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At least 25 people were reportedly killed Thursday in renewed unrest in Ukraine’s capital as the violent standoff between the government and opposition pushed the former Soviet nation to the verge of all-out civil conflict, RIA Novosti reported.

The killings broke a short-lived suspension of hostilities that followed the clashes this week that claimed 28 lives, including those of at least 10 police officers.

The violence in Ukraine is the worst the nation has seen since it gained independence in 1991.

The AFP news agency cited its correspondents as saying they had seen at least 25 protesters killed in central Kiev. The Reuters agency reported a death toll of 21, while an Associated Press journalist counted 18 bodies.

New fighting broke out as senior EU envoys were due to meet with President Viktor Yanukovych for talks on the deepening political violence gripping the country.

The talks took place against the backdrop of increasing talk in Western capitals of imposing sanctions against Kiev over the unrest.

US President Barack Obama on Wednesday urged the Ukrainian government to stem the surge of violence in the ex-Soviet country and warned that there would be “consequences” if the deadly clashes continued.

Russia said sanctions would only serve to increase tensions.

“Threatening sanctions and other means of influencing the situation are inappropriate and can bring no good and can only exacerbate the confrontation,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich.

On Thursday morning, riot police withdrew from Kiev’s Independence Square, which has served as the focal point of months-long demonstrations against Yanukovych’s government. The police had pushed back demonstrators into the square after a day of fighting that ran into the early hours of Wednesday morning.

More than 800 people were injured in that round of unrest.

After the departure of police from Independence Square, calls rung out from meeting organizers on a stage erected in the space occupied by protesters for barricades to be built to keep out police.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing police officers being taken hostage and beaten by radical elements among the protesters.

Announcers appealed to people not to cross barricades to avoid being targeted by what they said were snipers firing onto people in the crowd.

Eyewitnesses on Twitter posted numerous photos apparently showing police officers wielding automatic and sniper rifles. The photographs could not be independently verified.