Ukrainian Protests Reignite as US Issues Travel Warning

Today, the protests in Kiev, Ukraine, reheated as the Associated Press reports 241 injured and 25 dead, including an opposition leader. Tuesday has been the country's bloodiest day since the fall of the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian government stormed a tent city set up in Independence Square in Kiev. This is the most violent the protests have been since their beginnings in November. They were originally protesting the Ukrainian president's decision to bring the country closer to Russia, rather than the European Union. After the president adopted more stringent anti-protest laws, the opposition ramped up its defense, leading to the unfortunate news today. Sweden's foreign minister has said that the European Union will "not hesitate" to deal with the "repression" in Ukraine. The violence in the nation has prompted the United States to issue a travel warning.

Late Tuesday night, the opposition walked out on talks on a "peaceful solution" with President Yanukovych. Simultaneously, the violence spread to the city of Lviv in western Ukraine. People in that city have begun to occupy government buildings, as the protesters in Kiev began doing last month.

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