Fourteen police officers injured in clashes outside Ukrainian parliament

"It has currently been established that 14 police officers were injured as a result of events near the Verkhovna Rada," reads the statement.

Early on February 27, clashes erupted between protesters and law enforcers outside the building of the Ukrainian parliament. The rally participants brought car tires and wanted to set them on fire. Police officers prevented them from doing so, but protesters started to behave aggressively, throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at law enforcement officers.

Nine people were detained and taken to the territorial police department. Information about the event was included in the single register of pre-trial investigations. Criminal proceedings were launched under Part 2, Article 345 (threat or violence against an employee of a law enforcement body) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The article foresees up to five years in prison.

Andriy Kryshchenko, head of the National Police's main office in Kyiv, believes that clashes near the Verkhovna Rada have nothing to do with political confrontation and that this was a "well-planned action."

op