Violence in Ukraine leaves four dead

Police and antigovernment protesters clashed Tuesday outside Ukraine's parliament in Kiev, resulting in many injured.

|
Sergei Chuzavkov/AP
An anti-government protester throws a Molotov's cocktail during clashes with riot police outside Ukraine's parliament in Kiev, Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014.

Ukraine's festering political crisis took a deadly turn Tuesday, as thousands of anti-government protesters clashed with police outside Ukraine's parliament. Three protesters were killed in the melee, the opposition reported, and emergency workers found another person dead after a fire at the ruling party's office in Kiev.

Law enforcement agencies gave the demonstrators a deadline of 6 p.m. (1600GMT) to stop the confrontations and vowed to restore order.

Dozens of protesters and police were injured in the clashes Tuesday, which broke out after opposition leaders accused pro-government factions in parliament of dragging their feet on a constitutional reform that would limit presidential powers — a key opposition demand.

The clashes dimmed hopes for an imminent solution to the political crisis.

Tensions also soared following new steps by Russia and the European Union to gain influence over this former Soviet republic.

The protests began in November after President Viktor Yanukovych froze ties with the EU in exchange for a $15 billion bailout from Russia, but the political maneuvering continued and Moscow later suspended its payments. On Monday, however, while opposition leaders were meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russia offered a fresh infusion of the billions of dollars that Ukraine needs to keep its ailing economy afloat.

As parliament delayed Tuesday's session to take up the issue, thousands marched toward the parliament building to put pressure on lawmakers. Shouting "Shame!" the demonstrators hurled stones at police and set trucks blocking their way on fire.

Riot police retaliated with stun grenades and fired what appeared to be small metal balls, as smoke from burning tires and vehicles billowed over Kiev, the capital.

Three protesters died in the clashes, Oleh Musiy, a top medic for the protesters, told The Associated Press. Opposition lawmaker Lesya Orobets made the same statement on Twitter.

About 150 protesters were injured, the protesters' medical unit said, while the Interior Ministry said about 40 officers had been hurt.

Justice Minister Olena Lukash, a close Yanukovych aide, accused the opposition of violating earlier agreements with the government and blamed protest leaders for the violence.

Earlier in the day, protesters stormed the office of the president's Party of Regions, but police pushed them away. When firefighters arrived to put out a fire, they discovered the body of an office employee, Kiev's emergency services said in a statement.

Tuesday's confrontations came two days after the government and the opposition reached a shaky compromise, with protesters vacating a government building in Kiev they had been occupying since Dec. 1 after the government released of scores of jailed activists.

But tensions rose after Russia's finance minister offered to resume financial aid to Ukraine on Monday, just as Yanukovych was expected to nominate a new prime minister, prompting fears among the opposition that he would tap a Russian-leaning loyalist.

"After weekend progress in Kyiv, sorry to see renewed violence," US Ambassador Geoffrey R. Pyatt said in a Twitter post. "Politics needs to happen in the Rada (parliament), not on the street."

Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko called on Yanukovych to agree to the reforms and to call an early election or face a serious escalation of the crisis.

"We are talking minutes, not hours," Klitschko told reporters.

Yanukovych still remains popular in the Russian-speaking eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, where economic and cultural ties with Russia are strong. But western Ukraine is keen to pursue closer ties to the 28-nation EU and move away from Russia's orbit.

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised Yanukovych $15 billion in loans in December, but after purchasing Ukrainian bonds worth $3 billion Russia put the payments on hold. The Russian finance minister said Monday that $2 billion more would be purchased this week.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Violence in Ukraine leaves four dead
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2014/0218/Violence-in-Ukraine-leaves-four-dead
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe