Here's a report from RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service on a third guardsman dying following yesterday's violence outside the parliament in Kyiv:
A third member of Ukraine’s National Guard has died from injuries sustained when a hand grenade exploded during a protest outside parliament on August 31.
The National Guard said 20-year-old Oleksandr Kostina died in a Kyiv hospital on September 1.
Earlier on September 1, Interior Ministry Arsen Avakov confirmed that a second member of the security force, Dmitry Slastikov, had died.
On August 31, 24-year-old National Guard conscript Ihor Debryn died outside the parliament building after being hit by a grenade fragment that wounded 90 other guardsmen.
Authorities say the grenade was thrown by a member of the nationalist Svoboda political alliance, identified as 27-year-old Ihor Gumenyuk, as the security forces clashed with demonstrators outside of the parliament.
Svoboda and the nationalist Radical Party organized the protest to voice opposition to legislation that could clear the way for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine to be granted more autonomy.
The bill, which was presented by President Petro Poroshenko and is part of Kyiv’s obligations under the February Minsk peace accords, was tentatively approved by parliament on August 31.
It still requires approval by at least 300 of parliament’s 450 deputies to be ratified as a constitutional amendment.
With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP
All eyes seem to be on Kyiv today, but here is a map of the latest military situation in the restive east, courtesy of Ukraine's Defense Ministry:
