Posted: 02/20/2014 at 9:34am | IP Logged

Ukraine Death Toll Rises after Truce Falls Apart

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CBN News

Fierce fighting between anti-government protesters and police continued in Kiev Thursday after a potential truce between the sides fell through.

At least 28 people have been killed and 287 hospitalized, the Ukrainian Health Ministry reported. But protesters said the numbers are much higher.

One man, carrying a body on a stretcher, told a reporter with The Telegraph police snipers were shooting to kill.

"These are all live rounds," he said. "You can see what they do. He and all the others were shot in the head, the neck, and the heart. None were shot anywhere else, like in the legs."

Meanwhile, protesters stormed police barricades in Kiev's Independence Square, despite government calls for a truce.

The unrest is spreading across the country.

In the western city of Lusk, protesters dragged the regional governor out of his office and into a town square where he was handcuffed to a pole and forced to sign a letter of resignation.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama condemned the violence, warning there will be consequences if it continues.

"Ultimately the government's responsible for making sure that we shift toward some sort of unity government, even if it's temporary, that allows us to move to fair and free elections so that the will of the Ukrainian people can be rightly expressed without the kinds of chaos we've seen on the streets, without the bloodshed that all of us, I think, strongly condemn," Obama said.