KIEV, May 10 – President Viktor Yanukovych came under heavy criticism on Tuesday after Monday street clashes in Lviv left two people injured following a shooting incident during the Victory Day parade.

This marks escalation of tensions between Ukrainian and pro-Russian groups following a controversial legislation approved by Yanukovych’s Regions Party last month allowing hoisting Soviet-era red flags alongside with Ukrainian national yellow-and-blue flags on May 9.

The developments may have sweeping political consequences, with Mykhaylo Tsymbaliuk, governor of Lviv region, having already submitted his resignation, while opposition groups have also insisted on the resignation of Ukraine’s police chief.

The clashes have also caused a diplomatic rift between Kiev and Moscow, with Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry condemning the developments they see as an attack against Russian interests. The State Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament, is expected on Wednesday to approve a statement condemning the clashes in Lviv.

The dispute erupted after a group of about 10 pro-Russian youths have suddenly unwrapped a huge red flag near the monument for the fallen Soviet troops at the Hill of Glory, provoking an angry reaction from mostly a nationalist crowd.

This has quickly escalated to a point that one of the pro-Russian activists pulling out a gun and shooting at the crowd, seriously injuring a 23-year old Ukrainian identified by police as Oleh Kovpak, an assistant to a local lawmaker.

Another person has been injured by police forces that had applied a rubber stick to the person’s head while apparently trying to calm the clashes.

The confrontation has taken place despite a local court ruling days earlier banning any marches and demonstrations in the city unless they had been approved by the regional administration.

“Yanukovych has become the first among four Ukrainian presidents under whose watch the May 9 had turned into the day of violence and the split of the country,” former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s party, Batkivshcyna, said in a statement.

“Police, loyal to Yanukovych, provided a green corridor to the provocateurs from radical Russian organizations that had made it clear their goal of starting a mess in Lviv,” Batkivshchyna said.

“This is a crime,” Andriy Sadoviy, the mayor of Lviv, said at a press conference in Lviv. “Why did the representatives of Russian fascists unfold the flag at the Hill of Glory? Why have law enforcers taken a passive stance? What is this? Unprofessionalism, or instigation of the provocation?”

Hanna Herman, a deputy chief of staff at the Yanukovych administration, said that the deployment of police had allowed to prevent many more injuries and to avoid a “bloodshed.”

“Without the law enforcers, it would be very difficult to avoid massive conflicts, and even massive bloodshed,” Herman said. “These are soldiers. They were told to protect the people, to prevent the clashes, so this is what they had done.”

Yanukovych issued no statement on Tuesday, but had ordered the prosecutor general, Viktor Pshonka, and SBU and police teams to look into the matter. (tl/ez)