• KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- Kitted out in masks, helmets and protective gear on the arms and legs, radical activists are the wild card of the Ukraine protests now starting their third month, declaring they're ready to resume violence if the stalemate persists.
• When the protests started in December, attracting not only tens of thousands of Ukrainians but a flurry of visits from Western officials, the gatherings' determined peacefulness was an integral part of their claim to legitimacy. But in mid-January, the image of placid but principled people changed sharply, to frightening scenes of protesters heaving stones and firebombs at police.
• The violence was sparked by the radicals within the larger protest movement, angered by President Viktor Yanukovych's implementation of harsh anti-protest laws and increasingly impatient with the protesters' failure to achieve any of their demands. In a vivid demonstration of frustration, they sprayed opposition leader Vitali Klitschko, the towering former heavyweight boxing champion, with a fire extinguisher when he pleaded for clashes to stop.
• An uneasy truce settled in days later after three protesters died, but with no government concessions apparently in the works, the radicals say they're preparing to fight again.
• "We are ready for a national mobilization and complete blockade of the government quarter. The time for chatter has passed," the leader of the radical group Pravy Sektor (Right Sector), Dmitry Jarosh, told The Associated Press. The group nominally cooperates with protest leaders, but often sharply differs with their views.
• ___