Explosion in Kyiv: Live grenade thrown at law enforcement officers near parliament

31.08.201514:19

A video showing the detonation of a grenade near the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv has appeared on the Internet.

Today the Ukrainian MPs approved the presidential draft law on amendments to the Constitution, which provides for the decentralization of power. A group of protesters that gathered near the parliament wanted the deputies not to vote for the presidential project.

“The provocation staged near the Verkhovna Rada has succeeded! A live grenade has just been tossed at the servicemen protecting the Verkhovna Rada. Several servicemen of the National Guard suffered severe injuries. Their life is in danger,” former advisor to Ukrainian Interior Minister Anton Herashchenko wrote on Facebook.

(upd) The police have detained the man who threw a grenade at the police cordon, Ukrainian media report.

“The person who threw the grenade has been determined. He has been detained and we are now identifying him,” Oleksandr Tereshchuk, Head of the Kyiv police, told reporters.

About 100 National Guard servicemen were injured in the explosion, Interfax-Ukraine reports. Some of them are in serious condition, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said. According to Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko, there are even dead persons.

“There is information that some people have been killed. They are Kyiv law enforcement officers. The National Guard, young guys have been killed,” he said on 112.Ukraine television.