24/01/2014 15:54
Ukraine unrest: New barricades in Kiev as talks stall
Protesters in Ukraine's capital Kiev have been erecting new barricades after crisis talks between the opposition and President Viktor Yanukovych stalled, the BBC reported.
Freezing demonstrators at the camp on the city's Independence Square also occupied a government building as a truce with riot police continued.
Clashes erupted in the central city of Cherkassy where police drove protesters back from the governor's office.
The EU's enlargement commissioner, Stefan Fuele, is due to visit Kiev.
The crisis deepened this week when the first deaths in the unrest were reported.
As masked activists stood guard in Kiev, some carrying riot shields captured from the police as trophies, hundreds of protesters could be seen stacking sandbags filled with snow and car tyres in the Independence Square area.
New barricades took shape closer to the presidential administration building, Reuters news agency reports.
One group of protesters took control of the main agricultural ministry building, reportedly meeting no resistance.
"We need to keep people warm in the frost," protester Andriy Moiseenko was quoted as saying by the Associated Press, as temperatures dipped towards minus 13C.
"We cannot have people sleeping in tents all the time."
Ministry workers were allowed to take their possessions but not permitted to go to work.