KIEV, Ukraine - Protesters advanced on police lines in the heart of the Ukrainian capital on Thursday, prompting government snipers to open fire and kill scores of people in the country’s deadliest day since the breakup of the Soviet Union a quarter-century ago.
The European Union imposed sanctions on those deemed responsible for the violence, and three EU foreign ministers held a long day of talks in Kiev with both President Viktor Yanukovych and leaders of the protests seeking his ouster.
Yanukovych and the opposition protesters are locked in a battle over the identity of Ukraine, a nation of 46 million that has divided loyalties between Russia and the West. Parts of the country - mostly in its western cities - are in open revolt against Yanukovych’s central government, while many in eastern Ukraine back the president and favor strong ties with Russia, their former Soviet ruler.
Protesters across the country also are upset over corruption in Ukraine, the lack of democratic rights and the country’s ailing economy, which barely avoided bankruptcy with a $15 billion aid infusion from Russia.
Despite the violence, which began after a truce reached late Wednesday fell apart, protesters continued Thursday their push for Yanukovych’s resignation and early presidential and parliamentary elections.
At least 101 people have died this week in the clashes in Kiev, according to protesters and Ukrainian authorities, a sharp reversal in three months of mostly peaceful protests. Now neither side appears willing to compromise.
“The price of freedom is too high, but Ukrainians are paying it,” said Viktor Danilyuk, a 30-year-old protester. “We have no choice, the government isn’t hearing us.”
Thursday was the deadliest day yet at the sprawling protest camp on Kiev’s Independence Square, also called the Maidan. Snipers were seen shooting at protesters there - and video footage showed at least one sniper wearing a Ukraine riot-police uniform.
One of the wounded, volunteer medic Olesya Zhukovskaya, sent out a brief Twitter message - “I’m dying” - after she was shot in the neck. Dr. Oleh Musiy, the medical coordinator for the protesters, said she was in serious condition after surgery.
Musiy said at least 70 protesters were killed Thursday and more than 500 were wounded in the clashes.
In addition, at least three policemen were killed Thursday and 28 suffered gunshot wounds, Interior Ministry spokesman Serhiy Burlakov said.
The National Health Ministry said 75 people died in the clashes Tuesday and Thursday, but did not give a breakdown. Earlier Thursday, however, it said 28 people had died.
There was no way to immediately verify any of the death tolls. Earlier in the day, an Associated Press reporter saw the bodies of 21 protesters laid out near Kiev’s protest camp.
Video footage on Ukrainian television showed scenes Thursday of protesters being cut down by gunfire, lying on the pavement as comrades rushed to their aid. Trying to protect themselves with shields, teams of protesters carried bodies away on sheets of plastic or planks of wood.
Protesters also were seen leading policemen, their hands held high, around the sprawling protest camp in central Kiev. Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said 67 policemen were captured in all, and an opposition lawmaker said they were being held in Kiev’s occupied City Hall.
A Ukrainian Orthodox priest accompanied the officers, pleading with their captors not to hurt them.
“People are very angry, but we must not act like Yanukovych does,” said the priest, Nikolai Givailo.
The ministry said late Thursday that police could use force to free the captured police, adding to fears of a larger confrontation. Yanukovych had already said the military could take part in an “anti-terrorist” operation in the country. Officials frequently characterize the protesters as terrorists.
Hours later, however, the national parliament passed a measure forbidding the anti-terrorist measures from being put into place and calling for all Interior Ministry troops to return to their bases. But it was unclear how binding the measure would be.
Presidential adviser Marina Stavnichuk was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying the measure went into effect immediately but that a mechanism for carrying it out would have to be developed by the president’s office and the Interior Ministry.
‘NO RESULTS’
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, along with his German and Polish counterparts, said after a five-hour meeting with Yanukovych and another with opposition leaders that they discussed new elections and a new government, but gave no details. The three resumed meeting with Yanukovych late Thursday.
“For now, there are no results,” opposition leader Vitali Klitschko said.
In Brussels, the 28-nation European Union decided in an emergency meeting Thursday of foreign ministers to impose sanctions against those behind the violence in Ukraine, including a travel ban and an asset freeze against some officials. The EU said the bloc would soon establish a list of those who will be affected by the sanctions.
When asked if they would target opposition activists held responsible for violence in addition to Ukrainian officials, EU diplomat Catherine Ashton noted that the primary responsibility lies with the government.
“The responsibility to stop the violence rests squarely with those in power, and we urge them to do so as fast as possible,” she said.
Ashton said the ministers had been “truly alarmed and shocked by the scale of violence that has taken place,” and she praised the work of the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland who briefed Ashton by telephone after their talks with Yanukovych.
The EU also announced a suspension of arms sales to Ukraine and called for “the formation of a new inclusive government and the creation of the conditions for democratic elections.”
