According to a source of ZN.UA in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the regional departments of Internal Affairs in Kyiv have received an order to mobilize all the reserves next to the Maindan barricades by 6 pm (GMT+2) with a view to the possible dispersal of the protests at Maidan.
According to the source, every department is sending around 200-300 employees. Thus the total number of the special forces employees could reach up to 2,000-3,000. The source says that the police have already received ammunition.
Earlier, the head of the Ukraine’s Security Forces, Oleksandr Yakymenko, and head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Vitaliy Zaharchenko called for the immediate cessation of the armed confrontation in the center of Kyiv, and for the return to negotiations. If the violence does not stop in two hours, “the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Security Forces of Ukraine will be forced to resort to harsh measures.”
Translated by Oksana Poliakova
Edited by Mariana Budjeryn and Robin Rohrback