Harrowing images have emerged from Ukraine following the nation's bloodiest day in history.
As dawn broke over the smouldering ashes of the Maidan, the main protest camp in Kiev, bloodied protesters could be seen bolstering their battered defences.
Thousands of riot police attacked demonstrators with water canons and stun grenades, Tuesday – setting fire to thousands of tents. Some 25 people have reportedly died in the fighting while hundreds have been left injured after a bloody escalation of Ukraine’s three-month political crisis.
The scene has been described as apocalyptic, with explosions echoing around the city and the iconic square effectively turned into a war zone.
While Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych has defiantly refused a chorus of calls from global leaders and opposition parties to halt a ferocious assault on anti-government protesters, Vitali Klitschko, the leader of the opposition Udar (Punch) party, has told protesters to continue to defend the camp.
But latest reports indicate that the battle is far from over for Ukraine's protesters.
Anatoliy Grytsenko, the country's former Minister of Defence, appeared to post on Facebook this morning that the Ukrainian army is moving an airborne division towards Kiev.
The post, independently translated for The Huffington Post UK, read: "The Army is with people/popular chant/, everybody expected and believed so. Well there you go. Defence Minister Lebedev has ordered to send Dnepropertovsk-based special airportable brigade No.25 to Kiev. Immediately! The number of people is 500, fully-mission capable. To protect who and from who? Rhetorical questions, considering this type of army with such officers.."
Ukraine Violence
