Jeff J Mitchell/Getty
Anti-government protesters continue to clash with police in Independence square, despite a truce agreed between the Ukrainian president and opposition leaders on February 20, 2014 in Kiev, Ukraine. After several weeks of calm, violence has again flared between police and anti-government protesters, who are calling for the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych over corruption and an abandoned trade agreement with the European Union.
"There will be many dead today," Anatoly Volk, 38, one of the demonstrators, told The New York Times.
A tenuous truce between the government of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych broke down last night after protesters advanced on police in Independence Square aka Maidan, to take back territory lost over the last 48 hours.
Max Seddon of Buzzfeed reports:
Protesters who had held out against police on Independence Square, known as the Maidan, launched an offensive at 7:30 a.m., shooting at police and throwing Molotov cocktails. Fighting then escalated dramatically over the next hour. Riot police returned fire and threw stun grenades before retreating.
Clashes spread from the square to Hrushevskogo Street, the main locus of violence Tuesday in which at least 26 died, and up Institutska Street towards a district housing many government buildings. By mid-morning, protesters had reclaimed the positions they surrendered when police descended on them on Tuesday.
The Russian-backed security forces have responded with rifles and snipers. Dozens of people are dying.
Proof of police snipers. @KyivPost photographers Pavlo Podufalov just took this photo near Maidan. #euromaidan pic.twitter.com/wEzxP3l6tn
- Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) February 20, 2014
Paramedic volunteer shot in the neck whites on social network "I'm dying". pic.twitter.com/0yhKuJ3EvH
- Bogdan Ovcharuk (@goddan) February 20, 2014
This video shows unarmed protesters being picked off:
Here's a anti-government sniper:
REUTERS/Maks Levin
An anti-government protester aims a rifle during clashes with riot police in Independence Square in Kiev February 20, 2014.
There are clearly more shooters on the government's side:
REUTERS/Maksim Liukov
Armed police take up positions during clashes with anti-government protesters in Independence Square in Kiev February 20, 2014.
Bulent Kilic/AFP
An anti-government protester shows empty bullet casings used by riot police against demonstrators in central Kiev, on February 20, 2014.
Clashes continued for hours.
Bulent Kilic/AFP
Ukrainian protesters burn as they stand behind a flaming barricade during clashes with riot police in Kiev, on February 20, 2014.
Here's look at the other deadly weaponry that government forces are using, including AK-47s.
Bullets penetrated this bulletproof vest, killing one protester this morning. #euromaidan #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/PhnZCRAxln
- Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) February 20, 2014
REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko
Two anti-government protesters stand behind a blood stained shield after violence erupted in the Independence Square in Kiev February 20, 2014.
The injured are being cared for in makeshift medical clinics and the dead are being lined in Maidan.
Jeff J Mitchell/Getty
Anti-government protesters carry the injured during continued clashes with police in Independence square, despite a truce agreed between the Ukrainian president and opposition leaders on February 20, 2014 in Kiev, Ukraine. After several weeks of calm, violence has again flared between police and anti-government protesters, who are calling for the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych over corruption and an abandoned trade agreement with the European Union.
REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko
A woman reacts as anti-government protesters place a dead body on a stretcher after violence erupted in the Independence Square in Kiev February 20, 2014.