New confrontation on Maidan during truce a planned government provocation against peaceful protesters - opposition leaders

The resumption of clashes on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv during a truce was a planned provocation by the authorities against peaceful protesters, according to a statement made by opposition leaders Vitali Klitschko, Arseniy Yatseniuk and Oleh Tiahnybok.

"The goal of this provocation is to show aggression to the world," reads the statement, which was posted on the Web site of the UDAR Party.

"We know that the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland are now in Kyiv," the opposition leaders said.

Klitschko, Yatseniuk and Tiahnybok urged the authorities to halt provocations and stop distributing arms and ammunition to police and "titushki" to avoid further bloodshed.