Kiev explodes into chaos; at least 25 reported dead in Ukraine protests
Ukrainian riot police armed with
water cannons, stun grenades and rubber bullets sought to drive
protesters away from Kiev’s main square Wednesday after clashes left at
least 25 people dead and more than 240 injured in a dramatic escalation
of the country’s three-month political crisis.
As hundreds of police massed on the edges of the Ukrainian
capital’s Independence Square, the protest epicenter known as the
Maidan, thousands of opposition demonstrators armed with rocks and
molotov cocktails vowed to hold their ground in their effort to force
President Viktor Yanukovych to hold new elections and chart a new course for Ukraine.
The big story
Protests first started in Ukraine on Nov. 21, when President Viktor
Yanukovych rejected a deal with the European Union and moved closer to
Russia. The situation had cooled in recent weeks as demonstrators were
released from prison and opposition forces pulled back. It flared back
up again Tuesday after the parliament refused to take up the issue of a
new constitution.
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Ukraine's president is blaming opposition
leaders for the latest deadly violence in Kiev that's killed at least 25
people and injured more than 240.
The latest push by riot police came a day after deadly clashes led to a fire-lit
nighttime assault by Interior Ministry troops on the main protest encampment in what may be an irreversible turn in Ukraine’s political crisis.
The
28-nation European Union on Wednesday called a meeting of foreign
ministers to decide on its response, including possible sanctions, the
Associated Press reported. Sanctions could include travel bans targeting
the Ukrainian leadership and asset freezes.
E.U. Commission
President Jose Manuel Barroso on Wednesday expressed “shock and utter
dismay” 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.”
In a tough statement, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said that “President Yanukovych has blood on his hands.”
But
Yanukovych squarely blamed the protesters for the violent turn of
events, saying Wednesday that opposition leaders “crossed a line when
they called people to arms,” AP reported. He received strong backing
from Russia, which accused the West of sparking the clashes by
encouraging the opposition.
E.U. foreign policy chief Catherine
Ashton’s office said the special meeting of foreign ministers would
weigh the bloc’s options Thursday in Brussels.
After weeks of
relative calm, trucks and tents burned, molotov cocktails smashed
against police shields, and banners illuminated by the flames whipped in
the strong breeze Tuesday night. The Health Ministry said 25 people
were
reported killed,
some from gunshot wounds, and 241 people were reported injured. The
violence was the deadliest since protests erupted last fall after
Yanukovych rejected a trade deal with Europe and turned to Russia for
financial help.
Regardless of whether police succeed in clearing
the Maidan, Ukraine appears to be heading for an even deeper divide. The
hostility that the opposition feels toward Yanukovych is intense and
widespread, especially in the western part of the country.
Having turned to Russia for much-needed financial help,
Yanukovych may finally have burned his bridges to the West with
Tuesday’s developments, leaving him in danger of being a weakened and
unpopular supplicant to Moscow.
The eruption of violence came after nearly a month in which Yanukovych and opposition political leaders
warily maneuvered
over a new constitution. But early Tuesday afternoon, the parliament,
or Verkhovna Rada, refused to take up the issue, and what had been a
peaceful demonstration quickly turned into three simultaneous street
battles.
The leaders of the protest denounced Yanukovych as the
assault on the square began about 8 p.m. Tuesday local time. They said
he had never intended to reach a deal and had used the weeks of talks to
prepare a huge police attack.
Yanukovych’s spokeswoman, Hanna
Herman, told Radio Liberty’s Ukrainian service that there would be no
further negotiations until the violence stops.
“Negotiations will
only take place when the violent methods stop, when the opposition gets
its armed people off the street and when calm comes back to the
country,” she said. “Then it will be necessary to sit at the negotiating
table.”
Lesya Orobets, an opposition member of parliament, said
the protesters fell into a trap laid for them by Yanukovych. She said he
had knowingly provoked the hard-line members of a right-wing group
called Pravy Sektor, who have formed the most aggressive element of the
opposition and who led the fighting when it erupted.
“This
massacre has been carefully planned in advance and is intended to
eventually destroy any hint of democracy in Ukraine,” she wrote on
Facebook.
