Global News Nigeria: Deadly clashes continue in Ukraine

Protesters stoked fires along barricade lines as night fell Wednesday over Kiev's Maidan, or Independence Square, a day after 26 people died in violent clashes that have drawn reproach from Western leaders.

An opposition leader said the situation was precarious, but despite the burning fires and police lines, a strange calm pervaded central Kiev -- even as security officials rebranded the protesters as terrorists and announced a nationwide security operation to restore order.

Meanwhile, European and U.S. leaders threatened quick sanctions against the Ukrainian government over what French President Francois Hollande called "unspeakable, unacceptable, intolerable acts."

While insisting that "peaceful protesters (should) remain peaceful," U.S. President Barack Obama made a point in saying that the Ukrainian government carried an especially big burden for what's happened so far and what's to come.

Ukraine caught in political tug-of-war

Protesters in Kiev, Ukraine, clash with police in Independence Square on Wednesday, February 19. Thousands of anti-government demonstrators have packed the square since November, when President Viktor Yanukovych reversed a decision on a trade deal with the European Union and instead turned toward Russia.

Ukraine protests turn deadly

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Photos: Ukraine protests turn deadly

Death toll rising in Kiev protests

Fires continue amid Ukrainian protests

"We hold the Ukrainian government primarily responsible for making sure that it is dealing with peaceful protesters in an appropriate way, that the Ukrainian people are able to assemble and speak freely about their interests without fear of repression," he said.

Europe will "respond to any deterioration on the ground," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Wednesday, pledging "targeted measures against those responsible for violence and use of excessive force."

The strong words come a day before the foreign minister of France, Germany and Poland were to travel to Kiev to survey the situation before briefing their E.U. colleagues in Brussels and discussing possible sanctions.

Thousands of demonstrators have packed Independence Square since November, when Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych reversed a decision to sign a trade deal with the European Union and instead turned toward Russia.

The unrest intensified after an anti-protest law went into effect, and erupted into outright violence Tuesday night. CNN reporters saw protesters clawing paving stones from the streets and firing Molotov cocktails attached to fireworks from an improvised air cannon.

Police and protesters were among Tuesday's dead. A journalist and a government employee died, too.

More than 240 others were hospitalized, Ukraine's health ministry said.

Police said more than 77 protesters had been detained.

The head of Ukraine's Security Service, Oleksander Yakimenko, accused protesters of taking over government offices across the country and looting 1,500 weapons and 100,000 rounds of ammunition.

"These are concrete acts of terror," Yakimenko said in a statement announcing an anti-terrorism operation apparently targeting protesters. "Radical and extremist groups are now a real threat" to millions of Ukrainians.

Opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk denied that demonstrators had attacked police, blaming instead government "provocateurs" for inciting the violence.

"We are determined to have only a peaceful rally," he told CNN. "No violence, no force, no weapons."

Growing call for sanctions

Speaking Wednesday in Paris, U.S. Sectretary of State John Kerry said he was "deeply disturbed" by events in Kiev.

"President Yanokovich has the opportunity to make a choice, a choice between protecting the people that he serves -- all of the people -- and the choice for compromise and dialogue versus violence and mayhem," Kerry said during a visit to Paris.

"We believe the choice is clear and we are talking about the possibility of sanctions or other steps with our friends and Europe and elsewhere in order to create the environment for compromise," he said.

U.S. President Barack Obama also was expected to address the issue later Wednesday while on a trip to Mexico.

U.S. officials have already revoked the visas for Ukrainian government officials linked to the violence against protesters, senior U.S. administration officials told CNN.

British Prime Minister David Cameron called the violence from both government forces and protesters "completely unacceptable," and said "President Yanukovych has a particular responsibility to pull back government forces and de-escalate the situation."

The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, warned that "anyone who at this time is responsible for decisions which lead to further bloodshed, must also be aware that Europe will certainly reconsider the restraint it has shown in deciding whether to impose sanctions on individuals."

