Three Ukrainian opposition leaders returned from a meeting with President Viktor Yanukovich on Wednesday and told protesters to prepare for physical confrontation with riot police after the president made no attempt to fulfill the protester's demands, according to Reuters.
Vitali Klitschko and two others said the president had failed to give any type of clear response to their demands that the government be dismissed and to stop anti-protest laws after three hours of talking, Reuters reported.
The meeting occurred after three protesters had been shot and killed earlier Wednesday leaving protesters anxious, according to Reuters.
Wednesday's meeting was the first move from both sides towards negotiating an end to the protests which began last November after the Yanukovych ditched a plan with Europe and closed a deal with Russia instead, Reuters reported.
"Today they (the police) are preparing to clear us out of the 'Maidan' (Independence Square)," Klitschko told protesters, according to Reuters. "We must do all we can to stop them clearing us out."
The opposition leader said protesters should remain in the square overnight and said "Tomorrow if the President does not respond ... then we will go on the offensive," according to Reuters.
"If I have to go (on to the streets) under bullets, I shall go there under bullets," Klitschko added.
Arseny Yatsenyuk, a former economy minister, agreed with Klitschko and told the crowd: "I will not live in shame. Tomorrow we will go forward together. If there will be a bullet in the forehead, so be it. It will be honest, just and brave action," Reuters reported.
The three protesters who were shot yesterday were the first fatalities since the protests started, but after their deaths protesters became "inflamed" and faced off with riot police again, according to Reuters.
Since last night, 50 people have been detained and 29 of them have already been charged with taking part in mass unrest, Reuters reported.
Ukrainian police have reported 167 police officers have been injured, but there is no estimate of civilian injuries, according to Reuters.
