Kiev Protesters Killed as Ukraine Crisis Escalates

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A protester uses fireworks during clashes with police in central Kiev, Ukraine, early Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014. Two people have died in clashes between protesters and police in the Ukrainian capital Wednesday, according to medics on the site, in a development that will likely escalate Ukraine's two month-long political crisis.

Image: Sergei Grits/Associated Press

By Jim Roberts2014-01-22 12:26:30 UTC

This is a developing story. Mashable will be following the events as they unfold and will update this article throughout the day.

The Ukraine crisis took a turn for the worse overnight as two protesters were shot to death in clashes with police. A third died in a fall.

According to the English-language Kyiv Post, the general prosecutor’s office confirmed the gunshot deaths, but police denied that officers had fired on protesters.

Crowds were reportedly growing at the scene of the recent clashes on Hrushevskoho Street, a few blocks from the center of the Euromaiden protests, with people chanting, “murderers” and “glory to Ukraine.”

In a speech to his cabinet, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov took a hard line against the protests, according to Reuters, and seemed to suggest a crackdown. “Terrorists from the 'Maidan' seized dozens of people and beat them,” he said. “I am officially stating that these are criminals who must answer for their action."

There were other signs that the crisis was escalating. For the first time since the violence erupted on Sunday, army vehicles appeared on the scene.

Since those clashes began, police had been firing rubber bullets into the crowds. The deaths overnight indicate that police are now using conventional firearms.

Oleg Musiy, the coordinator of medical services for the demonstrations, told the Kyiv Post that one protester died from a gunshot wound to the heart; the other died from multiple gunshot wounds. “It is impossible” for those wounds to have been cause by rubber bullets, he said.