Witnesses have told the BBC that some died as a result of single gunshot wounds, typical of sniper fire.
Officials said that one policeman had died and that 67 police had been captured by protesters.
Meanwhile, three European Union foreign ministers have held five hours of talks with President Viktor Yanukovych.
Eyewitnesses have told international news agencies that they have counted between 21 and 27 protesters' bodies after clashes in Kiev.
Video footage has emerged apparently showing snipers firing on demonstrators who had been trying to retake their protest camp in Independence Square.
Officials said more than 20 policemen had also been injured.
Witnesses reported live rounds, petrol bombs and water cannon being used at Independence Square during this morning's clashes.
An opposition Twitter feed posted an image of 13 bodies in a makeshift mortuary in the lobby of the Hotel Ukraine.
The hotel is serving as the base for all foreign media in Kiev, including the BBC. Gunshots pierced the windows of rooms used by the BBC and Sky News.
Earlier, several dozen protesters were using the lobby as a triage centre for the wounded, and a priest arrived, says the BBC's Kevin Bishop, at the scene.
Protesters - some of them armed - asked hotel guests for blankets to use as bandages.
A statement on the presidential website blames the opposition for starting the violence, saying the "calls for a truce and dialogue were nothing but a way of playing for time to mobilise and arm militants from Maidan [Independence Square]".
Opposition leaders called the violence "an act of provocation" by the authorities.
The foreign ministers of France, Poland and Germany conducted five hours of discussions with Mr Yanukovych, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius tweeted.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski tweeted that he would now stay in Kiev to meet opposition leaders to test a "proposed agreement", although it was not clear what the details of the agreement were.
Other EU foreign ministers, along with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, have convened at an emergency meeting in Brussels to discuss possible sanctions.
They could include a possible ban on sales of equipment that might be used for internal repression.
Separately, the head of the Kiev city administration resigned from Mr Yanukovych's Party of the Regions.
Thursday had been declared a day of mourning for those killed in clashes on Tuesday.
EU foreign ministers, including Radek Sikorski of Poland (R), met opposition leaders Vitaly Klitschko, Oleh Tyahnybok and Arseniy Yatsenyuk on Thursday morning
In other developments:
Parliament and cabinet buildings have been evacuated because of fears that they could be stormed by protesters.
Ukrainian alpine skier Bogdana Matsotska has withdrawn from the Sochi Winter Olympics in protest at the authorities' actions.
Russia wants a "strong government" in Ukraine, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday, "so that people don't wipe their feet on the authorities like a doormat"
President Yanukovych's chief of staff has said if sanctions are imposed and the situation escalates, "there is a danger that the country could split into two parts," the Unian news agency reports.
Trains between Kiev and the western city of Lviv - one of the protesters' strongholds - have been suspended, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reports. A railway spokeswoman said this was because of damage to the lines
The UK Foreign Office has summoned the Ukrainian ambassador to ask him to call on his government to stop the violence
The EU has so far refrained from imposing sanctions on Ukraine, preferring to stress dialogue and compromise.
For its part, the US state department announced visa bans on 20 members of the Ukrainian government but did not provide any names.
The media wing of the opposition Udar party, led by former boxer Vitaly Klitschko, said the next round of negotiations with President Yanukovych would resume later on Thursday.
It is not yet clear whether these talks will go ahead.
The far-right Right Sector protest movement said it had not signed up to the truce and there was "nothing to negotiate".
The protests first erupted in November when President Yanukovych rejected a landmark association and trade deal with the EU in favour of closer ties with Russia.
Since then, the protests spread across Ukraine, with the main demand of snap presidential and parliamentary elections.
Source: BBC News
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