Ukraine truce breaks ahead of EU talks in Kiev - PHOTO

Some live rounds have been fired but it is not clear by whom. Protesters are throwing petrol bombs, while police are using water cannon.Three European Union foreign ministers are in Kiev for talks before an EU meeting to discuss possible sanctions.The health ministry says the death toll in protests this week has risen to 28.Despite the truce agreed on Wednesday night between President Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leaders, fires continued burning around the main protest camp, the Maidan, overnight.Most of the victims died during the clashes near the parliament building in the capital and later police attempts to clear the Maidan on Tuesday - making it the bloodiest day since the unrest erupted in late November.Thursday has been declared a day of mourning for the dead.In other developments:President Yanukovych sacked the armed forces head, Col Gen Volodymyr Zamana, replacing him with the navy commander, Adm Yuriy Ilyin. No reason was given for the dismissalUS President Barack Obama warned there "will be consequences" for anyone who steps over the line in Ukraine - including the military intervening in a situation that civilians should resolve. He also expressed hopes that the truce "may hold"Russia characterised the violence as an "attempted coup" by extremistsGerman Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his counterparts from France and Poland, Laurent Fabius and Radoslaw Sikorski, are expected to meet President Yanukovych and other government officials on Thursday morning.The EU ministers will also hold separate talks with the opposition.Ahead of the Kiev visit, Mr Fabius called the warring sides to "return to dialogue", condemning the violence as "unacceptable"."Perpetrators of these acts cannot go without sanctions."The three ministers will then fly to Brussels for a crisis meeting with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and other EU foreign ministers.They will consider whether to impose sanctions, which could include a ban on sales of equipment which can be used for internal repression.The Ukrainian opposition has been long pressing the EU and US to impose sanctions against senior government officials believed to be responsible for the violence against protesters.The EU has so far refrained from such a move, preferring to stress dialogue and compromise.Meanwhile, the US state department announced on Wednesday it had imposed visa bans on 20 members of Ukraine's government.A senior state department said all those were civilians whom Washington held responsible for the violence. The official declined to provide any names.'Protect human life'Announcing the truce on late on Wednesday, the presidential statement said it was agreed to "start negotiations aimed at stopping the bloodshed, stabilising the situation in the country and achieving social peace".It did not give details of what the truce would entail or how it would be implemented.The opposition leaders present at the talks were Arseniy Yatsenyuk and also boxer-turned-politician Vitali Klitschko and far-right party leader Oleh Tyahnybok.Mr Yatsenyuk confirmed the deal had been reached, saying in a statement on his Fatherland party website that "the main thing is to protect human life".The media wing of Vitali Klitschko's Udar party said the next round of negotiations with President Yanukovych would resume later on Thursday.But a BBC correspondent in Kiev, Daniel Sandford, has urged caution, pointing out that none of the hardcore protesters have so far attended talks with the president.The news came after the most intense violence in Ukraine's three-month crisis turned Kiev into a battle zone between anti-government protesters and riot police.The protests first erupted when President Yanukovych rejected a landmark association and trade deal with the EU in favour of closer ties with Russia.Since then, the protests spread across Ukraine, with the main demand of snap presidential and parliamentary elections.(BBC)ANN.Az