At least two have reportedly been killed and 9 injured in an explosion in Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv during a march on the one-year anniversary of Maidan protests Sunday.
"According to preliminary information, around 10 people were injured, one of them a police officer. Two people died on the spot," Ukrainian Interior Ministry said in a statement.
According to one of the witnesses cited by Ukrainian Hromadske TV Channel, the explosion went off immediately after the column of demonstrators started moving toward the city's central Independence Square.
#KHARKOV BLAST: At least 3 dead, 10 injured — media http://t.co/tLqhuT3Uzu #kharkiv pic.twitter.com/TCGc0Q9CUH
— RT (@RT_com) February 22, 2015
One of those killed is reportedly a policeman. A probe would be opened into an apparent "terrorist attack", local police spokesperson Natalia Zakharova said.
"Four participants of the explosion were detained, weaponry was confiscated including a grenade launcher," a Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council's spokesperson said, citing the council's secretary Oleksandr Turchinov.
Eyewitness claimed that a grenade had most likely exploded as it had been thrown from a vehicle near a column of participants of the rally, UNIAN news agency says.
Anti-terror operation has begun in the city following the attack, according to the press service of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council.
Adviser of the Ukrainian Security Service head claims that series of terror attacks in Kharkiv have been plotted.
Stunning: despte the terror act killing 3 in #Kharkiv, the commemoration of Maidan's fallen continues pic.twitter.com/X9GKkAd31w — via @itsector
— Evgen Vorobiov (@vorobyov) 22 февраля 2015
According to prosecutor's office's press service, investigators are currently working at the scene of the accident.
The 500-strong rally gathered in Kharkiv to support the Kiev-led military operation against southeastern Ukraine's independence supporters. Similar rallies take place in Ukraine on February 22.
#Харьков теракт pic.twitter.com/MSDoSvYyGf
— Petr Terentiev (@xxxpitx) February 22, 2015
A political crisis erupted in Ukraine in November 2013, when the country's authorities announced to suspend its European integration process. The protests that started in Kiev spread across the country and led to a government coup on February 22, 2014, forcing then-President Viktor Yanukovych to flee the country.
Two months later, Kiev launced a military operation against independence supporters in the country's southeast, which has to date claimed the lives of over 5,600 people.
