Ukraine: Negotiations to end the violence have failed.

According to AFP and Reuters, on February 19, Ukrainian opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko said he had concluded talks with President Viktor Yanukovych without reaching any agreement on how to end the violence in Kyiv.

According to the Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda, Klitschko said he left the negotiations after President Yanukovych demanded the unconditional dispersal of Independence Square, which was occupied by anti-government protesters in Kyiv.

Clashes between police and protesters at Independence Square. (Source: Reuters)

Speaking to the Hromadske television channel, Klitschko said that President Yanukovych had declared he would not order a halt to the bloody police crackdown in the square.

Svyatoslav Hanenko, a senior member of the opposition's medical team, said four people have died since police began their assault on the protest camp in Independence Square. This latest casualty figure brings the total number of deaths in clashes between police and protesters that began on February 18 to 16.

According to an AFP journalist on the scene, the Trade Union building, the last stronghold of the protesters in Independence Square, is engulfed in flames.

In related developments, US Vice President Joe Biden spoke by phone with the Ukrainian president on February 18, urging Yanukovych to withdraw government forces from the camp they attacked.

According to VNA