Kharkiv: Two people were killed in clashes that broke out between pro-Moscow and pro-Kiev supporters in Ukraine’s Russian-speaking city of Kharkiv, police said on Saturday, the second such deadly incident in as many days in the country’s tinderbox east.
One pro-Russia protester and a passerby were killed when Ukrainian nationalists opened fire on a group of men trying to storm their headquarters in the city yesterday, police sources told AFP.
The deaths were likely to further fuel tensions in the region, coming less than a day after Russia warned that it reserved the right to protect compatriots in the whole of Ukraine. Police said events leading to the deaths on Friday began when a group of nationalists opened fire from inside a car at a pro-Russian protest being held on Kharkiv’s central Svoboda (Freedom) Square. No one was reported seriously hurt in the incident and a group of several dozen pro-Russian protesters chased the car, tracking it to the headquarters of the Patrioty Ukrainy (Ukrainian Patriots) nationalist group. (PTI)