Ukraine issued an arrest warrant yesterday for its ousted pro-Russian president over “mass murder” and appealed for $35bn (€25bn) in Western aid as Moscow denounced Kiev’s new reformist interim government as “Kalashnikov-toting people in black masks.”

Anti-government protests in Ukraine’s capital escalated into fiery street battles as thousands of demonstrators hurled rocks and firebombs to set police vehicles ablaze. Dozens of officers and protesters were injured.

A methane gas leak killed 13 Ukrainian coal miners and injured at least 61 at a coal mine in eastern Ukraine early today, officials said.

Shrugging off a parliamentary setback and seizing on his Supreme Court victory, opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko pushed for quick passage of anti-fraud legislation to ensure a new vote is fair against his Moscow-backed rival, who has fallen out of public view.