There were shocking scenes in the heart of Kyiv on Thursday as live automatic gun fire rang around the Ukranian capital. <br /><br />Anti-government protests ran the gauntlet from snipers during an intense battle to retake the city’s Independence Square. <br /><br />Protected by only makeshift shields, scores of demonstrators were either killed or wounded in the advance. <br /><br />Armed with combat weapons footage appeared to show police opening fire near parliament, though the authorities also claimed they had come under fire from live ammunition. <br /><br />Despite the carnage, by the end of Thursday morning, protesters had regained large parts of the city which had been lost to them earlier in the week. <br /><br />Dozens of police officers were also taken prisoner. Their whereabouts remains unclear but 67 officers are still reportedly being held captive somewhere in the city. <br /><br />The deadly violence saw bodies piled up across the capital – several were carried back to Independence Square. <br /><br />According to reports, one young medic who had posted on social media that she was dying after being shot by a sniper, was reportedly still alive and fighting for her life after going under emergency surgery. <br /><br />Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych has blamed the opposition for resuming the violence despite the EU and US appearing to lay responsibility for the turmoil squarely at the government’s door.
