REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, KIEV - European Union ministers sought to broker a political settlement in Ukraine after gun battles between police and anti-government protesters brought the death toll to 75 in two days of the worst violence in the country since Soviet times.

Three hours of fierce fighting in Kiev's Independence Square, a short distance from where President Viktor Yanukovich was meeting the EU delegation. The health ministry said 75 people had been killed since Tuesday afternoon, which meant at least 47 died in Thursday's clashes. That was by far the worst violence since Ukraine emerged from the crumbling Soviet Union 22 years ago.

The ministers, from Germany, France and Poland, embarked on "a night of difficult negotiations" with Yanukovich and the opposition, said EU officials who hoped a plan for an interim government and early elections could bring peace.

France's foreign minister said there was still no agreement over a proposed road map to ease the crisis, which erupted in November after Yanukovich abandoned a proposed trade deal with the European Union and turned instead towards Moscow.

"There is no agreement for now, the negotiations are very difficult and we are working to reach a peaceful solution," France's Laurent Fabius told reporters.

The three ministers, who extended their stay in Kiev until Friday, have been negotiating with the government and opposition since Thursday morning.

Earlier in the day, riot police were captured on video shooting from a rooftop at demonstrators in the central plaza, known as the Maidan. Protesters hurled petrol bombs and paving stones to drive the security forces off a corner of the square the police had captured in battles that began two days earlier.

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