Germany and Russia to 'avoid Ukraine escalation'

The barricades in Kiev on Wednesday night. Photo: DPA

Published: 20 Feb 2014 13:02 GMT+01:00Updated: 20 Feb 2014 13:02 GMT+01:00

UPDATE: Germany's foreign minister arrived in Kiev on Thursday morning for talks with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, as the death toll continued to rise.

Reporters were not allowed in the closed meeting between Foreign Minster Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his counterparts from Poland and France.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday she had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the two had agreed "to do everything to avoid an escalation of violence" in Kiev.

But overnight fresh violence broke out and more people were killed in the Maidan square – with the Thursday's death count thought to be at around 30 by midday.

Despite President Viktor Yanukovych appearing to distance himself from further violence as calling for a ceasefire on Wednesday, running street battles took place that night between police and demonstrators – with reports spreading from eyewitnesses that police were firing rounds at protesters.

Merkel said on Wednesday that: "We have decided to stay in very close contact with Russia," she said, adding that "everything must be done to launch a political process."

Foreign ministers from 28 EU states were set to discuss sanctions on Thursday afternoon. Head of Ukraine's Presidential Administration Andriy Klyuyev warned that this would make the situation worse, like “throwing oil into a fire.”

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said on Wednesday he had spoken to Yanukovych and urged him to engage in a "sincere and constructive political dialogue with the opposition".

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