KIEV, February 21. /ITAR-TASS/. At least 77 people have been killed in clashes in the Ukrainian capital, the Ukrainian Health Ministry said on Friday.

According to earlier reports, the death toll was 75 people.

The Health Ministry said 577 people were injured and 369 of them were hospitalized.

 

Buildings’ seizure attempts continue

Unidentified people attempted to seize the administrative building of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's traffic police department overnight. A group of 15-25 people attempted to seize the building and to set it into fire using tires and inflammable substances.

 

Metro stations all opened except two

Independence Square and Kreshchatik stations of the Kiev underground remain closed for passengers’ entrance and exit. However, they can be used for transfer between lines. The press service of the Kiev Metro stated that all other stations would be opened on Friday. Earlier this week the city’s metro service was completely shut down over violent clashes between police and rioters in the centre of the Ukrainian capital.

 

Perspectives for stopping violence

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich’s adviser and MP Anna German confirmed on Friday that Russian Human Rights Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin is taking part in the talks in the presidential administration in Kiev. The talks between president Yanukovich and opposition leaders Vitali Klitschko, Arseny Yatsenyuk and Oleg Tyagnibok, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his Polish colleague Radoslaw Sikorski have “every chance to lead to a compromise that will settle the situation in Ukraine”, Anna German believes.

The Ukrainian parliament will convene on Friday to discuss a restoration of the Constitution of 2004, which limits presidential power and gives more rights to parliament, as well as the possibility of creating an interim government in the country.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian media reports say that Deputy Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Lt. Gen. Yuri Dumansky has resigned on Friday. In his telephone interview with Ukraine’s Channel 5 he confirmed this information. Dumansky reportedly motivated his decision by simmering clashes between police and extremists in Kiev that had already claimed over 70 lives.