Twelve of Ukraine’s disbanded Berkut riot police have been detained on suspicion of shooting peaceful anti-government protesters in Kiev before February’s right-wing coup.

“By this morning 12 people had been detained, all of them suspected of mass murder on Institutska Street,” said a spokesman for the general prosecutor said yesterday.

More than 100 people were killed, allegedly by police snipers, on the streets of Kiev in the run-up to the ousting of Viktor Yanukovich on February 21 and the new government considers the Berkut force to have been responsible.

Ukraine’s acting Attorney General Oleh Makhnitsky said the detainees were members of a specialised force within the Berkut called the Black Unit.

“The police officers of this company were trained for special operations including the killing of people,” Mr Makhnitsky claimed.

“They were overseen by the presidential administration.”