Finger pointing

In an interview on CNN's "Amanpour," Ukraine's foreign minister blamed opposition parties and extremist groups for the deadly clashes, saying police faced "aggressive and excessive attacks" by demonstrators.

Leonid Kozhara called the events "very unfortunate."

He said that while opposition leaders announced a peaceful march to Ukraine's parliament building, "The march ended with massive riots and aggressive and excessive attacks against the Ukrainian police."

Despite such alleged provocations, police have "strong instruction" to avoid using "offensive means" against demonstrators, he said. Reports that the army has been authorized to fire on protesters are false, he added.

"Under no conditions the Ukrainian army will be used in resolving this political crisis," Kozhara said.

Yanukovych replaced the head of the army on Wednesday, although it's not clear if the move was related to the crisis. A statement on the President's website did not explain the reasons for the change.

Hopes dashed hard

Tuesday's violence followed what seemed like a rare breakthrough.

The government had said it would drop charges against those arrested in the political unrest.

After holding Kiev's City Hall for three months, protesters pulled back Sunday and unblocked streets in the city center.

But hope died Tuesday, when the speaker of parliament refused to allow amendments that would limit the president's powers.

Opposition anger reignited and poured into the streets.

The government's prosecutor general accused the opposition of breaking "the truce," thus setting the stage for the security crackdown that ensued.

Riot police plowed into the crowd with water cannons, stun grenades and night sticks. Some demonstrators fought back, swinging what looked like baseball bats.

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Protesters set fire to the headquarters of the ruling Party of Regions. But the opposition's headquarters, the Trade Unions House, was also smoldering at daybreak Wednesday.

The journalist had been shot the night before when a group of masked people stopped a taxi he was riding in, according to a statement by his newspaper, Ukrainian Vesti.

They wore camouflage clothes and threw Molotov cocktails. They also beat other passengers in the car, the paper reported.

iReporter Volodymyr Solohub, a corporate lawyer, was among hundreds who came to Independence Square to support protesters battling police.

He watched Tuesday as demonstrators rushed injured people from the front lines to medics.

"Some of them had broken hands, and blood was flowing down their faces," he said Wednesday.

Barrages of stun grenades shattered the air around him through the night, he said.

Authorities accused protesters of firing guns at security forces. An armored personnel carrier charged barricades but was quickly inundated and set alight.

Kiev was the center of the action, as in the past.

But police said the unrest has spread to western Ukraine, with protesters attacking police and local government offices in a number of regions.

News of the violence penetrated the insulated world of the Olympics on Wednesday, with the country's Olympic team appealing from Sochi, Russia, for "peace and mutual understanding."

"We are shocked by the events that occurred yesterday in Kiev," the team said in a statement. "We are thinking about our families and loved ones back home in Ukraine, and we are doing our best to honor them on the fields of play here in Sochi."

Political fuel, spark

Although the strife started over a trade pact, protesters' anger has been fueled by underlying sentiments among protesters in favor of the West and against Russia.

Russia has accused Washington of meddling in Ukrainian affairs.

Washington is trying to tell "the authorities of a sovereign state what they should do next and how they should do it," an article in Russia's state-run RIA Novosti's read.

But Russia is also waving money, standing by with billions in economic aid for Ukraine's economy.

But there are also domestic issues. The initial call for Yanukovych to reverse his decision on the EU trade deal avalanched over time into an attack on the President's power base.

Yanukovych and his allies responded with some concessions, offering places in government to opposition leaders.

But on-again, off-again talks have gone nowhere.

Both sides have demanded that the other back down first, and neither is budging.

Yanukovych and opposition leader and famed boxer Vitali Klitschko played another round of the you-first game in an overnight face-to-face meeting.

Speaking to reporters afterward, Klitschko said there effectively was "no discussion."

The President demanded the protesters back off first. Klitschko threw the demand back at him. "I told Yanukovych this," he said. "How can we negotiate when there is blood being spilled?"

Global News Nigeria

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Deadly clashes continue in Ukraine

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