YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. Rioters and police in central Kiev are exchanging smoke and stun grenades, as a fresh wave of violence is gripping the Ukrainian capital. As reports “Armenpress” citing RT, while the rioters have no clear demands, the opposition keeps pushing for the president’s resignation.

Wednesday, February 19

13:00 GMT: At least 751 people have been injured in the latest surge of violence in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, Itar-Tass quotes Interior Ministry officials as saying. Since Tuesday, 26 people have been killed in clashes, including 10 police officers, with many of the victims perishing from gunshot wounds.

12:39 GMT: Forty criminal cases have been launched and 58 people detained all in all following the latest violence that’s gripped Kiev, according to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry.

12:34 GMT: Crimean MPs are considering bringing up the question of returning the peninsula to Russia if the escalation of violence in the country continues.

The local deputy of the ruling Party of Regions, Nikolay Kolisnichenko, has addressed the Supreme Council of the autonomous republic saying that “if the situation in Ukraine is not resolved, we as deputies must raise the issue of returning Crimea to Russia,” local media quotes the MP as saying.

The Crimean peninsula was transferred from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1954. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia continued to lease part of the ex-Soviet naval base in Sevastopol for its Black Sea Fleet. According to the latest 2001 survey, 58.5 percent of the Crimean population is Russian.

12:06 GMT: Rioters who seized administrative buildings in Lvov have announced the creation of their own public authority: the People’s Rada. A statement published on the Lvov regional administration website states that the new body “takes full responsibility for the fate of the region and its people” and urges all civil servants and servicemen to adhere to the Rada’s decisions.

12:00 GMT: Up the hill from the Kiev’s Independence Square, the protesters receive medical treatment and are given shelter at St. Michael’s Cathedral, which has been turned into a makeshift hospital and refuge.

11:48 GMT: The EU is expected to agree on Ukraine sanctions shortly, according to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, as quoted by Reuters.

"We have ... made it clear that the EU will respond to any deterioration on the ground. We therefore expect that targeted measures against those responsible for violence and use of excessive force can be agreed by our member states as a matter of urgency," Barroso said in a statement.

The EU is to hold an extraordinary foreign ministers’ meeting on Thursday.

11:47 GMT: The incumbent Defense Minister of Ukraine Pavel Lebedev said he couldn’t guarantee that the military forces won’t interfere in the conflict. Lebedev has confirmed that he “made an order” to send landing troops from the central Ukrainian city of Dnepropetrovsk to the capital, Kiev.

However, the Defense Ministry later denied that any military units were being relocated to disperse protesters in Kiev, as quoted by Itar-Tass.

11:12 GMT: The number of the dead officers from the violent clashes between police and protesters in Kiev has risen to 10 people,

10:45 GMT: Ukrainian Olympic chief and former pole vault champion Sergey Bubka on Wednesday called for an end to violence in his country as Ukrainian athletes struggled to focus on competing at the Sochi Winter Games.

10:38 GMT: Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovich announced on Thursday, February 20, a day of mourning for those who have died in the Kiev insurgency. The latest reports from Ukraine suggest that 25 people, including nine police officers, have perished in clashes. Over 70 law enforcement officers suffered gunshot wounds. The number of injured in the riots is measured in the hundreds.

10:38 GMT: Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovich announced on Thursday, February 20, a day of mourning for those who have died in the Kiev insurgency. The latest reports from Ukraine suggest that 25 people, including nine police officers, have perished in clashes. Over 70 law enforcement officers suffered gunshot wounds. The number of injured in the riots is measured in the hundreds.

10:26 GMT: European Union foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting on Ukraine in Brussels on Thursday, an EU official said.

The ministers are expected to discuss imposing sanctions on people responsible for violence and the use of excessive force during protests in Ukraine, which killed at least 25 people. (Reuters)

10:13 GMT: The blood was spilt in Ukraine due to the criminal activity of radical opposition forces, Russia’s Foreign Ministry has said in a statement. Russia demands the opposition leaders stop the bloodshed and immediately renew negotiations with the legitimate government without threats or ultimatums.

09:57 GMT: Ukraine’s Interior Ministry says that the victims of the riots in Kiev could have been killed by radicals, as the country’s security forces don’t use firearms.

“Judging by the type of wounds the killed people have (non-perforating wounds, wounds in the back of the neck), as well as by the weapons we confiscate, it can be supposed that this bodily harm might have been caused by aggressive radical rioters,” the statement on the ministry’s website stated.

“The employees of police, as well as Interior Ministry security forces of Ukraine, don’t use firearms, only non-lethal weapons,” the statement underlined.

09:41 GMT: Polish PM Donald Tusk has called for sanctions against Ukraine’s government following deadly clashes between police and protesters.

"I will today hold talks with the leaders of the biggest EU countries and institutions, and persuade them to impose sanctions - personal and financial," Tusk told a special session of the Polish parliament, as quoted by Reuters.

"I hope that such a stance from Poland will help the EU as a whole in making fast decisions," he added.

09:41 GMT: Over 50 people have been detained over the rioting in Kiev during the last 24 hours, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry told Interfax.

09:33 GMT: Four hundred people are participating in the rally taking place in the city of Simferopol, situated in Crimea. The demonstrators demand the government to take the necessary measures to stop the violent riots in Kiev, RIA Novosti reported.

09:16 GMT: Among those killed in the rioting in Kiev were three employees of Ukraine’s Interior Ministry from the southern Ukrainian Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

08:51 GMT: Radical protesters have announced the mobilization of their forces on the Kiev’s Independence Square, to prepare for new clashes with law enforcement authorities. The radicals demand to “bring to the barricades everything that will burn and can reinforce them,” as quoted by Itar-Tass news agency.

“This is not a rally, this is an organized military confrontation,” the organizers added.

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