KIEV, Feb. 20 -- At least 67 people have been killed in three days of violence in central Kiev, the Kiev City Administration said Thursday.

It also said that 551 people were injured and 332 of them hospitalized since Tuesday.

Meanwhile, opposition TV channel cited eyewitnesses as saying that there were 22 bodies of other demonstrators in a camp where medics treat wounded activists.

Moreover, the country's Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko said that at least 13 police officers have been killed and 67 others captured by radical demonstrators since Tuesday.

Zakharchenko also said that police had been issued with combat weapons and would use them "in accordance with the law" to defend themselves.

Protests in Kiev began in November after President Viktor Yanukovych backtracked on a trade deal with the European Union and tilted instead toward Russia. They turned violent in mid-January and have been remarkably escalating this week.