Here are some pictures from the very center of Kiev. They show the power and determination of Ukrainian people but they also show the terrible conditions that people lived in, and some still do. They show flowers and candles brought by all those who mourn the dead. They show what happens when people are pushed to the edge and have to fight back. If the conflict in Crimea escalates, there will be barricades, fires, flowers and candles there too.
Category: History
Kora Smirinova a Russian Ukrainian
Kora Smirinova posted a photo of herself on Facebook on March 12th, and it wasn’t just an ordinary photo. Many girls take selfies and post duck-face pictures showing off their cleavage, but Smirnova did something a little different. She’s a modern woman and definitely no damsel in distress…
Brotherhood – War in Ukraine
Brotherhood was a word that I heard a lot yesterday at Maidan. Everyone there came on their own free will explains Olga Azzyz, a volunteer at a hospital, “we meet and we are like family.” During my first 10 minutes in the square, I heard a woman speaking in Ukrainian on stage and she ended…
Women at Maidan – War in Ukraine
Women have always played important roles in Ukrainian history. Whenever there was a conflict, women took up arms or found other ways to help their country. One of the active groups at Maidan were the Cossacks. They were mostly men but had a female Cossack group as well. Women who wanted to help but couldn’t…
Beagles for Peace: Puppy Protest
Today was a long and emotional day for me at Maidan so my first post about it will be a happy one. One of the first things I saw when I arrived in the square was a group of beagles with yellow-and-blue ribbons on their collars. Their owners were holding signs that read “Beagles for Peace” standing on the steps by the ‘Christmas tree’. Other beagle owners were coming from every direction and the cuteness was attracting a lot of attention from those passing by…
Yanukovich’s House – War in Ukraine
Today I attempted to enter Yanukovych’s house even though it is indefinitely closed by the government. They want to investigate what was found there and make preparations to turn it into more of a museum for those interested. It took an hour to drive there and I spent twenty minutes trying to get let in. Other people also came and argued with the guards – even when we tried together, the answer was still ‘no’… Under the old government, you could do and get almost anywhere even if it was against the law. The most common ways were name-dropping, bribing and threatening.
February 18th, 2014 Witness – War in Ukraine
This evening I met with Galika Olena Ivanivna. This 62-year-old woman with the energy and spirit of a college student was standing in Mariinsky park on February 18th. That day she saw like-minded people of all ages being shot at and murdered right in front of her. She was helpless and couldn’t stop it. It’s been almost a month since and she had trouble keeping her voice steady as she spoke about what she saw. She hasn’t been back to the park or Maidan since.
TheTravelBugBite 