An auditorium inside the Trade Unions Building, which has served as the de facto headquarters for the anti-government protest movement, fills with smoke and flames as the building burns. Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

Protesters force their way into the main office of the ruling Ukrainian Party of Regions. Oleg Petrasyuk/EPA

Anti-government protesters take cover behind shields and launch a crude firebomb during clashes with Interior Ministry troops. Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters

Smoke from exploding fireworks and fires billows into the night from Independence Square. Igor Kovalenko/EPA

Policemen try to avoid flames from Molotov cocktails during the clashes. Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images

Ukrainian riot police in front of the fire ring around Independence Square in Kiev on Wednesday, a day when more than two dozen were killed. Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA

An anti-government protester waves the national flag from the top of a statue during the fighting. Reuters

The protests grew violent despite a truce agreed to between the Ukrainian president and opposition leaders. Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images

An injured man struggles to breathe as he is carried on a stretcher by anti-government protesters. Yannis Behrakis/Reuters

Activists mourn protesters killed in clashes with police in Kiev. More than 50 people have been killed over the last two days in the protest. Laszlo Beliczay/EPA

A priest in the Hotel Ukraine on Thursday near bodies of anti-government protesters killed during the clashes with riot police. David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters

Police leave their position around the Ukrainian parliament in Kiev on Friday after the country’s deputy army chief resigned in protest over government attempts to involve the army to put down the unrest rocking Ukraine. Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images

A protester stands behind a barricade, as security forces retreat from Indepedence Square after several days of fatalities, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014. Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images

Ukraine's presidency said on Friday a deal had been reached at all-night talks on resolving the country's crisis after 75 people were killed in two days of the worst violence since Soviet times.

But the opposition did not immediately confirm agreement had been reached and diplomatic sources described the talks brokered by three European Union ministers as "very difficult."

Talks between opposition leaders and the embattled Ukrainian president continued early Friday as a shaky peace reigned in the protest camps in downtown Kiev.

President Viktor Yanukovych, who was still engaged in talks with opposition leaders and foreign officials, was "going to make concessions in order to restore peace," Interfax Ukraine quoted his spokeswoman Anna German as saying.

Support for the president appeared to be weakening, as reports said the army's deputy chief of staff, Yury Dumansky, was resigning in "disagreement with the politics of pulling the armed forces into an internal civil conflict."

Late on Thursday, the Ukrainian parliament passed a measure that would prohibit an "anti-terrorist operation" threatened by Yanukovych to restore order, and called for all Interior Ministry troops to return to their bases.

But it was unclear how binding the move would be, as the mechanism for carrying it out would have to be developed by the president's office and the Interior Ministry.

On Friday morning, several thousand protesters milled around Independence Square, known as the Maidan, which earlier this week was rocked by street battles between protesters.

The day before European Union foreign ministers agreed to impose sanctions on Ukraine, including visa bans, asset freezes and restrictions on the export of anti-riot equipment, ministers and officials said as the country suffers through the bloodiest hours of its post-Soviet history.

The development comes after fighting broke out in central Kiev Thursday morning, leaving dozens of people dead and shattering a brief truce declared by Yanukovich, as the Russian-backed leader met with European ministers demanding he compromise with pro-EU opponents. The United States had stepped up pressure on Wednesday by imposing travel bans on 20 senior Ukrainian officials.

Vice President Joe Biden called Yanukovich Thursday, urging him “to immediately pull back all security forces” and reaffirming that the U.S. is “prepared to sanction those officials responsible for the violence,” according to a readout from the White House.

MORE: Latest updates @ajamlive | Continuing coverage of Ukraine protests

Ukraine’s Health Ministry said that at least 75 people had been confirmed dead as a result of clashes this week — 26 on Feb. 18 and 19 and at least 49 killed on Feb. 20. On Friday morning, the Associated Press reported the death toll was at least 101.



It is the worst violence since Ukraine emerged after the fall Soviet Union 22 years ago.

A Ukrainian presidential statement said dozens of police were among those killed or wounded.

Many of the deaths came during an eruption of violence just hours after the country's embattled president and opposition leaders demanding his resignation called for a truce and negotiations to try to resolve Ukraine's political crisis.

It's unclear who sparked the early morning violence on Thursday, but the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said that police used live munitions in self-defense.

"For the purpose of preserving the lives and well-being of law enforcement officials, a decision was taken ... to use weapons in self defense," the interior ministry said, adding that its staff "have the right to use firearms" if their lives or well-being are threatened.

Riot police were captured on video shooting from a rooftop at demonstrators in the plaza, known as the Maidan or "Euro-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.

Andy Hunder, director of the London-based Ukrainian Institute, told Al Jazeera that what is being seen in Ukraine is a "president who has cornered himself and doesn't see a way out."

"This is a war of a president against his own people. Yanukovich has decided to turn on the people," Hunder said.

Later on Thursday, an opposition spokesman told Al Jazeera that the Ukrainian parliament agreed to take government forces out of Kiev, in an apparent stand down.

Sviatoslav Yurash, spokesman of the Euromaidan Activists Movement, also indicated that parliament had agreed to ban the use of firearms against protesters.