Ukraine suffered its bloodiest day since Soviet times yesterday with a gun battle in central Kiev as President Viktor Yanukovych faced conflicting pressures from visiting EU ministers and his Russian paymasters.
Three hours of fierce fighting in Independence Square, which was recaptured by anti-government protesters, left the bodies of more than 20 civilians strewn on the ground, a few hundred metres from where the President met the EU delegation.
Riot police were captured on video shooting from a rooftop at demonstrators in the plaza, known as the Maidan or “Euro-Maidan”.
Protesters hurled petrol bombs and paving stones to drive the security forces off a corner of the square the police had captured in battles that began on two days earlier.
Kiev’s city health department said 67 people had been killed since Tuesday, which meant at least 39 died in yesterday’s clashes.
Interior minister says police given combat arms and would use them
That was by far the worst violence since Ukraine emerged from the crumbling Soviet Union 22 years ago.
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland met for a marathon four hours with Yanukovych and extended their stay to put a roadmap for a political solution to opposition leaders. Diplomatic sources familiar with the discussions said it involved a temporary government until fresh elections.
“About to start a meeting with the Opposition so as to test proposed agreement,” tweeted Polish minister Radoslaw Sikorski.
Meanwhile their EU colleagues agreed at an emergency meeting in Brussels to move ahead with visa bans and asset freezes on those deemed responsible for the violence, Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino said.
In a sign of dwindling support for Yanukovych, his hand-picked head of Kiev’s city administration quit the ruling party in protest at bloodshed in the streets.
But core loyalists were still talking tough.
Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko, wearing camouflage as he made a TV statement, said police had been issued with combat weapons and would use them “in accordance with the law” to defend themselves – or to free 67 of their colleagues his ministry said were being held captive.
Russia criticised the European and US actions, calling them “blackmail” that would only make matters worse. President Vladimir Putin dispatched an envoy to Kiev to join the mediation effort with the Opposition at Yanukovych’s request.
Ukraine is caught in a geopolitical tug-of-war between Moscow – which sees it as a market and ally and fears protests spreading to Russia – and the West, which says Ukrainians should be free to choose economic integration with the EU.