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kyiv now exists in two dimensions: on the one hand, the city is full of life, on the other hand, the usual tourists have been replaced by internal migrants from the territories occupied and bombed by russia. the city is isolated from the world and radiates an extraordinary calm in the middle hidden insults, but at any moment the situation can change dramatically. after eight years of local war in the east of the country, on february 24, 2022, russia launched a full-scale offensive. they hoped to capture ukraine within a few days.

roman ratushny joined the struggle for independent ukraine as a teenager. he was only 16 when ukraine was on the brink of revolution. roman's parents are also well-known activists and public figures. father - taras ratushny - journalist, mother - svitlana povalyaeva - journalist and writer. at the age of 24 roman overshadowed the glory of his own parents, ready to do anything for the sake of changes in ukraine.

i sometimes told roma, roma, listen, you must have been thrown to us by some extraterrestrials, well , people like us certainly could not have given birth to such a bright soul as you. purposeful, fearless, infinitely in love with his country. tetyana chornovol is a woman of incredible contrasts, a multifaceted and extraordinary personality, a married mother of two children, she began her political and journalistic career at the age of 17. as a child, i had dreams, i dreamed of being bombed ukraine, now i remember, i'm not afraid, i think i survived all my fears then in childhood. courageous and uncompromising, she risked her life in daring actions.

attracted the attention of the international community, climbed construction cranes, climbed over walls into prohibited zones and chained herself to railway tracks, she stopped at nothing, for the sake of the idea she believes in, an independent, free and democratic ukraine. yulia paevska, her nickname, taira, studied and later taught aikedo for 20 years. his own skill, she won the position of president of the aikedo federation of ukraine. our spirit is unbreakable, but you need to be clearly aware of who you are. why are you here and your goals. yulia married poikido's partner vadym puzanov. she gave birth to a daughter. however, julia's career and personal life were instantly changed by the revolution of dignity.

soviet propaganda spent enormous amounts of money on erecting monuments that were supposed to inculcate ideology. annual narratives of friendship between ukraine and russia. after the declaration of independence in ukraine , communist symbols began to be gradually dismantled and monuments of russian imperialism. for example, in 2022 , part of the statues were dismantled near the arch of friendship of nations, while others were fenced off to deal with them in the future. we figured it out. soviet ideology inflicted harsh and repressive methods. permanent injuries to the human psyche, leaving deep temples for generations. for many years, putin tried to corrupt ukraine. he tried to return it to russia's sphere of influence, repeating the belarusian scenario. it seemed to many that

at the beginning of his term, yanukovych was after all is trying to resist and overcome long-term dependence on russia. he strengthened cooperation with the european union. this document for... forms the basis for the political association and economic integration of ukraine and the european union. our goals for integration into the european union are based on the clear european choice of the ukrainian people and are enshrined in national legislation. at the same time, i am convinced that the united europe project will not be final until beyond its borders. such large european countries will be present and peoples, like the ukrainian people. meanwhile , putin held hostage the ukrainian economy, which was completely dependent on russian gas. he offered lower prices in the event of ukraine's accession to russia, or

blackmailed by raising prices for blue fuel in the event of ukraine's accession to the european community. are you for or against the signing of the association agreement by ukraine? yanukovych began to delay the signing of the agreement, which surprised western politicians, it turned out that he received too favorable an offer from putin and threats that he did not european partners knew. the economic situation in ukraine is very difficult. the negotiations

confirmed that the development of cooperation and partnership between russia and ukraine is our common strategic choice, there is no reasonable alternative to this approach. thank you, dear vladimir vladimirovich, ladies and gentlemen, in general, the results of today's meeting confirmed the attitude of both sides to the further dynamic development of bilateral relations on the basis of strategic partnership. thank you for your attention. thank you when yanukovych refused to sign the association agreement with the european union, the independence of ukraine was under serious threat. as a sign of protest , people are beginning to gather in kyiv, most of whom are young people. friends, we must stand here and show that

we are all together. we have only one desire, we want to go to europe. while the question of joining the association is our big one. ukraine is europe, ukraine is europe. in a few days, the protest turns into a round-the-clock action, during which students occupy a small part of independence square. among others, there was 16-year-old roman ratushnik. at that moment , intuitively, i understood that i do not want to live in russia or belarus, i want to live in ukrainian europe, so to speak, or in european ukraine. i saw the processes that were taking place in belarus, which had already completely returned at that time. before the soviet union, the same processes

also took place in ukraine, and in principle, now we also partially live in this soviet union, this trauma is national for us, it will be eradicated, which will take a very long time. yanukovych chooses the force option and gives the command to disperse the protest until it turned into an uprising.

