Clashes in Ukraine Turn Deadly

One dead protester suffered four gunshot wounds, and the second was shot in the heart, said the medic, Oleh Musiy. The names of the victims weren’t released immediately.

Police said they were investigating two deaths but didn’t provide details.

Antigovernment protesters and police have clashed violently in the last three days after previously peaceful demonstrations turned violent as hundreds of protesters moved out of a square they have occupied and threw Molotov cocktails and cobblestones at riot police guarding a road leading to government buildings. Police have responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.

President Viktor Yanukovych expressed “deep regret” over the deaths in a statement. “I again ask people to not to heed the calls of political radicals. It is still not too late to stop and resolve the conflict peacefully.”

But Prime Minister Mykola Azarov denounced the demonstrators as “criminals” and said the deaths “are on the conscience of the organizers,” the Interfax news agency reported. He demanded an investigation of the death but dismissed allegations that police were responsible as “groundless.”

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