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| Mayhem Grips Ukrainian Capital, Shattering Calm | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| KIEV, Ukraine — Mayhem gripped the center of the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday as riot police broke through barricades on the outer rim of a protest encampment and, pelted with rocks and fireworks, massed on the edge of Independence Square, the focal point of more than two months of protests against President Viktor F. Yanukovych. There were unconfirmed reports that three protesters had been killed. | |
| The police advance followed hours of pitched street battles that destroyed hopes of an early political settlement, stirred in recent days by an amnesty deal. The resumed violence underscored the volatility of a political crisis that not only aroused fear of civil war in Ukraine but dragged Russia and the West into a geopolitical struggle redolent of the Cold War. | |
| The violence began early on Tuesday when antigovernment activists moved out of their barricaded zone around Independence Square and advanced into a government-controlled district, battling riot police with stones and Molotov cocktails in an the worst clashes in nearly a month. A group of young militants occupied and set fire to the headquarters of the ruling Party of Regions. | |
| “We have no other way,” said Lena Melniko, a 33-year-old accountant who joined a team of protesters digging up paving stones and passing them on to helmeted fighters to throw at police, “We have been protesting for three months but are stuck in dead end,” she added, seemingly oblivious to the deafening din of percussion grenades fired by police. | |
| Much of the violence early Tuesday took place along Instyuts’ka Street near Ukraine’s parliament building and the main offices of the government. Protesters hurled stones at police sheltering behind a barricade of blazing vehicles while ambulances, sirens wailing, rushed to help people injured in the clashes. | |
| News agencies quoted antigovernment activists as saying three protesters had been killed but there was no immediate confirmation of casualties. | |
| Protesters reported that police were using live ammunition but this could not be confirmed. Cartridges scattered on the street suggested that most, if not all, of the firing from police lines involved rubber bullets. | |
| The main battle zone shifted in the afternoon to Hrushevsky Street, a soot-smeared cobblestone road leading up to Parliament, which reconvened on Tuesday for a session that the opposition had hoped would pave the way for a political settlement through constitutional amendments to trim the powers of President Yanukovych. But the opposition push in Parliament got nowhere, inflaming already feverish tempers on the street. | |
| After violent clashes at barricades on Hrushevsky Street, police broke through in the middle of the afternoon and surged toward Independence Square but halted just outside. “Kiev stand up! Kiev stand up!,” screamed a speaker on a stage in the square that, since late November, has been occupied by protesters. | |
| “In Europe they say it is a civil war but it is not. It is a war between a dictator and the people,” said Oleksandr Ivanov, a retired Ukrainian diplomat. He said he was dismayed that Parliament had failed to vote on measures that would have sharply reduced the president’s powers. “There should have been a resolution. But they did not even put it up for a vote,” he said. | |
| The fighting broke out a day after Russia threw a new financial lifeline to Mr. Yanukovych’s government by buying $2 billion in Ukrainian government bonds. | |
| The Russian aid signaled confidence from the Kremlin that important votes in Parliament expected this week to amend the Constitution and form a new cabinet will go in Russia’s favor. | The Russian aid signaled confidence from the Kremlin that important votes in Parliament expected this week to amend the Constitution and form a new cabinet will go in Russia’s favor. |
| The Russian aid also highlighted the absence of any clear promise of financial aid from the European Union or the United States, which have supported the opposition in Ukraine. | |
| Russia’s finance minister announced the resumption of lending on Monday as two opposition leaders, Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, a former foreign minister, and Vitali Klitschko, a former boxing champion, met in Germany with Chancellor Angela Merkel. Russia had earlier frozen the aid because of political disarray in Kiev, the capital. | |
| The sun had barely risen over Kiev on Tuesday morning when black smoke started wafting up again over barricades near the Parliament building as protesters set alight piles of tires. | The sun had barely risen over Kiev on Tuesday morning when black smoke started wafting up again over barricades near the Parliament building as protesters set alight piles of tires. |
| Demonstrators who on Sunday had cleared a gate in a symbolically important barricade and had vacated Kiev’s City Hall on Tuesday were again fighting with riot police officers on a back street near the Parliament, called the Verkhovna Rada. Local television reported an unspecified numbers of injuries. | Demonstrators who on Sunday had cleared a gate in a symbolically important barricade and had vacated Kiev’s City Hall on Tuesday were again fighting with riot police officers on a back street near the Parliament, called the Verkhovna Rada. Local television reported an unspecified numbers of injuries. |
| Inside, opposition members of Parliament stood in the rostrum to physically block voting. | Inside, opposition members of Parliament stood in the rostrum to physically block voting. |
| The speaker, who belongs to a pro-government party, had earlier declined to put to a vote the opposition’s proposal to amend the Constitution as a resolution to the nearly three-month standoff. The amendments would restore an earlier version of the Constitution and weaken the power of the president. | The speaker, who belongs to a pro-government party, had earlier declined to put to a vote the opposition’s proposal to amend the Constitution as a resolution to the nearly three-month standoff. The amendments would restore an earlier version of the Constitution and weaken the power of the president. |
| Mr. Yanukovych negotiated a $15 billion loan with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in December, and Ukraine received a first segment of this soon afterward when Russia purchased Ukrainian bonds worth $3 billion. But Russia suspended further payments last month after violent clashes broke out in Kiev and the pro-Russian prime minister resigned. | Mr. Yanukovych negotiated a $15 billion loan with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in December, and Ukraine received a first segment of this soon afterward when Russia purchased Ukrainian bonds worth $3 billion. But Russia suspended further payments last month after violent clashes broke out in Kiev and the pro-Russian prime minister resigned. |