KYIV, Ukraine - A brief truce in Ukraine's embattled capital failed Thursday, spiraling into fierce clashes between police and anti-government protesters that left at least 22 people dead. Government snipers were reported to be shooting at some of the protesters in Kyiv.
At least 50 people have died this week in clashes in Kyiv, a sharp reversal in a months-long crisis that had shown tentative steps toward compromise just days earlier.
President Viktor Yanukovych and the opposition leaders who demand his resignation are locked in a decades-long battle over the identity of this nation of 46 million, whose loyalties are divided between Russia and the West. Parts of the country— mostly in its western cities — are in open revolt against Yanukovych's central government.
After urban street battles that were almost medieval in nature, an Associated Press reporter saw 21 bodies Thursday laid out on the edge of the sprawling protest encampment in central Kyiv. In addition, one policeman was killed and 28 suffered gunshot wounds Thursday, Interior Ministry spokesman Serhiy Burlakov told the AP.
Late Wednesday, Yanukovych met with opposition leaders and they called for a truce and negotiations. But the truce call appeared to have little credibility among hardcore protesters at Kyiv's Independence Square campsite.
One protest camp commander, Oleh Mykhnyuk, tolded The AP that even after the truce call, protesters continued to throw firebombs at riot police on the square. As the sun rose, police pulled back, the protesters followed them and police began shooting at them, he said.
Video footage on Ukrainian television showed shocking scenes of protesters being cut down by gunfire, lying on the pavement as comrades rushed to their aid, trying to protest themselves with shields.
Government snipers were shooting at some protesters in Kyiv, according to an AP cameraman and a protester. Heavy paving stones, firebombs and more were sent flying toward police.
The Interior Ministry on Thursday said Kyiv residents should limit their movements or stay home altogether because of the "armed and aggressive mood of the people."
Neither side appears willing to compromise, with the opposition insisting on Yanukovych's resignation and an early election and the president apparently prepared to fight until the end.
Amid the carnage, signs were emerging that Yanukovych is losing loyalists as the crisis roils. The chief of Kyiv's city administration, Volodymyr Makeyenko, announced Thursday he was leaving Yanukovych's Party of Regions.
"We must be guided only by the interests of the people, this is our only chance to save people's lives," he said, adding he would continue to fulfil his duties as long as he had the people's trust.
Another influential member of the ruling party, Serhiy Tyhipko, said both Yanukovych and opposition leaders had "completely lost control of the situation."
"Their inaction is leading to the strengthening of opposition and human victims," the Interfax news agency reported.
In a statement Thursday, Yanukovych claimed that police were not armed and "all measures to stop bloodshed and confrontation are being taken."
As the violence exploded and heavy smoke from burning barricades at the encampment belched into the sky, the foreign ministers of three European countries — France, Germany and Poland — met with Yanukovych, after their meeting with the opposition leaders.
Later Thursday in Brussels, the 28-nation European Union was scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on Ukraine, to consider sanctions against those behind the violence.
The latest bout of street violence began Tuesday when protesters attacked police lines and set fires outside parliament, accusing 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.
In a statement early Thursday, the Ukrainian Health Ministry said 28 people have died and 287 have been hospitalized during the two days of street violence. Protesters who have set up a medical care facility in a downtown cathedral so that wounded colleagues would not be snatched by police at the hospital say the number of injured are significantly higher — possibly double or triple that.
A statement from the Interior Ministry on Thursday said the gunfire against officers appeared to be coming from the national music conservatory in Kyiv, which is on the edge of the downtown square housing an extensive protest tent camp.
Also Thursday, the parliament building was evacuated because of fears protesters were preparing to storm it.
At the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Ukrainian alpine skier Bogdana Matsotska, 24, said she will not take part in Friday's women's slalom to protest the developments in Kyiv.
"As a protest against lawless actions made toward protesters, the lack of responsibility from the side of the president and his lackey government, we refuse further performance at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games," her father and coach, Oleg Matsotskyy, wrote in a Facebook post.
The clashes this week have been the most deadly since protests kicked off three months ago after Yanukovych shelved an association agreement with the European Union in favour of closer ties with Russia. Russia then announced a $15 billion bailout for Ukraine, whose economy is in tatters. Political and diplomatic manoeuvring has continued, with both Moscow and the West eager to gain influence over this former Soviet republic.
President Barack Obama also stepped in to condemn the violence, warning 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.
Russia's Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, 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.
On Thursday, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Russia will "try to do our best" to fulfil its obligations to Ukraine, but indicated Moscow would hold back on further installments of its bailout money until the crisis is resolved.
"We need that the partners are in good shape and that the Ukrainian government is legitimate and effective, that this government is not used like a rag for wiping off feet," he said.
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Maria Danilova, Jim Heintz and Yury Uvarov in Kyiv contributed to this report
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In fast-moving day, Ukrainians sign deal, parliament restores constitution limiting president
KIEV, Ukraine - In a day that could significantly shift Ukraine's political destiny, opposition leaders signed a deal Friday with the country's beleaguered president that calls for early elections, a new constitution and a new unity government.
Russian officials immediately criticized the deal and protesters angry over police violence showed no sign of abandoning their sprawling camp in central Kyiv.
If it holds, the ambitious agreement could be a major breakthrough in a months-long crisis over Ukraine's future, a standoff that worsened sharply this week and left scores dead and hundreds wounded in the worst violence the country has since seen it became independent in 1991.
Within hours of the signing, Ukraine's parliament voted to restore the 2004 constitution that limits presidential powers, clawing back some of the powers that President Viktor Yanukovych had pushed through after being elected in 2010.
