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Riot police try to remove a barricade held by protesters on Independence Square in Kyiv early on December 11.
Riot police try to remove a barricade held by protesters on Independence Square in Kyiv early on December 11.

Live Blog: Kyiv Protesters Dig In

Updated
Final Wrapup (Barring major events)

-- EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said after an afternoon meeting that President Viktor Yanukovych pledged to her that "something should be done in the course of the next 24 hours."

-- Yanukovych then announced he had invited the opposition to participate in dialogue. He added that Ukrainian authorities would "act only within the law and never use force against peaceful assemblies."

-- Opposition parties have rejected negotiations unless all of their demands are met. UDAR leader Vitali Klitschko said the overnight crackdown on December 10-11 meant that "Yanukovich closed off the path to any kind of compromise."

-- Early on December 11, about 10 hours after police first began to clear Independence Square and other protest sites in Kyiv overnight, police withdrew from those locations. People have returned to Independence Square and are rebuilding barricades.

-- Former Interior Minister and Yulia Tymoshenko ally Yuriy Lutsenko announced that the next major rally in the capital was planned for December 13 and urged people to come to Independence Square.

-- Prime Minister Mykola Azarov announced that Ukraine was requesting 20 billion euros in financial aid from the European Union to help lay the groundwork for an Association Agreement.

-- U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland went personally to Independence Square to hand out food to riot police and protesters, then met with President Viktor Yanukovych and said the United States believed it was still possible to save Ukraine's "European future." Secretary of State John Kerry had said earlier that he was "disgusted" by the government's overnight actions in Kyiv. A State Department spokesperson said all options, including sanctions, were on the table.

Glenn Kates and RFE/RL editors
11:57 11.12.2013
Well, it's better than online poker.
11:59 11.12.2013
"Kyiv Post" quotes former Ukrainian Interior Ministry and Tymoshenko ally Yuriy Lutsenko saying the "next big rally" (the paper's words) will take place on Friday, December 13, urging Ukrainians to come to Independence Square. "It is here, on Euromaidan, that European integration is happening. It is here that Ukraine is being built as a nation."
12:08 11.12.2013
Local emergency brigade quoted by RFE/RL Ukrainian Service says 30 people have required medical attention and 15 people have required hospitalization, nine police officers and six protesters. They cite head and back injuries, broken ribs and limbs, and frostbite.
12:16 11.12.2013
RFE/RL Ukrainian Service correspondent Marichka Naboka, who's on Independence Square, says there are thousands of protesters back on and around the square.
12:23 11.12.2013
12:41 11.12.2013
Much discussion of the legality of the Interior Ministry's overnight raid on Maidan. Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk has called on ministry officials to clarify whether they intended to "clear the streets surrounding Maidan" or "clear Maidan itself."

The distinction is key. The ministry has justified the raid as an attempt to restore order and the free flow of traffic. (The two metro stations nearest Independence Square, Maydan Nezalezhnosti and Khreshchatyk, were briefly shut down but reopened this morning after the raid.) However, it does not have the right to clear the square itself. Ukrainian law stipulates that parliament deputies can hold meetings with the public at any location. The Maidan protests are officially an extended meeting called by Vitaliy Klitschko, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, and other opposition deputies.
12:58 11.12.2013
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper issues statement on developments in Ukraine, saying his country is "deeply concerned" and stressing that "the decision by Ukrainian authorities to use riot police against peaceful protests in Kyiv's Maidan Square is undemocratic and excessive...particularly...as it follows on the police violence against peaceful protestors, mostly students, only days ago," in reference to the November 30 crackdown.
Full statement here.
13:07 11.12.2013
U.S. diplomacy taking a few hits on Twitter:
One day. One name. Victoria Obama. #Barack #Nuland #Funeral #Cookies
13:16 11.12.2013
Reuters video of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland's trip today to Independence Square:
U.S. Assistant Secretary Of State Nuland Visits Independence Square
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13:25 11.12.2013
In her latest statement, EU's Catherine Ashton says police crackdown "makes the launch of a political dialogue more difficult than before" and notes that she'll meet again with President Yanukovych this afternoon.

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