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By Pavel Polityuk and Marcin Goettig KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian riot police fought protesters occupying a central Kiev square early on Wednesday after the bloodiest day since the former Soviet republic, caught in a geopolitical struggle between Russia and the West, won its independence. After hours of clashes, police were gaining ground in Independence Square, center of three months of protests against President Viktor Yanukovich, but demonstrators managed to find protection behind a burning barricade of tires and wood. Shrouded in plumes of black smoke, police were trying to put out the fire with two water cannons and protesters responded by hurling petrol bombs at the police vehicles, a Reuters cameraman said. At least 14 protesters and seven policemen were killed in violence that erupted on Tuesday and continued into the early hours of Wednesday.More...