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Ukraine riot police move in on Kiev protesters after 18 die - PHOTOSESSION

Ukraine riot police move in on Kiev protesters after 18 die - <span style="color: red;">PHOTOSESSION

18 February 2014 23:06 (UTC +04:00)

Protesters on Independence Square responded with petrol bombs, fireworks and stones, as police moved slowly forward, hours after the state security service had set a deadline for the demonstrators to end disorder or face "tough measures".

Live television footage showed the police throwing stun grenades at the protesters separated from them by a line of burning tents, tyres and wood.

Western powers warned Yanukovich against trying to smash the pro-European demonstrations and opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko, fearing an assault, urged women and children to leave the central square - also known as Maidan - "to avoid further victims".

A police spokeswoman said seven civilians and six policemen died in several hours of clashes, some from gunshot wounds, in what was also Ukraine's bloodiest day since it gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. A representative of the protesters said one other civilian had also died.

Earlier the State Security Service (SBU), in a joint statement with the interior ministry, signalled the government's intentions. "If by 6 p.m. the disturbances have not ended, we will be obliged to restore order by all means envisaged by law," they said.

The riot police moved in hours after Moscow gave Ukraine $2 billion in aid which it had been holding back to demand decisive action to crush the protests.

Nationwide protests against Yanukovich erupted in November after he bowed to Russian pressure and pulled out of a planned far-reaching trade agreement with the European Union, deciding instead to accept a Kremlin bailout for the heavily indebted economy.

In what has become a geo-political tussle redolent of the Cold War, the United States and its Western allies are urging Yanukovich to turn back to Europe and the prospect of an IMF-supported economic recovery, while Russia accuses them of meddling.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said he had spoken to Ukraine's acting prime minister, who had given assurances that the authorities would try to avoid using live firearms.

"For the sake of the Ukrainians and for the sake of the future of that country, I will pray that he is right," Fuele told a public event in Brussels.