UKRAINE PROTEStTS TURN DEADLY

At least four people have been shot dead and hundreds injured as demonstrators clash with police over new laws limiting the right to protest in Ukraine, the head of the protest movement's volunteer medical service, Oleg Musiy, told CNN on Wednesday.

Ukraine's Interior Ministry earlier said it was investigating a death, the circumstances of which are not clear. Local media reports suggest the man may have fallen from a statue or monument.In a statement Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf condemned the growing violence, particularly against journalists and peaceful protesters.

"Increased tensions in Ukraine are a direct consequence of the Ukrainian government's failure to engage in real dialogue and the passage of anti-democratic legislation on January 16," Harf said. "We urge the Government of Ukraine to take steps that represent a better way forward for Ukraine, including repeal of the anti-democratic legislation and beginning a national dialogue with the political opposition."The leaders of three opposition factions met with President Viktor Yanukovych and a government working group Wednesday to try to resolve the crisis, the President's official website said.

They are Vitali Klitschko, leader of the UDAR party; Arseniy Yatsenyuk, of the Fatherland party; and Oleh Tiahnybok, of the Freedom party, or Svoboda.A statement on Yanukovych's website said the first stage of negotiations -- a meeting of more than three hours -- had ended.

Klitschko accused Yanukovych's government of having the blood of protesters on its hands.

"We did not receive any answers," Klitschko told demonstrators after the meeting, referring to calls for snap elections and the resignation of the government. "When we talked about canceling the new laws that make each of us here a criminal, we heard that maybe this can be a point of negotiations. I will be with the people. If I have to fight, I will fight. If I have to go under bullets, I will. I will stand up for the people, because I want to live in a different country."He added, amid the chants of supporters: "If tomorrow the President does not make a step forward, we will attack."Demonstrators have been rallying in the snowy streets since the weekend in protest against the laws that went into effect Wednesday.

Televised images Wednesday showed ongoing clashes between police and protesters who've massed around barricades on Hrushevskoho Street, near the burned-out shells of police buses.

The Interior Ministry said Wednesday that more than 70 people have been detained since midday Sunday.