The Wall Street Jornal reports,''Kiev braced for further violence on Wednesday as thousands of protesters faced off with riot police across burning barricades, after the government halted its attempt to clear a square that has been the center of unrest for the past three months''.
''Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych blamed opposition leaders for the violence, which at last count had killed 25 and injured 241, according to the Health Ministry. Opposition leaders said Mr. Yanukovych was responsible for the deaths. But riot police stopped short of completely storming Independence Square, which has been the symbol of resistance to his government''.
''The explosion of stun grenades thrown by police echoed through the center of Kiev until about 5 a.m., when police appeared to halt further advances. Their efforts were complicated by fires that had begun to burn out of control—one in a massive trade union building that the protesters had used as headquarters.
The building, which stands on one end of the square, continued to burn on Wednesday morning, and glass and debris from the upper floors cascaded into the street below''.
"We can't go near it and neither can they," said one protester who identified himself as Anton, referring to police.
After weeks of fruitless negotiations and with casualties mounting, the prospects for a truce appeared bleak. Protesters are demanding Mr. Yanukovych's resignation, and a loudspeaker on the square blared calls for him to be hauled before a war-crimes tribunal.
Russia and the West, which have accused one another of competing for influence in Ukraine, remain deeply divided over how to mediate a peace agreement.
Russia, which has lately given Mr. Yanukovych both moral and financial support, has been pressing the president to crack down on protesters.The Russian Foreign Ministry called the fighting in Kiev an attempt at "violent seizure of power."
Separately, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Interfax news agency that Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, sees the resolution of the latest developments in Ukraine as "an exclusive prerogative of legitimate authorities" in the country,The European Union moved toward targeted sanctions on Ukraine, with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton convening a special foreign ministers' meeting to discuss the move on Thursday. European leaders had previously resisted U.S. calls for sanctions.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called the violence in Ukraine disturbing and said Washington is discussing sanctions and other punitive measures with European partners.
Mr. Kerry did not say what those sanctions might entail.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called the Ukrainian president's refusal to conduct serious negotiations a "big mistake."
"It's the responsibility of President Yanukovych, the government and security forces to act cool-headed and to de-escalate," Mr. Steinmeier said in a statement. "Ukraine has paid a high price for President Yanukovych's delaying tactics."
Mr. Yanukovych issued a statement alleging that opposition leaders "crossed a line when they called people to arms."
He called on leaders of the opposition "to draw a boundary between themselves and radical forces which are provoking bloodshed and clashes with the security services."
"If they don't want to leave [the square]—they should acknowledge that they are supporting radicals," the statement said. "Then the conversation with them will already be of a different kind."
Protesters also seized police stations and set fire to cars of some government officials in western Kiev overnight. Ukraine's Defense Ministry issued a statement saying it was redeploying some troops to protect arms depots to prevent them from being looted.