Britain’s foreign secretary, William Hague, said the foreign ministers had acted because of the “widespread horror” at what had happened in Ukraine but that the number of those affected by the sanctions would depend on the behavior of the Ukrainian government.
“The scale of the implementation of that will depend on developments to come, and, of course, we want to see success in government and opposition working together in order to bring about a peaceful situation and a peaceful and democratic settlement,” Hague said.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama about the crisis in Ukraine on Thursday evening. She briefed them about the trip of the three EU foreign ministers to Kiev, and all three leaders agreed that a political solution needs to be found as soon as possible to prevent further bloodshed.
Saying the U.S. was “outraged” by the violence, Obama urged Yanukovych in a statement to withdraw his forces from downtown Kiev immediately. He also said Ukraine should respect the right of protest and that protesters must be peaceful.
Military action by the U.S. is not among the options being considered, deputy spokesman Josh Earnest said. “The options available to the president are being considered with some urgency,” he said, adding that more sanctions were the only measure under active consideration.
The United States said Wednesday that it was imposing visa sanctions on 20 Ukrainian officials.
Russia stridently denounced the imposition of sanctions, saying such steps amounted to blackmail against the government of Yanukovych. The Kremlin issued a statement in which Putin blamed radical protesters and voiced “extreme concern about the escalation of armed confrontation in Ukraine.”
The Russian leader called for an immediate end to bloodshed and for steps “to stabilize the situation and stop extremist and terrorist actions.” He also sent former Russian ombudsman Vladimir Lukin, a former ambassador to the United States, to Ukraine to act as a mediator.
Protesters see Russia as responsible for inducing Yanukovych to back off a deal for closer ties with the European Union - the issue that set off the protests - to try to restore the regional power Russia exercised during the Soviet era.
Russia, meanwhile, appears increasingly frustrated with Yanukovych’s inability to find a way out of the crisis.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Russia will “try to do our best” to fulfill its financial obligations to Ukraine, but indicated Moscow would hold back on further bailout installments until the crisis is resolved.
“We need partners that are in good shape and a Ukrainian government that is legitimate and effective,” he said.
TRUCE DOUBTED
Although the first weeks of the protests were peaceful, radical elements have become more influential as impatience with the lack of progress grows. In their battles Thursday, those protesters, wearing hard hats and armed with bats and other makeshift weapons regained some territory on the fringes of Independence Square that police had seized earlier in the week.
One camp commander, Oleh Mykhnyuk, said protesters threw firebombs at riot police on the square overnight. As the sun rose, police pulled back, protesters followed them and police then began shooting at them,he said.
“There will be many dead today,” Anatoly Volk, 38, one of the demonstrators, said. He was watching stretchers carry dead and wounded men down a stairway slick with mud near the Hotel Ukraina.
Volk said the protesters had decided to try to retake the square because they believed that the truce announced around midnight was a ruse.
“A truce means real negotiations,” Volk said. “They are just delaying to make time to bring in more troops.They didn’t have the forces to storm us last night. So we are expanding our barricades to where they were before. We are restoring what we had.”
Meanwhile, some signs emerged Thursday that Yanukovych was losing loyalists. Kiev’s mayor, Volodymyr Makeyenko, announced he was leaving Yanukovych’s Party of Regions.
He was one of nearly a dozen party members to announce their resignation Thursday, according to Ukrainian media reports.
“Human lives should be the highest value in our state, and nothing can contradict this principle,” the Makeyenko said in a video statement.
Lamenting that the violence was claiming “tens of ordinary people every day,” he noted bitterly that “no oligarch has died, no politician has died.”
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 him saying.
As the deadly crisis continued, representatives from Ukraine traveled to Sochi, Russia, the site of this year’s Winter Olympics, to state their case for why their country would be the perfect place to host the sports festival in 2022.
“The Olympic idea is bigger than politics,” Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Oleksander Vilkul said. “The Ukraine is solving political problems and will come out stronger and more consolidated than before.”
Sergei Bubka, president of Ukraine’s Olympic Committee, said Ukraine’s current political unrest will be a distant memory by the time 2022 rolls around.
“It’s eight years before the games start,” Bubka said. “I think it will be settled. We are building our future and democracy. People have the possibility to express their views. Many issues in this moment will be solved shortly. Politicians are working very hard to make change and improve the situation in our country.” Information for this article was contributed by Jim Heintz, Yuras Karmanau, Maria Danilova, Yury Uvarov, Juergen Baetz, Frank Jordans, Elena Becatoros and Edith Lederer of The Associated Press; by Stephen Castle, Steven Lee Myers, Michael D. Shear, Andrew E. Kramer,Andrew Higgins, Steven Erlanger, Michael R. Gordon and Oksana Lyachynska of The New York Times; by Will Englund and William Branigin of The Washington Post and by William Douglass of McClatchy Newspapers.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/21/2014