roma was severely beaten by berkut and put in a truck, dragged along the ground, where the flag was trampled, and ukrainian symbols aroused special hatred in them. then roma spent the night in st. michael's cathedral, where all the maidan residents went, and since then, he was on the maidan practically every day. we were often together, often separately, i applaud those who stood for european integration, and please, the news about the aggressive attack of the police on young people who peacefully protested, spreads like wildfire, causing outrage in society. yanukovych underestimates the situation, the only measure that was taken the next day to prevent further riots was to limit the student protest. metal fences under the supervision of a small number of police representatives.

on december 1, the day after the students were beaten, the opposition organized a mass march dedicated to the anniversary of the referendum on ukraine's independence. a million kyiv residents outraged by the beating of children join the protest. the police, who controlled the barricades, panicked flees, and the protesters. remove metal structures in the way of people. based on putin's tactics, yanukovych believed that he could intimidate people by force. he underestimated the readiness of the people to self-sacrifice for the sake of independent ukraine. the brutal actions of the police , unable to quell human intentions, provoked disobedience and indignation at the actions of the authorities, which, in turn, increased the number of people on the maidan. from now on, everyone is ready to fight to the end. in fact, not only ukraine needs

the european union, but the european union also needs ukraine, remember that. be confident glory to ukraine. this is also a turning point, when we realized that we will not run from berkut, to berkut. even. despite these atrocities, what is actually happening in power, not many people actually know, people do not see the scale, the evil that is currently happening in the country, well, for example, recently this summer , they stole 2 billion dollars on one operation, two annual budgets of the ministry of health, when the government betrays its people. the people must to come to power, if

millions come to this square, he will run away. i will tell you, there was such a vision. first, it was on the eve of the maidan. i remember that in the 12th year i ran for the verkhovna rada, and i spent a lot of time in the district campaigning. and what i told people, well, everyone demanded to repair roads and schools there. i told you. people, i won't promise you that, because there is one very big question, we need to get rid of yanukovych in time, i said to have time, before the big war started and we were taken over by russia. because if we don't if we manage to remove yanukovych at this moment, he will simply return to the country without any fight. yanukovych continues to ignore the demands of the people, he tries to suppress protests, block approaches to the presidential administration and the verkhovna rada. do not perform criminal?

yanukovych hopes to convince ukrainian society that the economic situation in the country will improve at the expense of cheap gas and russian loans. all ukrainian negotiations took place in a business- like and constructive way: gazprom and naftogaz of ukraine signed an addendum that gives the possibility of gazprom, what he intends to do, to sell gas to ukraine at a price of 268.5 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters, now this price was about 400 dollars, as you

saw, a document on the construction of a transport crossing over the kerch strait was signed, this is... how you know, it was the original initiative of the president of ukraine, in order to support the budget of ukraine, the government of the russian federation decided to place part of its reserves from the national welfare fund, amounting to 15 billion us dollars, in the securities of the ukrainian government. promotions continue. both day and night. protesters spot a van. the mobile office of the opposition is being illegally tapped from this van. to prevent the police from destroying physical evidence, tetyana chornovol bursts into the minibus.

yatsenyuk summoned me. i lived on the maidan at that time, i didn't come home because i understood that some kind of hunting was going on. well, there were such things when, even in the first days of the maidan, cars drove behind me. yatsenyuk says: tanya, we will take you abroad. which abroad? they say we have information that everything is ready all the red tape to get you under arrest. i say, so what? no, he says, he cannot allow this, because the people on the maidan know you, if, you understand, he says, min says, you are there. they are beaten, he says, on the maidan, people will give up because of this, well, let's say, they will give up, yes, if they kill you there, i say, and when i run away, i say, they will not give up, i say, well , well, that's what my fate says, and then i think to myself, my god, what did i choose for myself, and when i was being chased on the boryspil highway, i then clearly understood that i they kill, yes, that is, at first i hoped

that they would only arrest, but when the car started ramming my car, and it was an expensive car. i had a cheap chevrolet avio, and there was an expensive porsche cayen, and when i saw that the porsche cayen crashed into mine, well, they were ramming my car, i realized that these are not law enforcement officers at all, yes, they are purely bandits and the task is to kill me , i think the main thing is that it does not look like an accidental death, that is, then i tried to do everything so that, for example, everything did not look like wow therefore, when the car stopped, i ran away from the car so that i was not there, it was not somewhere in the car when the killer was killing me, i

was then clearly aware that they were killing me, everything was different forever, yes, and when he hit me on the head outsiders, at some point i came to my senses, well... i came, and i understand what is happening, and i say to the killer: you are killing the mother of two children, and he stopped beating after that, well, i lost consciousness, yes i i lost consciousness, he stopped beating, maybe he thought i would freeze, i jumped out, tried to crawl, they caught up with me and they started beating me, hold on, after 40 minutes i was lucky, the traffic police found me, 300 m from the car in the bushes, there in some forest strip. it's only been 40 minutes, i'm not cold, who's behind, please raise your hands, sit down, sit down. next, ignoring the legal process of voting and counting the votes of deputies, yanukovych is pushing a law that gives him even more

