Three Ukrainian Law Enforcement Agents Injured In Kiev Clashes With Protesters - Police

Three Ukrainian law enforcement agents were injured on Saturday in the country's capital of Kiev in clashes with protesters rallying against corruption in the country's defense industry, the Kiev police said in a statement

KIEV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th March, 2019) Three Ukrainian law enforcement agents were injured on Saturday in the country's capital of Kiev in clashes with protesters rallying against corruption in the country's defense industry, the Kiev police said in a statement.

After rallying at the Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in downtown Kiev, Ukrainian nationalists went to to the Presidential Administration building, where the clashes occurred.

"As a result of clashes near the Ukrainian Presidential Administration, two police officers and one National Guard officer were injured. One policeman was hospitalized due to a chemical eye burn, while the others received medical assistance on the site," the police wrote on Facebook.

According to the police, local investigators have launched a criminal case under the Ukrainian Criminal Code's article on "threat or violence against a law enforcement agent.

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In late February, the Ukrainian journalistic investigation website Bihus.info reported that several Ukrainian officials close to President Petro Poroshenko had defrauded the state-run defense firm, Ukroboronprom, of roughly $9 million in kickbacks by selling military vehicle parts smuggled in from Russia at inflated prices.

This prompted the opposition to accuse Poroshenko of high treason. As many as 480 criminal cases have been launched in relation to this corruption scandal.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin had no information about any smuggling of military vehicle parts from Russia to Ukraine, refuting such allegations as absurd.