Ukraine crisis: Second death after anti-autonomy protests

BBC News

A second member of Ukraine's national guard has died from injuries after Monday's violent protests outside the parliament in Kiev, officials say.

The clashes - involving nationalists - erupted after MPs gave initial backing to reform for more autonomy in the rebel-held east.

The first death was reported after a grenade was thrown by a protester. A ceasefire agreed between Ukrainian government troops and pro-Russian separatists is reported to be holding.

"As of 11:00 (08:00 GMT) 1 September 2015, both sides are fully respecting the ceasefire," said Dariia Olifer, a spokeswoman of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma.

Mr Kuchma is a member of the so-called Minsk Contact Group tasked with finding a peaceful settlement of the Ukraine crisis.

'Stab in the back'

On Tuesday, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov named the victim as Dmytro Slastykov, writing on Twitter: "This is painful."

Image captionUkrainians have been bringing flowers to the place where national guard member Ihor Debrin was killed on Monday

He also said that 130 people were now known to have been injured, six of whom were in serious condition.

On Monday, officials confirmed that Ihor Debrin, a national guard member, had died in clashes.

Addressing the nation late on Monday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the violence was "a stab in the back".

Protesters led by the populist Radical Party and the ultra-nationalist Svoboda (Freedom) party - who oppose any concession to the Russian-backed separatists - gathered outside parliament early on Monday.

After a rowdy debate, 265 MPs backed the first reading of the decentralisation bill, granting more powers to areas of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Initially, there were only minor clashes, but these were followed by small explosions and a much larger one later on - from a grenade.

Mr Avakov said some 30 people were later detained, including a Svoboda member who had confessed to throwing a grenade. The suspect was identified as Ihor Humeniuk.

The minister pledged that all those responsible for the violence would be punished.

Meanwhile, Svoboda accused the national guard and police of attacking the protesters, saying this had triggered the clashes.

Almost 7,000 people have died since the conflict in eastern Ukraine erupted.

The separatists seized large swathes of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions in April 2014, a month after Russia annexed Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula amid international condemnation of the move.

Moscow denies accusations by Ukraine and the West that its arms the rebels and sends Russian regular troops across the border, although the Kremlin admits that Russian "volunteers" are fighting alongside the rebel force in Ukraine.

Pushing through greater autonomy for the rebel-held areas is a key part of the Minsk peace deal, which was originally signed in February.

During the summer, fighting between Ukrainian army forces and the rebels has escalated. But the two sides agreed last week to halt the violence on 1 September, the day children in the region return to school.