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| AP reporter Yuras Karmanau poses for a photo in front of a stage on the Independence Square, the epicenter of the country's current unrest in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014. Karmanau reported on Thursday’s violence in Kiev that left dozens of people killed and hundreds wounded, the bloodiest day in Ukraine’s post-Soviet history. |
KIEV, Ukraine
(AP) -- I heard a strange clanking sound this morning in my hotel room
overlooking the Ukrainian capital's main square. I carefully opened the
balcony door and looked down. A bullet from a sniper rifle was on the
floor of the balcony.
Apparently it had ricocheted off the rail.
Soon
after, several protesters from Independence Square, known as the
Maidan, knocked on my door. They wanted to check to see if any snipers
were hiding in my room. The hotel director accompanied them, eager to
prove that such things were impossible in his establishment.
Thursday
was the bloodiest day in Ukraine's post-Soviet history: Scores of
protesters were killed and hundreds were wounded by snipers on Kiev's
Independence Square and its nearby streets, according to medical workers
treating the victims. Three police were also killed Thursday and 28
suffered wounds, according to the Interior Ministry.
---
EDITOR'S
NOTE - Yuras Karmanau has covered Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and other
ex-Soviet nations for The Associated Press since 2000. He was among the
first journalists to witness the carnage in Kiev on Thursday and
describes the horrific scene.
---
Three months of protests against President Viktor Yanukovych had turned into a bloody carnage on the Maidan.
When
I walked out into the Maidan, clad in a helmet and a flak jacket, I saw
bodies lying on the pavement. Ten in one place, another six a short
walk away, five more farther away. The demonstrators were killed with
precise shots to their heads or necks, the hallmarks of snipers.
People
were gathering around the dead, many of them weeping. Some covered the
bodies with Ukrainian flags, others brought Orthodox icons. A priest
conducted a remembrance service.
I felt a bit sick. Many of the victims were only in their 30s and 40s, full of energy just a few hours ago.
I
kept asking myself: Why are they killing them? The protesters had no
firearms that I could see, and snipers could have instead incapacitated
them by shooting their feet or arms.
If the
government had hoped that the killings would intimidate protesters and
force them to leave the Maidan, it was clearly a miscalculation. The
carnage only fueled anger and strengthened the demonstrators'
determination.
"The price of freedom is too
high, but Ukrainians are paying it," said Viktor Danilyuk, a 30-year-old
protester. "We have no choice, the government isn't hearing us."
The
Mikhailovsky Cathedral, a short walk up the hill from the Maidan, was
turned into an improvised
hospital complete with a surgery room to treat
the victims.
"People who wanted to live in a
free Ukraine in Europe got bullets instead," said Petro Shumilin, a
33-year-old demonstrator who was wounded in the arm while carrying away a
friend's body.
His eyes were full of tears, both from the loss of his friend and from the pain of getting surgery for his wound.
"This is the result of Yanukovych's rule," Shumilin said. "He's guilty of starting a civil war."
The
sniper fire that rang out on the streets of this city of nearly 3
million was something Kiev hasn't heard since the World War II battles
between the Soviet Red Army and Nazi forces.
Most
of the wounded stayed away from Kiev's hospitals, fearing they would be
quickly taken into police custody from there - something that has
happened to many others wounded in the clashes.
The
daily demonstrations, which were sparked by anger over Yanukovych's
abrupt refusal in November to sign a pact with the European Union in
favor of choosing closer ties with Russia, were peaceful at first.
Violent clashes with police erupted in January, when at least four
people died and hundreds were wounded in street battles that raged for
days.
Yanukovych made some concessions and
tensions abated for a few weeks, but they flared up again this week
after Yanukovych loyalists in parliament refused to trim powers of the
presidency as protesters had demanded. As they had in January,
protesters assaulted police lines with stones and firebombs, but this
time the police response was ferocious.
Earlier
during the protests, life in Kiev went on as usual. Streets were full
of people doing their daily errands. Stores, restaurants and cafes along
the downtown avenue near the Maidan stayed open. The protest camp even
became a daily attraction for many residents.
That
all changed sharply this week, as clashes between protesters and police
turned into urban warfare. The sound of police stun grenades echoed
across the Maidan and heavy black smoke from burning tires, which
protesters set to block the way to police, filled Kiev's skies.
The
subway shut down, schools and most offices in central Kiev were closed
and streets became empty. People across the city rushed to get cash and
buy staples. Most downtown restaurants and cafes were closed, so finding
a place to eat became a real challenge.
But
many ordinary people still came to the Maidan, to the front lines with
police, bringing food, water and clothes to its exhausted defenders.
"Ukraine's
fate is being decided here - whether we will become part of Europe or
slide back," said Inga Leshchenko, a 67-year-old school teacher who
brought homemade food to the protesters.
"Every Ukrainian should help the Maidan," she said. "I can help by making sandwiches and homemade pies."
