Ukraine government imposes terror with beatings, kidnappings and murder

The Ukrainian government imposed a state of terror in the Ukrainian capital on Jan. 22 with mass kidnappings by police reported and the death toll rising to five. At least two activists, Serhiy Nihoian and Belarus citizen Mykhaylo Zhizdnevskiy, were killed by sniper fire while a third, Yuriy Verbytskiy, was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by thugs hired by the government. To defend themselves against gunfire, EuroMaidan activists burned tires to create a smokescreen at the conflict zone on Kyiv’s European Square.

The government has also targeted leading activists, such as Igor Lutsenko, who was kidnapped and beaten. At least 15 demonstrators of the AutoMaidan protest reported getting dragged out of their cars by Berkut special forces, kidnapped and beaten. A grenade was thrown in one car.

Besides journalists, state police have targeted medical personnel, reportedly raiding a makeshift hospital at the conflict zone and beating some 20 medical aid workers, shooting some of them, before destroying it with grenades. Police were also dispatched to hospitals to wait for activists upon their release, prompting many protesters to reject being transported to hospitals. The government deployed thugs to surround and vandalize the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. The government has also begun to employ its dictatorship laws, sentencing hospitalized activists – captured by police – to incarceration.

It was widely expected the government was planning to violently disperse the EuroMaidan, with reports of state offices on central streets dismissing their workers early, large number of police being dispatched on central streets and the first sightings of armed personnel carriers in the city center. Opposition leaders called upon their supporters to fill the Maidan enough so that the police wouldn’t attempt a raid. More than 50,000 supporters answered the call, leaving the EuroMaidan protest intact until morning.

The leaders of the three parliamentary opposition parties met with National Security and Defense Council Secretary Andriy Kliuyev, Justice Minister Olena Lukash and Andriy Portnov, the director of the Main Administration for Judicial Issues of the Presidential Administration. The meeting resulted in no compromise, prompting the opposition leaders to declare afterwards the creation of a People’s Council and People’s Election Commission, as parallel structures to Ukraine’s parliament and Central Election Commission.

When addressing the 50,000-plus Maidan protesters from the stage, they declared a 24-hour ultimatum for the government to reach a compromise. “Pre-term elections will change the situation without blood,” said Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR) Head Vitali Klitschko, who has become widely recognized in the last few days as the EuroMaidan’s unofficial leader. “We will do everything to achieve this. Listen to the people. Don’t ignore them. Tomorrow, if the president doesn’t attempt to compromise, we will go on the offensive, There’s no other way out.”

Batkivshchyna Parliamentary Faction Chair Arseniy Yatsenyuk also indicated that violence was on the horizon in his remarks. “I’m not going to live with shame. Tomorrow we’re going forward: if a bullet to the head, then a bullet to the head. But honestly, justly and bravely,” he told the crowd that loudly welcomed his remarks.

Zenon Zawada: We are doubtful the Presidential Administration will agree to pre-term elections. Therefore, we expect the conflict will grow more violent.

The creation of separate governing organs is a step in the right direction, though they will need to be well-organized, adequately financed and gain popular support. The threat of this step, however, is Ukraine’s gradual disintegration into separate states.