Ukrainian opposition gives president ultimatum

Leaders ask for 24-hour pause in clashes; 2 protesters already dead

A wounded protester, center, is assisted by paramedics during clashes with police in central Kiev, Ukraine, early Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014. Two people have died in clashes between protesters and police in the Ukrainian capital Wednesday, according to medics on the site, in a development that will likely escalate Ukraine’s two month-long political crisis. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Protesters run away from a stun grenade as they clash with police in central Kiev, Ukraine, early today. Two people have died in clashes between protesters and police in the Ukrainian capital today.

KIEV, Ukraine — Opposition leaders in Ukraine are asking protesters to refrain from clashing with police for the next 24 hours, after at least two demonstrators were shot and killed in confrontations with police.

Emerging after three hours of talks with President Viktor Yaanukovych late today, opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk said he gave the president until the following evening either to move to ease the political crisis or face popular rage.

“Tomorrow we will go forward together,” Yatsenyuk told a crowd of tens of thousands of demonstrators. “And if it’s a bullet in the forehead, then it’s a bullet in the forehead, but in an honest, fair and brave way.”

Prosecutors say two people died of gunshot wounds at the site of the clashes in Kiev today, but the opposition says five people have died.