At least two killed in Kiev clashes
At least two people have been killed in clashes between protesters and police in the Ukrainian capital.
A journalist reported seeing medics declare two people dead near barricades in Kiev, where police and protesters have clashed for more than two days.
Oleh Bondar, a medic, said the men died of bullet wounds, but would not specify whether they were rubber or real bullets.
The bodies were found after police began dismantling barricades near a government district in Kiev this morning, while protesters battled to push them back to their original positions.
Ukraine's political crisis reached a new phase last week after president Viktor Yanukovych pushed through harsh anti-protest legislation.
That prompted street battles at a cordon of riot police and buses near the Ukrainian parliament. Protesters threw rocks and fire bombs and police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.
The clashes injured hundreds of protesters and police, but the deaths are likely to stoke anger and cause more people to join the protests and clashes.
Mr Yanukovych yesterday refused to meet Vitali Klitschko after the boxer turned opposition leader went to his office hoping for negotiations.
The snub dimmed hopes for a resolution to the political crisis as Klitschko said: “The centre of the city of Kiev has been burning for two days. The president sits two blocks away and does not hear it.”
