KIEV, Ukraine — Battalions of Ukrainian security forces early Wednesday stormed Independence Square, the central plaza in Kiev where protesters had been rallying against the government of President Viktor F. Yanukovich for more than two weeks.
Hours after senior Western diplomats arrived here for meetings with Mr. Yanukovich in an effort to defuse both the country's slide into political chaos as well as a deepening financial crisis, thousands of riot police officers and Internal Ministry troops fanned across Kiev, putting the Ukrainian capital in a virtual lockdown in the cold predawn darkness.
Officers descending a slope past the Hotel Ukraina punched an opening through a barricade that protesters had heavily reinforced. Officers later winched a rope to the barrier and ripped it down entirely. Ice and slush on the streets added to the unfolding confusion as some officers slid into a confrontation with demonstrators, who chanted "Peaceful Protest! Peaceful Protest!"
There was fighting and shoving matches as officers pushed into the plaza from virtually all sides, taking up positions and blocking the crowd's movements with interlocking shields. At least one of the tents or another makeshift structure erected by demonstrators caught fire. Officers in helmets pushed through the crowds with shields but did not use the truncheons hanging at their sides.
As the security forces spread throughout the square, a large crowd of protesters brandishing sticks, clubs, metal rods and anything else they could find massed in front of the Trade Unions building, which leaders of the demonstration had turned into the headquarters of what they call the National Resistance.
The crackdown by the authorities came hours after a three-and-a-half-hour meeting between Mr. Yanukovich and Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign policy chief.
The diplomatic consequences became apparent almost immediately. "I was among you," Ms. Ashton said in a statement on Wednesday morning. "The authorities did not need to act under the cover of night."
And in unusually strong language, Secretary of State John Kerry expressed the United States' "disgust" with the authorities' decision to use force. "This response is neither acceptable nor does it befit a democracy," he said in a statement.
He added: "As church bells ring tonight amidst the smoke in the streets of Kiev, the United States stands with the people of Ukraine. They deserve better."
Western leaders, including Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who spoke by telephone with Mr. Yanukovich on Monday, had sternly warned the government against the use of force on peaceful protests. Earlier, on Tuesday, demonstrators had milled about on Independence Square as they have every day since Dec. 1, when it was occupied and barricaded after a huge demonstration that drew hundreds of thousands. That rally was animated by public anger over a brief but bloody crackdown by the police against demonstrators the day before.
People first took to the streets nearly three weeks ago, in anger over Mr. Yanukovich's sudden decision to scuttle far-reaching political and free-trade agreements with the European Union that had been in the works for more than a year and that he had promised to sign.
The storming of the plaza was especially surprising because Tuesday had largely been a day of consultations and discussions among senior officials. The talks with Western diplomats had focused heavily on Ukraine's acute financial troubles; a deepening cash crunch could leave the country broke within months.
Along with Ms. Ashton, Victoria Nuland, an assistant secretary of state, returned to Kiev after making a brief visit here last week and then traveling elsewhere in the region, including to Russia where she urged senior officials to help resolve the crisis in Ukraine.
Mr. Yanukovich also met with the three former presidents of Ukraine, to begin what the government described as a process of "round table" discussions to resolve the crisis.
By 3 a.m. Wednesday, witnesses said that the police had largely divided the crowd into sectors and had cleared a substantial portion of the plaza. They then stood in formation but did not appear to be making arrests.
At one point, protesters in construction hats, bicycle helmets and other protective gear rushed toward the officers, with blows being landed by both sides. Burning barrels tipped over, sending up plumes of smoke.
Roman Bakus, 30, had been standing in front of a long line of police officers in the embattled plaza and was knocked down by their advance.
Michael R. Gordon contributed reporting from Washington, and Oksana Lyachynska from Kiev.
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