22.01 Ukrainian Opposition Claims First Deaths Among Protesters

MOSCOW, January 22 (RIA Novosti) – The anti-government protest movement in Ukraine said Wednesday that two people have died following clashes with police in a development that could fuel more popular anger and political tensions.

Segodnya.ua news website cited staff with the Euromaidan protest movement as saying a 22-year-old activist died after plummeting down the 13-meter-high colonnade of a Kiev stadium.

The victim, whose name was withheld, was pelting Berkut riot police with fireworks and Molotov cocktails at the time, the report said.

Segodnya.ua reported that the man fell after Berkut officers climbed up the colonnade to chase him and fellow demonstrators away.

Another man was shot dead Wednesday on Ulitsa Grushevskogo, a street near the Cabinet office and parliament on which clashes have taken place in recent days, Espreso.tv reported, also citing Euromaidan activists.

The casualty’s identity and the circumstances of his death were not immediately unclear.

Officials, including police, have not commented on the reports of protesters’ deaths.

Police attempted again to disperse protesters early Wednesday, shooting and pelting them with stun grenades, but were beaten back, the Euromaidan protest group said on Twitter.