officers it
said had been taken hostage Thursday by protesters.
However, a number of
people purporting to be police officers appeared on Ukrainian television
saying they had joined protesters of their own free will. It wasn't
clear if those claiming to be police officers were among those allegedly
taken hostage.
Diplomatic efforts under way
European Union officials
have spoken about the possibility of sanctions against the Ukrainian
government, which could include freezing assets and restricting the
visas of officials deemed responsible for violence in that country,
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Twitter.
He was in Ukraine's
capital Thursday, along with foreign ministers from Germany and Poland,
meeting with various opposition leaders and Yanukovych. The talks
stretched out longer than expected, and a German foreign ministry
spokeswoman told CNN those ministers would not be able to immediately
join other EU diplomats already meeting Thursday in an emergency session
in Brussels on the situation in Ukraine.
German Chancellor Angela
Merkel urged the Ukrainian President to accept European help in talks
with the anti-government opposition, Merkel's office said Thursday.
Russia's foreign ministry appeared to criticize Western diplomatic efforts, according to a report by RIA Novosti.
"The ongoing attempts to
obtrusively intervene from outside, threat with sanctions or trying to
influence the situation in any other ways are inappropriate and can't
lead to anything good but can only aggravate the confrontation," the
report quoted spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich.
As the protests
continued, anger over the rejected trade deal with the EU morphed into
resentment of Yanukovych, his closeness to Russia, and the power he
wields.
The violence caused political fallout in the President's own party and elsewhere.
Kiev Mayor Volodymyr
Makeenko announced his resignation from the country's ruling party,
according to the city administration website. The same post also
announced that the city's metro transit system is reopening. Government
officials had closed the system to prevent protesters from reaching
Independence Square, also known as Maidan.
At the Sochi Olympics,
Ukrainian athletes wearing black mourning bands held a moment of silence
Thursday for fellow citizens slain in the violence erupting in Kiev,
the Ukrainian Olympic committee said.
Thursday's violent
developments came just hours after Yanukovych announced a truce -- and
opposition leaders agreed to abide by it.
Opposition leader Vitali
Klitschko, a former world-class boxer, met with Yanukovych Wednesday --
discussions that led to the truce.
They were expected to meet again Thursday, but it was unclear if that meeting would still happen after the most recent violence.
Senior officials in U.S.
President Barack Obama's administration told CNN Wednesday they were
bracing for Ukraine to intensify its crackdown under pressure from
Russia.
"Things have gotten very
bad," one official said. "The government is speaking in very nasty,
aggressive and confrontational terms. It signals they are prepared to do
something."
Analysts warned there
was little that outside pressure could do, especially if the Ukrainian
military gets involved on the side of the government cracking down on
protesters.
