Ukraine Truce Shattered, Death Toll Tops 50 In New Kiev Clashes (VIDEO)

The short-lived truce was broken on Thursday in Ukraine's embattled capital when protestors feared it to be a ruse and decided to toss firebombs and advance upon police lines, the Associated Press reported.

The almost-medieval melee left at least 22 more people dead when the government snipers shot back in new Kiev clashes.

Protesters being cut down by gunfire, lying on the pavement as comrades rushed to their aid, trying to protect themselves with shields were the shocking scenes that made headlines Tuesday and were displayed all across news channels on Ukrainian television on Thursday.

In central Kiev, captured policemen were apparently seen being sprawled across protest camps by protestors, who were also seen carrying bodies away on sheets of plastic or planks of wood.

"An AP cameraman saw snipers shooting at protesters in Kiev. Video footage showed that at least one sniper wearing the uniform of Ukraine's riot police," according to the AP.

Ukraine, a nation of 46 million that has divided loyalties between Russia and the West, has been locked in an epic battle over the country's identity by President Viktor Yanukovych and the opposition protesters who demand his resignation.

While many in eastern Ukraine favor strong ties with Russia, their former Soviet ruler, parts of the country- mostly in its western cities - are in open revolt against Yanukovych's central government, the AP reported.

In a sharp turn of reversal in the three-month, mostly peaceful political crisis, at least 50 people have died this week in the clashes in Kiev.

Now neither side appears willing to compromise, with the president apparently prepared to fight until the end and the opposition insisting on Yanukovych's resignation and an early election, the AP reported.

"An Associated Press reporter saw 21 bodies Thursday laid out on the edge of the protest camp. Protest medic Andriy Huk later told the AP that 32 activists have been killed. In addition, one policeman was killed and 28 suffered gunshot wounds Thursday, Interior Ministry spokesman Serhiy Burlakov told the AP," the AP reported.

The carnage appears to show that neither Yanukovych nor the opposition leaders he met with Wednesday appear to be in control of the chaos engulfing Ukraine.

"The truce late Wednesday appeared to have little credibility among hardcore protesters at Kiev's Independence Square campsite," the AP reported. "One protest camp commander, Oleh Mykhnyuk, told the AP that even after the truce, protesters still threw firebombs at riot police on the square. As the sun rose, police pulled back, the protesters followed them and police then began shooting at them, he said."

The Interior Ministry warned Kiev residents to stay indoors Thursday because of the "armed and aggressive mood of the people."

Yanukovych claimed Thursday that police were not armed and "all measures to stop bloodshed and confrontation are being taken." The Interior Ministry later said that law enforcers will be given weapons as part of an anti-terrorist operation, the AP reported,

Amid the carnage, signs were emerging that Yanukovych is losing loyalists. The chief of Kiev's city administration, Volodymyr Makeyenko, announced Thursday he was leaving Yanukovych's Party of Regions.

"We must be guided only by the interests of the people, this is our only chance to save people's lives," he said, adding he would continue to fulfill his duties as long as he had the people's trust.

According to the AP, another influential member of the ruling party, Serhiy Tyhipko, said both Yanukovych and opposition leaders had "completely lost control of the situation."

"Their inaction is leading to the strengthening of opposition and human victims," the Interfax news agency reported.

The parliament building was evacuated Thursday because of fears protesters were preparing to storm it. The government office and the Foreign Ministry buildings were also evacuated.

"As the violence exploded and heavy smoke from burning barricades at the encampment belched into the sky, the foreign ministers of three European countries - France, Germany and Poland - met with Yanukovych after speaking with the opposition leaders," the AP reported.

An emergency meeting was scheduled to be held by the 28-nation European Union on Ukraine to consider sanctions against those behind the violence last Thursday in Brussels.

"The latest bout of street violence began Tuesday when protesters attacked police lines and set fires outside parliament, accusing Yanukovych of ignoring their demands to enact constitutional reforms that would once again limit the president's power - a key opposition demand. Parliament, dominated by his supporters, was stalling on taking up a constitutional reform," the AP reported,

During the two days of street violence, 28 people have died and 287 have been hospitalized, the Ukrainian Health Ministry said in a statement early Thursday.

Protesters who have set up a medical facility in a downtown cathedral so that wounded colleagues would not be snatched away by police say the number of injured are significantly higher - possibly double or triple that, the AP reported.

The Interior Ministry on Thursday said the gunfire against officers appeared to be coming from the national music conservatory in Kiev.

At the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Ukrainian alpine skier Bogdana Matsotska, 24, said she will not take part in Friday's women's slalom to protest developments in Kiev.

"As a protest against lawless actions made toward protesters, the lack of responsibility from the side of the president and his lackey government, we refuse further performance at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games," her father and coach, Oleg Matsotskyy, wrote in a Facebook post.

"The clashes this week have been the most deadly since protests kicked off three months ago after Yanukovych shelved an association agreement with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Russia," according to the AP. "Russia then announced a $15 billion bailout for Ukraine, whose economy is in tatters. The political jockeying for influence in Ukraine has continued."

President Barack Obama stepped in to condemn the violence, warning Wednesday "there will be consequences" for Ukraine if it keeps up. The U.S. has raised the prospect of joining with the EU to impose sanctions against Ukraine, the AP reported.

Russia's Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, described the violence as an attempted coup and even used the phrase "brown revolution," an allusion to the Nazi rise to power in Germany in 1933.

On Thursday, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Russia will "try to do our best" to fulfill its financial obligations to Ukraine, but indicated Moscow would hold back on further installments of its bailout money until the crisis is resolved, the AP reported.

"We need that the partners are in good shape and that the Ukrainian government is legitimate and effective, that this government is not used like a rag for wiping off feet," he said.

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