7 cops among 21 killed in Ukraine

Ukrainian riot police charged protesters occupying a central Kiev square on Wednesday after the bloodiest day since the former Soviet republic, caught in a geopolitical struggle between Russia and the West, won its independence. Police battled their way into Independence Square, center of three months of protests against President Viktor Yanukovich, and demonstrators, some armed with clubs and wearing helmets and body armour, were losing ground. Smoke billowed from burning tents and piles of tires and wood as thousands of protesters were pushed back on to the center of the square, a photojournalist said. The police was in control of almost half of the square and several floors of a trade union building, used as an anti-government headquarters, were on fire. At least 14 protesters and seven policemen were killed in violence that erupted in Kiev on Tuesday and continued into the early hours of Wednesday. Many were killed by gunshot and hundreds more injured, with dozens of them in serious condition, police and opposition representatives said, according to Reuters.