Kiev a near-apocalyptic war zone

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 23 Januari 2014 | 20.01

Confrontation between protesters and police continues in Kiev. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

FIREWORKS, molotov cocktails, tyres, human-sized slingshots and guns have turned Kiev into a war zone as protesters clash with security forces.

Ukraine's opposition is still threatening to go on the attack unless the government can agree to concessions to quell protests that have left five activists dead in the first fatalities of two months of anti-government rallies.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PROTESTS IN KIEV

Protesters and riot police were locked in the tense standoff - in scenes which were near-apocalyptic - after ferocious clashes turned an area of central Kiev into a virtual war zone, with police using tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets against protesters hurling stones, molotov cocktails and more.

Protesters use a large slingshot to hurl rocks at police in central Kiev. Picture: AP Source: AP

The bloody clashes marked a new peak in tensions after two months of protests over the government's failure to sign a deal for closer integration with the European Union under Russian pressure.

Ukrainian opposition leader and world boxing champion Vitali Klitschko have urged protesters to observe an eight-hour truce ahead of talks with President Viktor Yanukovych.

Protests in Ukraine reach nightfall as opposition demands the president find a solution to the country's crisis. Nathan Frandino reports.

"By 8.00pm (1800 GMT) I will return to you and inform you of the result of the talks," the Interfax Ukraine news agency quoted Klitschko as telling the protesters.

Riot police officers gather as they clash with protesters in the centre of Kiev. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

"Keep the barricades in place but (be) calm until the talks finish," he added. An AFP correspondent at the scene of the fighting at Grushevsky Street confirmed that there had been a pause in clashes and that the truce appeared to be holding.

Klitschko and other opposition leaders are due to meet Yanukovych at the presidential administration for a second round of talks.

A protester aims fireworks at police during clashes, in central Kiev. Picture: AP Source: AP

Klitschko's comments came after he crossed the lines to hold talks with Berkut anti-riot police.

He told the radical protesters on the frontline that the security forces had vowed not to use stun grenades during the truce.

The protesters shouted that they favoured the truce, Interfax reported. The opposition has said the president must agree to three key demands - the holding of snap presidential elections, the resignation of the government and the annulment of anti-protest laws passed last week - for a compromise to be reached.

"The chances are not great, but they exist," Klitschko added.

The leader of the opposition Fatherland party Arseniy Yatsenyuk had warned the protesters on Independence Square that Yanukovych had 24 hours to agree a peaceful solution, saying he was ready to die for the cause.

Protesters throw molotov cocktails at police during clashes in the centre of Kiev. Photo: AFP Source: AFP

"If he does not go down that path then we will go forwards together and if it means a bullet to the head, then it is a bullet to the head.

"Viktor Yanukovych you have 24 hours. Take a decision. I have taken my decision," he said to cheers.

Klitschko told crowds on Independence Square after talks that protesters will go "on the attack" if Yanukovych does not swiftly offer concessions.

"If Yanukovych does not make concessions, then we will go on the attack," Klitschko said, adding the president could resolve the situation without bloodshed by giving way to the chief demand of early elections.

Riot police officers clash with protesters, storming protesters' barricades in Kiev as violent clashes erupted. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

Oleg Musiy, the co-ordinator of the medical service, told pro-opposition Hromadske radio, that five people have been killed and around 300 wounded in the clashes.

According to the Ukrainska Pravda news website, four of the five people found dead had gunshot wounds.

The demonstrators had overnight further fortified their barricades with sandbags filled with snow.

Their frontline was marked by burning tyres which were still on fire in blazes that the police had been unable to extinguish despite the use of water cannon. The tyres sent a rancid plume of black smoke billowing into the Kiev sky.

Ukrainian protester among burning car tyres during a mass action of opposition on Grushevsky street. Picture: Getty Source: Getty Images

A former MP from Yanukovych's Region's Party who switched sides during the protest, Inna Bogoslovska, bluntly told the rally on Independence Square the authorities were doomed: "Viktor Fyodorovich, this is the end," she said.

The deadly violence horrified Ukrainians, who have never witnessed such scenes in their country including during the 2004 Orange Revolution which was almost entirely peaceful.

Amid calls for sanctions against the Ukrainian government, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso on Wednesday warned the authorities that the EU executive authority would assess "possible actions" against the Ukrainian authorities.

The United States also revoked the visas of several Ukrainian nationals linked to violence against protesters in November and December last year, the US embassy said in a statement.

But Russia, which has regarded Ukraine's pro-EU protest movement with suspicion from the start, took a different view and blamed the opposition and West for the clashes.

Protesters clash with riot police in Kiev. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

"Ukraine's legitimate authorities face outside interference in its internal affairs," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told the Interfax news agency, referring to EU and US statements.

But President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia will not intervene in the protests and believes Ukraine's leadership will find a way out.

"We consider we do not have the right to intervene in any way in the internal affairs of our brother Ukraine. That's unacceptable and Russia has not done this and will not do it," Peskov said in an interview published on the website of Komsomolskaya Pravda daily.


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