Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych (2-L) speaks with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius (2-R), German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (3-R), and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski (4-R) during the first round of talks on Thursday. Photo: EPA/Andriy Mosienko
Details of an agreement between President Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leaders are due to be signed at midday on Friday, according to a statement released by his press service this morning.
Poland's foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who brokered the talks together with his French and German counterparts Laurent Fabius and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, had earlier commented on his Twitter profile that “progress” was being made, but that there had been “major differences.”
French foreign minister Laurent Fabius had to leave the talks in the middle of the night owing to an diplomatic appointment in Peking.
Meanwhile, on Thursday evening, it was confirmed in Brussels that the EU will be bringing “urgent” sanctions against “those who have committed the violence."
Ukraine's health ministry has now confirmed that at least 75 people have been killed since Tuesday afternoon, although opposition activists have claimed the figure for Thursday alone is as high as 100.
The health ministry records that 369 people were hospitalised from Tuesday to Thursday, and 600 were provided with medical assistance.
Riot police had opened fired on anti-government protesters on Thursday, while an as of yet unidentified sniper apparently injured 23 policeman from the roof of a building on Independence Square. Protesters fought with bricks, smoke bombs, and guns, with dozens of policemen captured in the clashes (pictured below).
Protesters try to stop people near a bus with captured policemen before they let them go home, but a part of protesters object to the release, during continuing protest in downtown Kiev, early Friday morning. Photo: EPA/Sergey Dolzhenko
Army wavering
Lieutenant-General Yuri Dumansky, deputy head of the general staff. Of Ukraine's armed forces, has tendered his resignation, a move that has made Yanukovych's position increasingly volatile.
As of yet, the army has not yet joined riot police in the push to pacify demonstrators.
“The armed forces of Ukraine are being drawn into a civil conflict. This could be the cause of a large number of deaths of civilians and servicemen," Dumansky told Ukraine's Channel 5 television.
“I have decided to tender my resignation to avoid an escalation and bloodshed,” he said. (nh)
Source: PAP/IAR/Reuters