The protests began Nov. 21 when Yanukovych backed away
from a trade deal with the European Union, eventually turning to Russia
for $15 billion in support. He can now be assured of European hostility.
The United States condemned the explosion of street violence in
Ukraine and said the government bears primary responsibility for
restoring calm.
Vice President Biden telephoned Yanukovych to
express what the White House called “grave concern” and urged the
embattled leader to pull back government forces and immediately resume
political discussions with opponents.
Biden “made clear that the
United States condemns violence by any side, but that the government
bears special responsibility to de-escalate the situation,” a White
House statement said.
Earlier, White House press secretary Jay
Carney said the Obama administration is “appalled” by the violent
crackdown on anti-government protesters in the Ukrainian capital.
Washington
announced no specific new action, but the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine,
Geoffrey Pyatt, threatened both sides with sanctions.
“We
believe Ukraine’s crisis can still be solved via dialogue, but those on
both sides who fuel violence will open themselves to sanctions,” Pyatt
said on Twitter, in both English and Russian.
In Russia, the head
of the foreign relations committee of the parliament, Alexei Pushkov,
tweeted that Western pressure on Ukraine had “opened the way for
radicals.”
The Interior Ministry brought water cannons and armored
personnel carriers to the edges of the Maidan. The subway was shut
down, and authorities said they were closing off road access to Kiev. In
months past, caravans of vehicles, especially from western Ukrainian
cities, have often flocked to the capital at times of perceived threats.
The country’s leading independent television company, Channel 5, went
off the air during the evening in much of Ukraine, according to reports.
Inside their own lines, demonstrators sang the Ukrainian national anthem.
“We
will not fall for their provocation, but we won’t retreat even one step
from here, from this Maidan, and we don’t have anywhere to retreat to,”
an opposition leader, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, told the crowd during the
evening.
“We remain here; we are defending our Maidan, we are defending our Ukraine, and we are defending our future,” Yatsenyuk said.
Early
in the evening, Interior Ministry troops and hired civilians —
popularly known as “titushki” — could be seen on Web video streams
moving down Hrushevsky Street, where violent clashes occurred in
January. They stormed Ukraine House, an exhibition center on nearby
European Square that had been taken by protesters in January.
Then they turned and moved toward the Maidan.
The fighting had begun in the streets around the parliament, which once had been in the firm control of the police.
Snipers
were reported on rooftops. At one point they were confronted on a roof
by protesters carrying steel rods, according to witnesses. The snipers
withdrew.
Opposition forces stormed the headquarters of the ruling
Party of Regions, though it was later retaken by government supporters
who said they found the body of an office worker inside.
Several Interior troops were captured by demonstrators, according to reports, and taken to the Maidan as prisoners.
The
shift toward violence was abrupt. In recent weeks, an amnesty had led
to the release of nearly all those arrested over the winter in
connection with the protests, and opposition forces had abandoned the
city hall and partially pulled back from Hrushevsky Street.
Parliament,
controlled by the Party of Regions, was to consider constitutional
changes that would give Ukraine a governing system with a strong
parliament and weak president.
But opposition political leaders
showed very little trust in Yanukovych even before Tuesday, and their
more militant followers have proved difficult to control.
Tuesday’s
violence led Vitali Klitschko, head of the opposition UDAR party, to
declare that Yanukovych must agree to early elections for president and
parliament. The next scheduled presidential election is in 2015.
Ashton,
the top diplomat for the European Union, said in a statement: “I am
deeply worried about the grave new escalation in Kiev and the reported
victims. I condemn all use of violence, including against public or
party buildings.”
The opposition said more than 100 protesters had been injured by police.
“Soldiers,
don’t take blood onto your hands by protecting these gangsters in
power,” Yuri Lutsenko, once the interior minister and now a protest
leader, said on the stage at the Maidan, according to the Kyiv Post. “If
you set foot on the Maidan, this is your choice. Whoever passes this
threshold determines their country’s future.”
He added: “You won’t be a traitor if you join us. Show your true soul and hearts.”
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