powers to suppress protests. in particular, it allows the police to arrest any protester wearing a helmet. neither the speaker of the parliament, nor the president has the right to sign these laws, if they do, then they will become the same criminal offense. this is a step towards an authoritarian regime, a big step, and we understand that this is the construction of a dictatorship. another point of escalation is the laws of january 16, these absolutely draconian, so-called anti-terrorist laws, which simply turned us into some kind of north korea or russia, then flared up there with new force. the tension between the people and the police is growing, but the demonstrators do not cross the line and adhere to the principles of a peaceful protest. injuring police officers is unacceptable. on the square, i had

the feeling that these were all the ancient matters, yes, the ancient spirits, all the defenders, there were hundreds of them. and hundreds of years of these lokapals of kyiv, that they woke up, that they are for us, that they protect us, that they defend kyiv, that kyiv is like a living being, filled with these energies that have slept for centuries, put to sleep by this russification, this scoop, and here they all woke up and got up, and i had an absolutely clear feeling that this is my kyiv, it is alive, and it is preparing for... defense, glory to ukraine, can't you imagine how happy i am to be here right now on the maidan? after five

days in the intensive care unit and two weeks in the hospital, tetyana chornovol is discharged, but she will still have to undergo reconstructive operations on her nose and right eye socket. the fact that everything happened proved once again that everything i investigated, everything i wrote in my articles, is the truth. and believe me, we have already won, when we gathered in great numbers, we will bring this victory to the end. glory to ukraine. in the afternoon , the revolutionaries are not victorious on independence square. people become at night less, and the police arrive at the position. you have no legal reason to disperse a peaceful demonstration. it's december 11. there was a very big storming of the maidan. very strong, frost, night and echoes just all over the city, all the way to the left bank, this is when in st. michael's cathedral,

as in ancient times, when a horde attacked, then in st. michael's cathedral that night they started ringing the bells, kyiv wake up , and everyone heard, and some women in fur coats over nightgowns, well, there were barely slippers, with some frying pans, well, there was something... something you could hit with. for night and morning, berkut and other policemen try to take control of independence square. hearing about the attempted dispersal of the maidan, people return to support the defenders and resist the police attacks. while the protesters strengthened their positions on the independence square, the central stage turned into... a control and information center, it was equipped with a powerful audio system and provided with two electric generators, which made the stage completely independent of the power grid.

strategic location of barricades, in particular on instytutsky hrushevsky street, where sharp clashes took place, determined the key points of resistance. the headquarters of the resistance movement, a makeshift medical facility, a kitchen and other necessary supplies were located in the trade union building. the presidential administration and the parliament were nearby, upstairs, within arm's reach. at the beginning of the protest action, it becomes increasingly obvious how important it is to ensure a constant live broadcast of the events taking place on independence square. the espresso tv company was founded in the basement of an ordinary residential building. it's in a hurry there assemble improvised hardware and a small studio. there are always several cameras on the square, almost... instantly, espresso becomes an indispensable source of information for people all over the world and in the country. in fact, everyone, even when they did not go to the maidan and sat at home,

they slept with... with laptops, with the streams turned on, that is, at that time there were streams from the maidan, fortunately, that is, you are either at home and watching the streams, or you are on the maidan and you directly participate in it. i joined the protest already on sofiyivska square, and until the end of the maidan, as long as it made any sense, i i was there until... january 19, when the rain started, we were moving here, just like that, i was climbing something on the barbican, and here they were shouting, and there it started, and we ran there, there was such a cossack standing there, saying to the women, the girls won't

pass, i say, what, he says, you don't... i say, okay, here i look, medics are passing by in these t-shirts, i say now, and i ran here to the second floor, i say, give me a surgical mask, i took a surgical mask, a t-shirt and she left, that's all, and immediately the guys with the cut legs started there, well, that is, there the dressing, washing of the wounds, there the noise of the world exploded.

the more yanukovych resists, the more persistent and numerous the protesters' demands become. on february 19, to increase pressure, people decide to go to the parliament and insist on voting for new laws. the police use stun grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets. mercenaries who cooperate with the police, they are called aunts, armed with iron pipes. more than 60 protesters are killed. there are also dead and

wounded among policemen and bandits. on february 18, the police managed to push the protesters to the building of the trade unions, where the headquarters of the okoru movement, the press center, the security center and the main kitchen are located. the police throw firebombs at the building and set fire to the trade union building.

in general, it was simply the scariest night for the entire maidan, i honestly wonder, i wonder why we weren't killed then, everyone wasn't stormed there from all sides and we were just... not crushed, but the feeling was that well, some kind of fatalism, and here is my eldest son, he was actually in these turtles, which they made from shields and went to the golden eagle, he was under the trade unions, and the younger roman, he was standing closer to the institute barricade, he is actually very thin, and this barricade of tyrants of armored personnel carriers, that is, the force with which he pushed, you can imagine.