KIEV-
Violence flared again in Kiev on Friday as Ukraine’s opposition politicians pondered a draft deal with Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovich which EU foreign ministers brokered to resolve the country’s political crisis.
Police said anti-government militants had fired on security forces near the capital’s central Independence Square, scene of a three-month-old protest vigil, after all-night negotiations to end Ukraine’s worst violence since Soviet times.
“Participants in the mass disorder opened fire on police officers and tried to burst through in the direction of the parliament building,” a police statement said. It did not say whether riot police had returned fire.
After visiting European Union foreign ministers suspended talks at dawn, the presidential press service said an agreement with the opposition would be signed at noon (1000 GMT) but gave no details.
Armed police entered the parliament building while lawmakers were holding an emergency session but were forced out, opposition leader Arseny Yatsenyuk said.
Ukraine, a sprawling country of 46 million, faces the risk of civil war or even a break-up, and rage has spread even into the parliamentary chamber. Members exchanged punches when speaker Volodymyr Rybak tried to adjourn proceedings.
Opposition deputies were angered because it would mean delaying a possible vote on a resolution pressing for constitutional changes to restrict the president’s powers. The speaker left the chamber and debate continued.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose foreign minister is one of the mediators, cautioned that there was only a tentative accord so far. “The agreement has not yet been reached. What’s been settled is the agreement’s draft,” Tusk told reporters in Warsaw.
