The far-right Svoboda party has blamed the government for clashes next to parliament today.
“It was the government, together with the pro-Russian Opposition Bloc, that provoked Ukrainians to protest, putting constitutional amendments that solidify the special status of Donbas and [represent an act of] capitulation to the Kremlin on the agenda and voting for them,” the party wrote in a statement.
It also claimed that law-enforcement officers were first to use force against the protesters, prompting a number of clashes.
“Law enforcement failed to take appropriate measures to neutralize the provocateurs," says the statement. "Obviously, the usage of an explosive device that an unknown threw at the police was a pre-planned provocation against Ukrainian patriots.”
Another angle on the grenade attack on the parliament, from RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.
Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Hroysman has urged an immediate investigation of today’s clash next to the parliament building.
According to a statement issued by the parliamentary press office, Hroysman called today’s incident “an act of terrorism.”
“Today, when the Ukrainian Parliament made important decisions that decentralize power, that don’t allow anybody to usurp power in Ukraine, a horrible act of terrorism took place next to the parliamentary walls,” he said.
A longer update from our news desk on the clashes outside parliament:
One member of Ukraine's National Guard was killed and scores wounded during protests outside the country's parliament building in Kyiv on August 31.
The violence erupted as nationalists demonstrated outside parliament as legislators considered a presidential bill aimed at extending the level of autonomy for pro-Russian separatists in parts of eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on guardsman died after being hit by shrapnel from a suspected hand grenade while guarding the building. Earlier, at least four "life threatening injuries" had been attributed to a suspected hand grenade thrown at the security forces as they clashed with demonstrators.
Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said more than 90 security officers were injured during the clashes, including one officer who lost both of his feet as a result of the blast.
A BBC correspondent described hearing three stun grenades followed by a louder explosion.
Video footage showed more than a dozen Ukrainian riot troops limping after the explosion, and at least one plainclothes officer falling to the ground and being dragged away.
Other footage showed bloodstains on the pavement and servicemen dragging away at least two other wounded security officers.
Kyiv police said a man suspected of throwing a hand grenade was been arrested, and about 30 other protesters were arrested during the clashes.
Earlier reports said security forces used batons and pepper spray against the demonstrators.
Smoke bombs also were used, but it was not immediately clear whether those devices were thrown by police or by protesters.
After the largest explosion, organizers of the protest announced that their demonstration was over, saying that "some provocateurs might have infiltrated" their ranks.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko issued a public statement later, saying that "all those involved in the provocation" outside of the parliament would be punished.
Klitschko said security cameras would allow investigators to identify "provocateurs."
The violence erupted after the parliament approved the bill introducing a draft constitutional amendment stating that a separate law would determine the extent of local self-governance in parts of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Of the 368 lawmakers at the August 31 session, 265 supported the bill.
The bill was submitted by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in accordance with February's Minsk cease-fire agreement.
The vote took place despite a protest by dozens of lawmakers from the Radical Party and Svoboda political alliance who blocked the parliament's podium and chanted "Shame! Shame!"
At least 300 votes will be needed to pass the constitutional amendment at the next session of parliament.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk will address the nation at 5 p.m. local time, according to the official Twitter account of the Cabinet of Ministers.
Two journalists, one of them a foreigner, were injured during the clashes next to the Ukrainian Parliament.
All in all, 56 injured were identified. The other 54 are from law enforcement, reports Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform.
Internal Minister Arsen Avakov confirms that one member of the National Guard has been killed with a bullet wound to the heart.
“Somebody was shooting in the midst of everything,” he wrote on Twitter.
Meanwhile, away from Kyiv:
The Kremlin says foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and France will meet by the middle of September to discuss the conflict in Ukraine.
Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters on August 31 that over the weekend Moscow, Berlin, and Paris have backed efforts for a new ceasefire deal in east Ukraine, where fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists killed more than 6,500 people since the conflict erupted in April 2014.
After the foreign ministers' meeting "we expect leaders of the four countries to hold a phone call and we will see what they agree as to where and how to meet in person," Ushakov said.
West accuses Russia of providing military support and personnel to the separatist rebels.
Moscow accuses Kyiv of not delivering of the provisions of a cease-fire agreement brokered by Germany and France in Minsk in February.
Violent protests broke out in Kyiv on August 31 after Ukraine's parliament backed granting a so-called "special status" to the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
The parliament approved the first reading of the constitutional amendment, which states that a separate law will determine the extent of local self-governance in parts of the two regions. Of the 368 lawmakers at the August 31 session, 265 supported the bill.
The bill was submitted by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in accordance with the Minsk cease-fire agreement.
At least 300 votes will be needed to pass the constitutional amendment at the next session of parliament.