KIEV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s president gave in to pressure from European diplomats and offered concessions today to defuse a crisis that has divided his country and left scores dead. Shots rang out near the protest camp and a skeptical opposition massed in central Kiev, divided over what to do next.

The capital remained tense after President Viktor Yanukovych announced early presidential elections and promised to bring opposition members into the government — but didn’t say when.

European foreign ministers had stayed up all night in Kiev trying to negotiate an end to the standoff, prompted when the president aborted a pact with the European Union in November in favor of close ties with Russia instead.

Small groups of protesters advanced toward the president’s office, torching one truck and seizing two others. Scuffles broke out between a few dozen radicals who wanted to attack the building and more moderate protesters.

A group of police officers from western Ukraine arrived on Kiev’s Independence Square to show their support for the opposition, and one told The Associated Press that they had arms.

Yanukovych gave no time frame for new elections, and it’s unclear whether his belated concessions will be enough to satisfy protesters who have occupied a piece of Kiev and government buildings around the country in a nationwide battle over the identity of their country.