EU to impose sanctions on Ukrainian officials as death toll rises to 75

PanARMENIAN.Net - The EU has agreed to impose sanctions on Ukrainian officials "responsible for violence and excessive force" after the bloodiest day of clashes in Kyiv, BBC News reports.

In a statement, EU foreign ministers said targeted sanctions including asset freezes and visa bans would be introduced "as a matter of urgency".

In all, 75 people - including policemen - have been killed since Tuesday, Feb 18.

In addition to those, Ukraine's health ministry also said that 571 were injured during three days of violence in the Ukrainian capital.

Protesters had captured 67 police officers, the interior ministry said. A number of them were later released by activists on the main protest camp in Independence Square - widely known as the Maidan.

The tense stand-off is continuing overnight, with the activists standing guard on the Maidan barricades for possible new police attacks.

"No circumstances can justify the repression we are currently witnessing," the statement from EU foreign ministers said on Thursday.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the "prime responsibility" to get talks between the two sides under way lay with President Viktor Yanukovych.

Speaking after an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, she said ministers had expressed their "dismay" at the latest violence and had agreed to "suspend export licenses for equipment for internal repression".

Implementation of the measures "will be taken forward in light of developments in Ukraine", she added.

The EU had until now refrained from imposing sanctions, preferring to emphasize dialogue and compromise.

The U.S. State Department had already announced visa bans on 20 members of the Ukrainian government but has not provided any names.

Late on Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden warned President Yanukovych in a telephone conversation that Washington was ready to impose sanctions against Ukrainian officials guilty of ordering troops to fire on protesters.