Independent Ukrainian news station Espreso TV is broadcasting live from the clashes in Kiev. Protests there reignited today (here's why) as thousands of demonstrators tried to march the mile from their camp at Independence Square to the Parliament building. Security forces cracked down; the ensuing violence is thought to have killed nine people already, and police are anticipated to make a big push soon.

The live video feed comes from two cameras trained directly on the clashes. It is stomach-churning to watch. Explosions are nearly constant, mostly from fireworks but also possibly from security forces and homemade explosives (they've been used before; an opposition site says riot police are using molotov cocktails). There's a large fire on one end of the square and, on another, a phalanx of security forces shooting a water cannon at demonstrators. The temperature is just above freezing in Kiev.

Read the three big reasons that protests reignited here. Read the fuller backstory on Ukraine's crisis here: 9 questions about Ukraine you were too embarrassed to ask.



A screenshot from Espreso TV's live feed from Kiev, taken about 8:30 p.m. local time.

Kiev is seven hours ahead of the U.S. East Coast, meaning that as it is 1:30 p.m. here, it is 8:30 p.m. there.

Based on what I see on live streams from Kyiv, I can only expect that this is going to be a very bloody night. Pray for Ukraine. — Hannah Thoburn (@HannahThoburn) February 18, 2014

MT @Interpreter_Mag #BREAKING - Police ask women and children to leave Maidan so they can begin an "anti-terrorist operation" — Blogs of War (@BlogsofWar) February 18, 2014

Ukraine govt seals off Kiev to prevent revolutionary reinforcements from entering the city, shuts down Kiev subway for similar reasons. — Simon Shuster (@shustry) February 18, 2014