An explosive device in a package labeled "Medicines" went off on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv at about 0900 on Thursday, Euromaidan activist Anatoliy Vedmid has said.

The explosive device detonated when the package was opened, he said at a press conference at the national resistance headquarters.

He said that as a result, a young activist had his hand torn off. He is now in hospital.

Vedmid said that it was unclear what kind of explosive was in the package and that this issue was being studied.