Kiev:
An opposition member of Ukrainian parliament said he and his four colleagues from the Batkivschyna Party have been hospitalised after a violent scuffle in parliament between opposition and pro-government legislators.
Volodymyr Bondarenko of the party of former Ukrainian premier Yulia Tymoshenko said on Thursday that members of the ruling Party of Regions stormed into the session hall and started beating opposition lawmakers.
Pro-Tymoshenko legislators had been paralyzing the work of parliament all day protesting a criminal investigation launched against her on suspicion of abuse of office.
Scuffles are common in Ukrainian parliament, but this one appears to be the most violent.
It comes just one day after Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office said on Wednesday that it was launching a criminal probe of Tymoshenko over alleged abuse of office.
After her questioning on Wednesday Tymoshenko said that the probe centres around her alleged misspending of 280 (m) million US Dollars (200 (m) million Euros) received for the sale of carbon credits under the Kyoto protocol.
Tymoshenko has admitted that she used the money to pay pensions amid a severe recession, but said all the funds were later returned and spent on environmental needs.
Tymoshenko dismissed the probe as "terror against the opposition" by President Viktor Yanukovych.
A number of former officials in her government have been investigated, questioned and jailed since he came to power.