Bullet-riddled bodies were scattered on Thursday amid smouldering debris after masked protesters hurling Molotov cocktails forced gun-toting police from the capital's Independence Square - the epicentre of the increasingly bloody revolt against President Viktor Yanukovych's pro-Russian rule.
It was the deadliest day of anti-government protests in Ukraine, opposition medics said as rival sides traded accusations of sniper attacks and EU ministers tried to broker an end to the crisis that was sparked by Yanukovych's rejection in November of an EU pact in favour of closer ties with Moscow.
he deaths came as the European Union agreed to impose sanctions on Ukrainians with "blood on their hands", though it left the door open to a political deal by naming no names.
The United States threatened to follow suit.
Ukraine's embattled President Viktor Yanukovych appeared ready to concede to one of the protesters' main demands by suggesting to visiting EU dignitaries that he may be ready to hold early elections.
But the White House said bluntly that it was "outraged by the images of Ukrainian security forces firing automatic weapons on their own people".
Volunteer medics, who made a makeshift morgue out of a popular hotel overlooking the square, also accused police of killing demonstrators with live rounds.
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