Apocalyptic Maidan: Torn by deadly clashes, Kiev plunges deeper into chaos (PHOTOS)
![Apocalyptic Maidan: Torn by deadly clashes, Kiev plunges deeper into chaos (PHOTOS)](https://mf.b37mrtl.ru/files/news/22/a4/40/00/2apocalyptical-images-ukraine-clashes.si.jpg)
As the battle for Kiev’s city center rages on, the once-beautiful heart of the Ukrainian capital is now engulfed in flames by night and smoke by day, projecting end-of-the-world images of total disarray and destruction.
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Darkness never completely falls on Independence Square (Maidan) at night…
![Kiev, February 19, 2014 (AFP Photo/Louisa Gouliamaki)](https://mf.b37mrtl.ru/files/news/22/a4/40/00/apo-1.jpg)
…as it is lit up by flaming barricades all over the place, keeping security officers away.
![Kiev, February 19, 2014 (Reuters/David Mdzinarishvili)](https://mf.b37mrtl.ru/files/news/22/a4/40/00/apo-4.jpg)
Rioters take the flames from the burning barricades.
![Kiev, February 20, 2014 (AFP Photo/Bulent Kilic)](https://mf.b37mrtl.ru/files/news/22/a4/40/00/apo-11.jpg)
Light of day reveals the littered, smoking strip of ‘neutral zone’ between riot police and the protesters’ camp.
![Kiev, February 19, 2014 (Reuters/Olga Yakimovich)](https://mf.b37mrtl.ru/files/news/22/a4/40/00/apo-8.jpg)
A protester with a handmade shield moves alone through the devastated city center.
![Kiev, February 19, 2014 (Reuters/Olga Yakimovich)](https://mf.b37mrtl.ru/files/news/22/a4/40/00/apo-7.jpg)
Kiev’s pavements are being dismantled by protesters, who in this way replenish their stock of stones to hurl at police.
![Kiev, February 18, 2014 (Reuters/Konstantin Chernichkin)](https://mf.b37mrtl.ru/files/news/22/a4/40/00/apo-5.jpg)
Walking amid the rubble, burnt tires and pieces of wood, the police cover themselves up with shields, hiding from possible attack.
![Kiev, February 19, 2014 (RIA Novosti/Andrey Stenin)](https://mf.b37mrtl.ru/files/news/22/a4/40/00/apo-9.jpg)
Protesters’ camp during the short-lived truce, which only survived a few hours to be broken by new deadly clashes, which have by now claimed at least 64 lives, according to the official estimates.
![Kiev, February 19, 2014 (RIA Novosti/Alexei Furman)](https://mf.b37mrtl.ru/files/news/22/a4/40/00/apo-10.jpg)
Maidan hospital sources are claiming that 70 people have been killed on the rioters’ side on Thursday alone.
![Kiev, February 18, 2014 (AFP Photo/Sergei Supinsky)](https://mf.b37mrtl.ru/files/news/22/a4/40/00/apo-3.jpg)
Skeletons of burned-out vehicles and heaps of tires shape today’s landscape in Kiev’s city center.
![Kiev, February 17, 2014 (Reuters/Vlad Sodel)](https://mf.b37mrtl.ru/files/news/22/a4/40/00/apo-6.jpg)
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