Although Yanukovych retains an apparent majority in parliament, his powers are now significantly reduced. Lawmakers also approved an amnesty for protesters involve in violence during a months-long standoff over Ukraine's future
European foreign ministers spent two days and all night trying to negotiate an end to the months-long standoff, prompted when Yanukovych aborted a pact with the European Union in November in favour of close ties with Russia instead.
The U.S., Russia and European Union are deeply concerned about the future of Ukraine, a nation of 46 million that has divided loyalties between Russia and the West.
The agreement signed Friday says presidential elections will be held no later than December, instead of March 2015 as scheduled. Many protesters say December is too late — they want Yanukovych out immediately.
Ukrainian authorities also will now name a new government including opposition figures within 10 days.
The deal says the government will not impose a state of emergency and both sides will refrain from violence. It says opposition protesters should hand over any weapons and withdraw from buildings they have occupied and protest camps around the country.
It is far from clear that the thousands of protesters camped out in Kyiv on Friday will pack up and go home. One by one, protesters took to a stage on Independence Square to say they're not happy and didn't get what they wanted.
The capital remained tense. Shots were heard Friday morning, a day after the deadliest violence in Ukraine's post-Soviet history. It is unclear who was targeted and whether anyone was hurt or injured in Friday's incident.
The leader of a radical group that has been a driver of violent clashes with police, Pravy Sektor, said Friday he doesn't believe President Viktor Yanukovych will honour the deal and "the national revolution will continue," according to the Interfax news agency.
The deal has other detractors too.
Leonid Slutsky, the chairman of the committee in charge of relations with other ex-Soviet nations in the lower house of Russian parliament, told reporters Friday that the agreement serves the interests of the West.
"We realize where and by whom this agreement has been written. It's entirely in the interests of the United States and other powers, who want to split Ukraine from Russia," he said.
At the same time, Slutsky shrugged off claims that Russia could send its troops to Ukraine, saying Moscow will communicate with any government Ukraine has.
"No matter how bad and hard to deal with the new government is for us, we will deal with it," he said. "We must learn from mistakes we have made."
Protesters across the country are upset over corruption in Ukraine, the lack of democratic rights and the country's ailing economy, which just barely avoided bankruptcy with the first disbursement of a $15 billion bailout promised by Russia.
The violence is making Ukraine's dire economic troubles worse. Ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded Ukraine's debt rating Friday, saying the country will likely default if there are no significant improvements in the political crisis, which it does not expect.
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As the unrest in Ukraine continues, reports of extreme torture have emerged in some parts of the country.
An anti-government protester has been admitted to hospital in Brovary, a city in Kiev Oblast in northern Ukraine, with his mouth sewn up with shoemaker's thread, allegedly by riot police.
Two other protesters with torture signs have been admitted to the Central District Hospital in the eastern suburb of the Ukrainian capital Kiev.
Apart from stitching up the protester's mouth, it is also alleged that his abdomen was inscribed with the word "Maidan", the epicentre of anti-government protests in Kiev, using a knife.
Another victim was made to sit on fireworks by the police, suggests a Facebook post by journalist Anna Babinets, citing a hospital representative named Serhy Sandler.
The details remain sketchy and there are no independent means of verifying them.
Local police deny any knowledge of the alleged torture.
The latest reports come a day after video footage showing protesters being picked off by special force snipers in Kiev's Independence Square.
KIEV, Ukraine - Fears that Ukraine could split in two mounted Saturday as regional lawmakers in the pro-Russian east questioned the authority of the national parliament. Parliament sought to oust President Viktor Yanukovych and he left the capital and protesters took control.
After a tumultuous few days that are changing Ukraine's political destiny, Yanukovych left Kyiv for the city of Kharkiv, his support base in the country's Russian-speaking east. A presidential aide said he has no intention of abandoning power.
Attention shifted Saturday from the sprawling Kyiv protest camp to Kharkiv, where governors, provincial officials and legislators gathered. Top Russian lawmakers joined the meeting, too, while thousands of angry protesters gathered outside, chanting "Ukraine is not Russia!"
Russia, the United States and the European Union are deeply worried about the future of Ukraine, a nation of 46 million whose loyalties and economy are divided between Europe and longtime ruler Moscow.
The leaders gathered in Kharkiv approved a statement calling on regional authorities to take full responsibility for the constitutional order on their territory.
Some called for forming volunteer units to protect against force by protesters from western regions. The assembly urged army units to maintain neutrality and protect ammunition depots.
"The events of recent days in the capital Kyiv have brought central authorities to paralysis, and destabilized the situation of the government," lawmaker Vadim Kolesnichenko said at the congress, according to Russian news agencies.
He accused the opposition of not upholding its side of a breakthrough agreement Friday with Yanukovych to order protesters to give up weapons and abandon protest camps.
Yanukovych is in Kharkiv to meet with voters and appear on local television, his aide said.
Also in Kharkiv is his main foe, jailed ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Tymoshenko's arrest in 2011 and conviction on charges of abuse of office were widely seen as a case of political revenge.
After a European-mediated deal between the president and the opposition Friday, the Ukrainian parliament voted to decriminalize the charge on which Tymoshenko was convicted.
A spokeswoman for Tymoshenko, Natasha Lysova, told The Associated Press that a decision taken by parliament Saturday means Tymoshenko must be freed immediately. Earlier Lysova had said Tymoshenko had already been freed.
Tymoshenko's reappearance on the political scene could shake things up even more.
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Dalton Bennett in Kharkiv, Ukraine contributed to this repor