Ukraine protests: 21 killed amid ‘sniper attacks’ as fresh fighting breaks Kiev truce

(by David Blair, and Roland Oliphant in Kiev for London’s Daily Telegraph) — [Fierce fighting broke out Thursday between government forces and protesters in the Ukrainian capital, shattering a truce declared hours earlier and leaving scores of people dead.

A top human rights official said at least 50 people were killed in the clashes that erupted Thursday morning in the streets around Kiev’s Independence Square. Other estimates of the death toll were considerably higher.] The Telegraph saw ten corpses were laid out on the pavement beneath the awning of a cafe on the northern edge of Independence Square, where thousands of demonstrators are still camped. At least three of the bodies displayed single bullet wounds to the heads. A Reuters photographer counted a total of 21 bodies in three places on the square.

One demonstrator, who gave his name as Andreiy, carried in one body on a green military stretcher. “He died between 90 minutes and two hours ago,” he told a Telegraph reporter. “These are all live rounds. You can see what they do. He and all the others were shot in the head, the neck or the heart. None were shot anywhere else like in the legs.”

Andreiy blamed a “professional” government sniper, citing the accuracy of the shots, most of which were aimed at the head. The government has insisted that its forces have been acting with restraint. …

Hundreds of armed protesters bombarded police with Molotov cocktails and rocks, regaining control of most of the square they occupied at the start of the three-month political crisis. Demonstrators [also] appeared to have captured several uniformed officers.

Police responded with rubber bullets and stun grenades, although there were also reports of live rounds being used. It was unclear where the gunfire originated.

Officials were evacuated from Kiev’s main government building as the clashes continued.

In a statement published early on Thursday, before the latest fighting, the Ukrainian Health Ministry said 28 people had died and 287 had been hospitalized during the two days of street violence. Protesters, who have set up a medical care facility in a downtown cathedral, say the numbers are significantly higher.

The latest clashes have been the worst since protests kicked off three months ago after President Viktor Yanukovych shelved a [pending] agreement with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Russia. After Mr. Yanukovych shelved the agreement with the EU, Russia announced a $15 billion bailout for Ukraine, whose economy is in tatters.

The two sides are locked in a battle over the identity of this nation of 46 million, whose loyalties are divided between Russia and the West, and parts of the country are in open revolt against the central government.

The latest bout of street violence began on Tuesday when protesters attacked police lines and set fires outside parliament, accusing Mr 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 limit presidential powers.

Police responded by attacking the protest camp. Armed with water cannons, stun grenades and rubber bullets, police dismantled some barricades. But the protesters held their ground through the night, encircling the protest camp with new burning barricades of tires, furniture and debris. …

Vitali Klitschko, the opposition leader who along with two others 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.

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.

[E.U. Commission President José Manuel Barroso expressed “shock and utter dismay” Wednesday over the “violence and use of excessive force,” which he blamed on Ukraine’s “political leadership.” He said he expects the E.U. to agree on “targeted measures against those responsible.” The Swedish foreign minister, Carl Bildt, said Yanukovych “has blood on his hands.”]

Political and diplomatic manoeuvering has continued, with both Moscow and the West eager to gain influence over this former Soviet republic. Three EU foreign ministers – from Germany, France and Poland – were in Kiev on Thursday to speak with both sides before an emergency EU meeting in Brussels to consider sanctions against those responsible for the recent violence in Ukraine.

President Obama also stepped in to condemn the violence, warning on Wednesday “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. “I want to be very clear as we work through these next several days in Ukraine that we’re going to be watching closely and we expect the Ukrainian government to show restraint, to not resort to violence in dealing with peaceful protesters,” Obama said. “We’ve also said we expect peaceful protesters to remain peaceful, and we’ll be monitoring very closely the situation, recognizing that with our European partners and the international community there will be consequences if people step over the line.”

On a visit to Mexico, Mr. 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.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry, in turn, 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.”

A number of Ukrainian athletes left the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi where they were competing in the Winter Olympics to return home amid the crisis, the International Olympic Committee said.

In Kiev, Ukraine’s top security agency accused on protesters Wednesday of seizing hundreds of firearms from its offices and announced a nationwide anti-terrorist operation to restore order. [If an “anti-terrorist” campaign begins, it is not clear what it will entail or how effectively it can be carried out. A special operation would presumably give the security service the authority to seize people and property without court orders for a specified period.]

Demonstrators, meanwhile, forced their way into the main post office on Kiev’s Independence Square, also known as the Maidan, after a nearby building they had previously occupied was burned down in fierce, fiery clashes late Tuesday with riot police. Thousands of activists armed with fire bombs and rocks had defended the square, a key symbol of the protests.

“The revolution has turned into a war with the authorities,” Vasyl Oleksenko, a retired geologist from central Ukraine, said Wednesday. “We must fight this bloody, criminal leadership. We must fight for our country, our Ukraine!”

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.

Neither side had appeared willing to compromise, with the opposition insisting on Mr. Yanukovych’s resignation and an early election and the president apparently prepared to fight until the end. …

Before the truce announcement, Mr. Yanukovych had blamed the protesters for the violence and said the opposition leaders had “crossed a line when they called people to arms.” …

In a joint statement, the three main opposition parties said they were not responsible for Tuesday’s deadly violence. “We have never called and never will call people to pick up arms,” it said. “This is our principled stance. The death of any person is a personal tragedy for each one of us.”

In Moscow, 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.”

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters that he and his counterparts from Germany and Poland would meet both sides in Ukraine ahead of the EU meeting on possible sanctions. He said he hoped the two sides “will find a way for dialogue.”

Possible sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes, which could hit hard the powerful oligarchs who back Mr. Yanukovych.

Reprinted here for educational purposes only. From a Telegraph news report, with excerpts added from the Daily Mail article.  May not be reproduced on other websites without permission from the Daily Telegraph.