Бранці - По той бік барикад / captives - On the other side of the barricades

Captives The Web-Series Part II ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BARRICADES Mr. President! Our children, our sons died so that you could rule this country today. Protesters who died during the revolution immediately earned the title of “heroes” among Ukrainians. But the old system saw this as a threat to its monopoly on power. They've earned the title Hero of Ukraine. Instead of “Hero of Ukraine” – the highest state award, typically given to people close to government – the government created “The Order of the Heaven’s Company.” This did not sit well with the families of the dead protesters. We're standing and will continue standing for a month, or two or three, or even a year. He's a Heaven's Company family member. His 19 year old son was killed! My 19 year old son was killed! Why are those guys standing there? They're not letting us in. Again, we threw one out, another one came, hired some bodyguards and hides? Tell me where were you guys back then? Honestly, who are you protecting? Boys who are you afraid of? Where were you guys? Who are you? Tell us! Now, the doors are closed. We're standing here to prevent anyone from doing anything. Nobody’s doing anything! Break down the doors? After what I've been through, I can break something, understand me son? What will the doors give you? I want to see the president! It won't give you anything. I want to see the president. Is he hiding? Is he ashamed to look me in the eyes? Let him look into my eyes, the eyes of a father. KHARKIV Six months after the shootings Paddy wagons over here! Put the fascists into paddy wagons! They scare me! My brother works in the General Prosecutor's office, and he'll do it! Beware of women who are "Cotton-Heads"... Because of their hormonal disruptions they can be much more aggressive compared to men. This is actually very interesting psychoanalytically. People have been living with their heads up their own *** for so long, in a social bottomless pit, they're willing to sacrifice their freedom for the sake of stability. They’re not willing to take risks and only want a Tsar who will tell them what to do. For them, the scheme is comfortable and convenient. Modus Patris – a Boss in all things. Meanwhile, people who are more or less successful are willing to take a risk. They're ready and open to innovations. By the time I completed military training, the volunteer battalions were integrated into state structures and twenty-year olds were obliged to serve-out a contract. Here I start to imagine the good old days. People used to work here. Maybe a little granny kept it clean and neat mopping the floors. I thought the war would end before my contract expired. I was unable to play a military role so I returned to civilian life. What do you mean? Ah, how else did we get here? By helicopter of course. It's an old crappy Soviet elevator, probably used to store grain a long time ago. Then it collapsed like everything else did in the Soviet Union. Now it's a place where you can take in the view of the city from up high, enjoy everyone's favourite Kharkiv. Yeah, take in the view with a bottle of cider and some friends. From here you can see our native Cold Mountain. That commuter train just left for Russia on its way to Belgorod. I'm going to Lviv, and then I'll be traveling around. And what's in Lviv? My sweetheart. That's so cute! That's the way it is. Is her name Varya? No. Masha? No. Her name's Anya. Anya! Ok. I'm not playing anymore! Anya's my favourite name! He's shown that present to absolutely everyone. Have you seen this book? Do you know what it's about? "Euromaidan. A Chronicle of Emotions." By Prokhaska and others... I kept a diary during the Maidan about everything I experienced. I described things in a peculiar way. I’m not a literary perfectionist, but I don't like what I wrote. I just don't like it. Sashko show’s people the whole program, but he's dense and doesn't finish what he starts. He could at least get his Bachelor's degree, otherwise he'll end up with nothing. The University? C'mon, stop busting my balls. I survived the practicum at Haidary and felt the dismay and real depression. You could at least write a book, even a collection of few short stories. It's not over yet. Do it now, because later nobody will care. It's not him. It's not so great with their food. Nobody brings them sandwiches. And no girls with joy in their eyes. Balaklavas make me sad. With a slit for the mouth. Some kind of wondersex. They look so sweet sleeping on the bus, lying on each other's backs. I feel so sorry for them, the conditions totally suck. Were you in Kyiv before this? No, I was never in Kyiv before. So you never thought you’d be in the capital under these conditions? No. I wanted to come here on a guided tour to see the sights. Never thought I’d be here under these circumstances. This is complete lawlessness. I didn't expect this. I don't understand the reasons for this. Or where people's aggression is coming from. We’re people just like them. We're simply in uniform, and they’re not. And they get to do with us what they want. They hit me with a pipe, my helmet fell off, then dragged me into the crowd. They hit me a lot and I lost consciousness. My parents saw all this on TV and got scared. They saw me being dragged through the crowd, and when they saw my helmet disappear, they got scared and stopped watching TV. I was hit and a lieutenant from Panther unit dragged me out. And I was handed over to the medics. We stand at our posts and carry out our orders. It's difficult, I won't lie to you. But service is service. I have 3 months left in my service. I've changed my mind about joining the Interior Ministry’s Militsiya. Changed your mind? Yeah, I'm not joining. Thank God! What will you tell your children, when they ask? Nothing. I'll tell them everything was normal. I mean, why tell anyone about this? Let it stay with me and that's that. Nothing is ever straightforward especially in that situation. I get that. But there is one truth and that is: They protected the jerk in power, and a criminal regime. But on the other hand, it's the Internal Army. And if they weren’t disciplined, or ignored their commanders, And didn't perform their military mission, Then there's no value to that kind of army. This is something at least. HRUSHEVSKYI STREET One month before the shootings Greetings to Donetsk city! Let's hear it – Greetings! The “dictatorial laws” that were adopted by parliament on January 16, 