Audio content: A Kievan shopkeeper describes how her store was burned down and wishes for an end to the violence associated with the Euromaidan.
Visual content: Images of the aftermath of the Euromaidan violence, a woman, later a masked member of the “Berkut” special police
Video from Дождь
19 февраля 2014
This post dips into my archives to present some compelling content from the early days of the unrest in Ukraine. The woman interviewed here is the owner of a store in central Kiev that was burned down during the clashes between pro-Russian and pro-European factions in early 2014. Although the ensuing civil war became centered in eastern Ukraine, the events all began in November 2013 on the “Independence Square / Майдан Незалежности” in central Kiev. There protestors demonstrated against the pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich’s decision to suspend preparations for a closer association with the European Union. Special government security forces known as the “Berkut” were sent to restore order, leading to violent clashes and the loss of about 100 lives. One particularly bloody clash occurred on February 18 when the police unsuccessfully tried to dislodge the protesters from their positions. This video was filmed a day after that battle and just a few days before President Yanukovich fled the country, setting the stage for the ongoing conflict between the pro-European leadership in Kiev and the pro-Russian population in the eastern provinces of Lugansk and Donetsk. Russia also took advantage of the unrest to annex Crimea about a month after this interview was filmed. The second part of the video features a member of the “Berkut” security force.
0:00-3:30
Ведущая: Как живёт мирное население в условиях войны, гражданской войны? Киев ведь мирный город, вообще-то. Вот как, например: знакомьтесь с Ларисой Гейтман-Гедунец [?], хозяйка магазина на улице Грушевского в Киеве—то есть, она была хозяйкой этого магазина—его сожгли. Послушайте, что она рассказывает.
Anchor: How does the peaceful population live amid the conditions of war, civil war? After all, Kiev is a peaceful city, in general. This is how, for example: meet Larisa Geitman-Gedunets, the owner of a store on Grushevsky Street in Kiev. That is, she was the owner of that store—it was burnt down. Listen to what she says.
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