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Ukraine protests: sanctions imposed by EU Foreign Ministers in reaction to dozens of deaths in Kiev Ukraine protests: Bloodshed on Europe's doorstep as EU tries and fails to stop killing
(about 2 hours later)
EU Foreign Ministers have imposed sanctions on Ukraine after at least 22 people reportedly died in the capital, while 67 policemen are being held hostage. Blood and black ash smeared the once-pristine floors of Kiev’s Hotel Ukraine. Dining tables, hastily shoved together, became makeshift hospital beds for the injured; the cold ground was a crude morgue. A priest knelt next to one man, offering what small comfort he could.
The ministers agreed on Thursday to impose sanctions on Ukraine, including visa bans, asset freezes and restrictions on the export of anti-riot equipment, but proposals for a ban on arms exports were dropped , ministers and officials said. On the bloodiest day in modern Ukrainian history, the 12 lifeless, unnamed men who lay on the floor of the hotel lobby on Thursday morning, their bodies loosely covered with sheets, were just a few of the dozens killed in a conflict that has transformed the centre of Ukraine’s capital into a brutal battleground.
The restrictions, to be drafted into law in the coming days, will apply to those involved with ordering or orchestrating the violence in Kiev. Standing yards away from the bodies, Olga Bogomolets, one of Ukraine’s leading doctors, told The Independent that they had been hit by police sniper bullets in the head, heart, lungs and neck.
The agreement comes after live rounds were fired in fresh clashes this morning, after a truce agreed on Wednesday collapsed. Police, she said, had prevented doctors from treating the injured immediately. “We may have been able to save the lives of some of them.”
The country's interior ministry said protesters are holding 67 policemen hostage in the capital. Earlier the ministry said "Berkut" riot policemen had been armed with combat weapons to regain control of the protest site. Dressed all in black, their faces hidden behind balaclavas, men in police uniform were seen firing shots into the crowds that flooded the streets around the protest camp at Independence Square, also known as the Maidan. From fortified positions on the ground and on the roofs of buildings, some appeared to take time to line up their targets. Others fired indiscriminately, taking shots at groups of men recoiling under metal shields. Teams of protesters and volunteer medics carried the injured away on planks of wood.
"To free the hostages police have the right to use their weapons," the ministry said in a statement posted to its website. Amid the chaos on the streets, political leaders met with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to try to stem the bloodshed. He insisted that police were not armed and “all measures to stop bloodshed and confrontation are being taken.”
Meanwhile, the White House has urged Ukraine's President to immediately withdraw security forces and respect the right of peaceful protest. "We are outraged by images of Ukrainian security forces firing automatic weapons on their own people," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement. Soon afterwards, the acting interior minister, Vitaly Zakharchenko, issued a statement saying: “Police have been given combat weapons, which will be used in accordance with the law.” The Interior Ministry warned the residents of Kiev to stay indoors because of the “armed and aggressive mood of the people”.
Late on Wednesday, Washington also imposed US visa bans on 20 Ukrainian government officials it considered “responsible for ordering human rights abuses related to political oppression,” a senior State Department official announced. Some of the anti-government protesters had come to the Maidan wielding clubs, axes and guns to face off against the country’s feared elite police units known as the “Berkut”. Radical protesters, including members of far-right groups, have been active in the violence.
Eyewitnesses told The Associated Press they had seen 22 bodies near the main protest camp, and a police officer is believed to be among those dead. Dozens of protesters have been using the lobby of Hotel Ukraine as a triage centre to treat the wounded. But others – the students, the young professionals, the “babushkas” (grandmothers), who had begun their protests peacefully in November – are now gathering rocks to use as ammunition for the men at the towering barricades that defend the protest camp.
At least 50 people in total have been killed in the escalating violence this week after a truce with opposition leaders collapsed. Shocking video footage has emerged today claiming to show snipers firing at protesters, some of which appear lying on the pavement. As fighting continued on the square on Thursday, a group of six elderly women worked under the cover of a bus stop to prepare Molotov cocktails.
One video appeared to show an opposition militant firing from behind a tree. “This is extremism,” one of the women said, refusing to give her name. “Our president has driven us to this. No more cooking in the kitchen for us. Now we make these.”