2014 provoked provoked the standoff on Hrushevskyi Street. They criminalized civil society and the opposition. Psychologically spent by the two-month standoff, neither the protesters nor government forces were able to hold back their emotions and aggression. Both the opposition leaders and government officials lost control over the situation. Ukrainians grew accustomed to “Molotov cocktails” during the week of Hrushevskyi Street battles and invented new ways of combating government security forces using everyday household items. At the same time, government security forces unleashed total war against the protesters. Flash-*** grenades taped with hooks and shrapnel, door breaching shot gun slugs, the kidnapping and torture of activists. The ranks of the yet-unnamed Heaven’s Company were filled with the first dead. ZBARAZH Seven months after the shootings Final resting place of Ustym Holodnyuk Hero of Heaven’s Company Forgive me my son for everything. Forgive me. One hand here, the other one here. No, no look... Given the dire state of the Armed Forces, the war was supposed to be a quick and crushing defeat for Ukraine. But civil society born on the Maidan reacted immediately to Russia’s illegal seizure of Crimea. Thousands of volunteers from across the country began dressing, feeding and arming the army. A 60? We have a 62. Give me a 62. It might be small. Put it in your bullet proof vest. Let it always be with you. Feed him less? Are you kidding? He needs more porridge! I say it's great. Just great! That you're a strong kid, is very good. Everything looks good. Ok boys lets – Social activism helped Volodymyr Holodniuk battle a deep depression after the death of his son. These first aid kits are full of equipment. But look... These aren't traditional tourniquets, they're American. Understood. Give me a sleeping bag. Hey, Pasha! Come here. Hold this. It's the full set. I can give you these. But those are for city use. You know, I do have small problems with my knees. Here you go. Don't scratch up the vests – we'll give them to the Army. Ok. Well, that's it. Glory to Ukraine! To the heroes glory! It'll be fine. Just fine. Someone has to. It'll be fine. Your wife has your back. You know who you're fighting for. Two months after his mobilization in Zbarazh, Taras died in battle near Luhansk. LVIV Eight months after the shootings This way. Like this. The first time we met was on December 1 when the skirmishes on Bankova Street in Kyiv started. That was the first time I came to the Kharkiv Euromaidan, yeah, that's where I first saw Anya. He organized some kind of protest, and like, Jeeze, 50 showed up and – It was 97. 97? We counted. Ok, great, 97, but the permit was for 50. I remember, we met at this “secret” apartment with other activists and everyone was like, So what's your name, kid? What? A protest? For 50 people? It's too dangerous. They were afraid that the cotton-heads and thugs would break it up. They started giving me a hard time, saying why are you talking to him about this protest. And they said, “Anya, this is all on you.” That day there was a big event at the Kharkiv Administration Building called “Russian Spring.” They were all ***-scared to be out on the streets, and I thought, What the ***, guys, the revolution is starting. And you're running away. But we did it anyway and everything turned out ok. But she overslept, and didn't show up. Yeah. I overslept. But I wanted to be there. What was happening at that exact moment? A scuffle! A real one? Yeah, a real scuffle. Wait, but your friends were there. There was some dude standing lower on the steps forming the “cage.” Do you remember him? They were all in uniforms. I only saw his face because I stood like this next to him. The others were all in uniform. We have to find the people who were involved and maybe they'll remember who was doing what and when. Again, we need feedback. Maybe he won't want to admit he was there. The situation for him was very bad. He was defeated. But if I was in his shoes, I think I'd want to know what happened. Maybe if he had some kind of flash of morality like, “Oh, yeah, we were wrong” and, he admitted he was wrong, and for the rest of his life he could forget about the situation. But that's not what they're saying. Everyone says the Interior Troops, were defending the buildings, that what they did was right. In fact, I think I'll have to find my diary I wrote balancing on my knees, every night while I was on the Maidan. And maybe, just maybe I wrote his name in there. I need to find that diary again, I packed it all up. When were you writing? On February 20, during the worst time. I haven't seen that diary for a while. I have to find it, at the end of the day, there's some good stuff in there. KHARKIV I go on the Internet to look at the news, and see they're toppling the Lenin statue in Kharkiv. There's a link for a live stream, and I click on the link, and the stream comes on. We're watching it, and they're really chopping through Lenin's legs. It was cool! There were lots of people. They put a winch around him, and started pulling. It only lasted about 5 minutes, and they knocked him down to hell. The only information we have is that he's from Mykolayiv oblast, that's it. And that he was drafted. He was one of the lost ones. I looked past the Interior troops, they were getting ready to retreat, so I went closer. I saw some kind of officer. I yelled, "Hey, some of your guys are left behind, what kind of officer are you?" He stopped and asked me where they were. We had this weird calm, honest conversation, in the October Palace. During this crazy time between two people – two polar opposites. He walked away swearing and yelling at them. "Why aren't you guys with your own unit, what are you doing here." Then they left together. After that, I wrote about how the Maidan trouble started, with the wounded, and the shootings. Some kind of bullet hit a pole. It sparked, started ricocheting everywhere. Then I heard different sounding gunshots. The sound changed. Then it was obvious that snipers were shooting at us. We really felt the lack of weapons to level the playing field at that moment. Essentially we became targets in a shooting gallery. We were told this was just the beginning. I found myself in a parallel reality. I think everyone was in a parallel reality. I was hearing the news through phone calls from my friends in Kharkiv. They told me, "Interior troops are being packed into buses and they're driving them out of the city." And I thought, "Not bad. We're still here."