"This is essentially war": Bloodshed and chaos in Kiev increase

KIEV, Ukraine - Protesters tossed firebombs and advanced upon police lines Thursday in Ukraine's embattled capital. Government snipers shot back, killing at least 70 people and wounding hundreds of others, according to a protest doctor.

Video footage on Ukrainian television showed shocking scenes Thursday of protesters being cut down by gunfire, lying on the pavement as comrades rushed to their aid. Trying to protect themselves with shields, teams of protesters carried bodies away on sheets of plastic or planks of wood.

CBS News correspondent Holly Williams reported that protesters were also seen leading away a dozen police officers they had captured. Ukraine's Interior Ministry said 67 police were captured in all. The protesters promised not to harm them, and an opposition leader said they were being held in Kiev's occupied city hall.

Protesters across the country are also upset over corruption in Ukraine, the lack of democratic rights and the country's ailing economy, which just barely avoided bankruptcy with a $15 billion loan from Russia.

"My own people are killing each other. It's something worse than a dream," heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko, brother of opposition leader Vitali Klitschko, told the AP in a telephone interview from Hamburg, Germany. "I am just speechless. I can't believe something like this is happening in my country."

One of the wounded, volunteer medic Olesya Zhukovskaya, sent out a brief Twitter message - "I'm dying" - after being shot in the neck. Dr. Oleh Musiy, the medical coordinator for the protesters, said she was in serious condition after being operated on.

In addition, three policemen were killed Thursday and 28 suffered gunshot wounds, Interior Ministry spokesman Serhiy Burlakov told the AP.

There was no way to immediately verify any of the death tolls. Earlier in the day, an Associated Press reporter saw the bodies of 21 protesters laid out near Kiev's protest camp.

On the front lines Thursday, Dima Yurinov, who normally works as a consultant, told CBS News that he has joined the fight against the government.

"They started first. They started shooting first. We're staying here, just staying. And they start shooting," he said.

At the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Ukrainian alpine skier Bogdana Matsotska, 24, said she will not take part in Friday's women's slalom due to the developments in Kiev.

"As a protest against lawless actions made toward protesters, the lack of responsibility from the side of the president and his lackey government, we refuse further performance at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games," her father and coach, Oleg Matsotskyy, wrote in a Facebook post.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke with Russia's President Vladimir Putin and President Barack Obama about the crisis in Ukraine on Thursday evening. She briefed them about the trip of the three EU foreign ministers to Kiev, and all three leaders agreed that a political solution needs to be found as soon as possible to prevent further bloodshed.

Saying the U.S. was outraged by the violence, Obama urged Yanukovych in a statement to withdraw his forces from downtown Kiev immediately. He also said Ukraine should respect the right of protest and that protesters must be peaceful.

Vice President Joe Biden telephoned Yanukovych and "strongly condemned the violence against civilians," the White House said. It was the fourth time Biden has spoken to the Ukrainian president since Jan. 23.

Biden "called upon President Yanukovych to immediately pull back all security forces – police, snipers, military and paramilitary units, and irregular forces," the White House said. "The vice president made clear that the United States is prepared to sanction those officials responsible for the violence."

The Kremlin issued a statement with Putin blaming radical protesters and voicing "extreme concern about the escalation of armed confrontation in Ukraine."

The Russian leader called for an immediate end to bloodshed and for steps "to stabilize the situation and stop extremist and terrorist actions." He also sent former Russian ombudsman Vladimir Lukin to Ukraine to act as a mediator.

The fighting in Independence Square has sparked fear in the central parts of the capital, where residents emptied bank machines of cash and stockpiled supplies of groceries.

Many shops, banks and restaurants and normally bustling Kiev did not open their doors Thursday. Schools in the center of the city were closed.

"Almost everyone who's not at the Maidan is staying home. Everyone's scared, you can tell - the shelves are emptying in the supermarkets. We don't know how long this could all go one," Stanislav Mostovoy, a 26-year-old salesman, told Reuters.

Iryna, a single mother who was walking to the Maidan to donate a bag of hypodermic needles and tubes for blood transfusions for the injured, told Reuters it was no wonder the streets were empty.

"Would you go out if there were snipers on the roofs of your city? This is essentially war," she said.