Anti-government protesters hold riot policemen (C) captive In Independence Square, protesters have been throwing petrol bombs and police have been responding with water cannons and tear gas. The violence that has brought the country’s capital to its knees has been long in coming. Outside Ukraine, this is seen by many as a clash of East versus West, a power battle between Russian President Vladimir Putin’s controlling Kremlin and an expanding EU, played out in a deeply divided post-Soviet nation. While parts of the country – mostly in its western cities – are in open revolt against Mr Yanukovych’s government, many in the mostly Russian-speaking east favour strong ties with Russia.
Kiev's mayor has resigned over the bloodshed and residents in the capital are being told to stay indoors by Ukrainian police, according to AFP.  Although the protests began after Mr Yanukovych spurned a historic trade and political deal with the EU in favour of a £9bn financial bailout from the Kremlin, for many Ukrainians this is a fight for basic freedoms.
President Viktor Yanukovich has released a statement accusing protesters of "going on the offensive" and "working in organised groups". Opposition leaders have called for the reinstatement of the country’s 2004 constitution, to strip the president of sweeping powers, and they demand early elections, currently scheduled for 2015. On the streets, protesters demand the resignation of Mr Yanukovych, and elections to establish a new government, one that they hope will not unleash lethal force on its own people. Some say they want a just police force. Many say they are fighting for healthcare and education systems that do not operate on bribes.
"They are using firearms, including sniper rifles" the statement said. "They are shooting to kill. The number of dead and injured among police officers is dozens." There were some signs yesterday that Mr Yanukovych’s grip on power may be slipping.  Volodymyr Makeyenko, the chief of Kiev’s city administration and a former Yanukovych loyalist, said last night that he was leaving the ruling Party of Regions.
An anti-government protester shows a bullet after violence erupted in the Independence Square (Reuters)   The Ukrainian skier Bogdana Matsotska announced she will be withdrawing from the Olympics in response to the violence in her country, with her father saying she did so in "solidarity with the fighters." “We must be guided only by the interests of the people. This is our only chance to save people’s lives,” he said. Serhiy Tyhipko, another influential party member, said both Mr Yanukovych and opposition leaders had “completely lost control of the situation”.
TV pictures showed protesters seizing back Independence Square and surging forward into areas that were on Wednesday occupied by riot police after a day of violence. After a security scare earlier in the morning, parliament convened in the afternoon, with some pro-government MPs showing new willing to work with the opposition to find a solution to the crisis.
The EU talks come after Ukraine’s president had announced a truce with the opposition. A few hundred yards from the Hotel Ukraine, on the freezing ground, eight more bodies were laid out on Khreschatyk Street near the Maidan. Crowds gathered around them trying to identify the faces. One or two appeared to be no more than 20 years old.
President Barack Obama had warned “there will be consequences” for Ukraine if the violence continues, but expressed hope that the truce would hold. One of the wounded was reported to be a volunteer medic named as Olesya Zhukovskaya, who had sent out a brief Twitter message after being shot in the neck. It simply said: “I’m dying”. She was in a serious condition after being operated on Thursday night.
Responding cautiously to Mr Yanukovych’s statement, President Obama deemed the truce a “welcome step forward,” but said the White House would continue to monitor the situation closely to “ensure that actions mirror words.” Unconfirmed reports put the total number of dead on both sides – including several police officers – at more than 100 this week.
Protesters carry a wounded fellow protester Many victims of the violence died after swathes of central Kiev were transformed into fiery battlefields on Tuesday when police attacked the anti-government protest camps which have occupied Independence Square for nearly three months. The Interior Ministry claimed that 67 police officers had been captured by protesters, although this too could not be verified. Protesters were reportedly seen leading men in police uniform around the Maidan.
Mr Yanukovych declared Thursday a day of mourning for the dead. EU officials said they would stay in Kiev for “a night of difficult negotiations” with Mr Yanukovych. The Kremlin, which has been applying behind-the-scenes pressure on Mr Yanukovych to crush the protests, said Mr Putin was sending the country’s human rights chief Vladimir Lukin, a former ambassador to Washington, to Ukraine to act as a mediator between Mr Yanukovych and opposition leaders. Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters were last night rebuilding the fortified barricades that surround that Maidan, in preparation for further violence.
Additional reporting by Reuters and Associated Press