[Life] Our house is on fire!
[Life] Careful!
[Life] The anti-terrorist operation can't and won't last 2 or 3 months
[Life] They say there are terrorists here, what terrorists?
[Life] Are we terrorists?
[Life] Down with the jailbird! Down with the jailbird!
MAIDAN ROAD TO WAR
[Ruslan Kotsaba, Journalist, Ukraine] I have always been proud that
[Ruslan] Ukraine is the only former Soviet country
where there was no war, and communists transferred power peacefully
[Ruslan] I thought it was the unique thing
about Ukraine, that it showed the way of peace
[Vladimir Grubnik, Doctor, Odessa Resident] Many people in Ukraine
were proud that we'd had no wars
[Vladimir] You see, there's war in Karabakh, war in Transdniester, war in Tajikistan,
war in Chechnya, but you see we...
we're smarter, more astute, more shrewd, we never had war,
and never will
[Vladimir] It was strange, as we had the same contradictions as anyone else
[Vladimir] They were growing
[Life] Without blood
[VO] December 2013. The last peaceful year in the history of a united
Ukraine is coming to an end. The Euromaidan movement is gaining momentum
in Kiev. Protests are prompted by the government's decision to suspend
the signing of the association agreement with the European Union.
[Vitaly Klitchko, Mayor Of Kiev 2014 - Present] Today...
they have stolen our hope
The hope of living in a modern European country
[Ruslan] At first, it all started as some kind of festival on Maidan
[Ruslan] It all looked like a rock & roll music festival
[Ruslan] But then I saw that...
people started to get more hostile. Especially when I saw politicians,
who took the stage on Maidan...
[Ruslan] They...
were more cynical
[Ruslan] They were deliberately provocative
[Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukrainian Member Of Parlament 2007 - 2014] Tomorrow...
we march forward together
[Arseniy] If we get bullet in the forehead...
then so be it!
[Arseniy] But we'll act fair, just, and brave!
[Maxim Fadeev, director-journalis] I'm Maksim Fadeev, a filmmaker in Donetsk
[Maxim] For more than 7 years, I've filmed the war in Donbass, to show what war is like
[Maxim] In fact, Maidan changed my life a lot
[Maxim] Before, I was in design, with a small business
[Maxim] Now I'm, let's say, a documentary maker
[Rodion Miroshnik, Lpr Representative At Donbass Peace Talks] I'm Rodion Miroshnik
[Rodion] At the time when all this started...
[Rodion] I was General Director of the Lugansk regional TV and radio company
[Rodion] I also worked on TV production
[Rodion] Almost no one in eastern Ukraine said they'd
lay down their lives to join the European Union
[Rodion] No such sentiment, no one needed it. No one aspired to that,
contrary to what Western analyses said
[Rodion] Like, finally! Ukrainians waited for this, they always wanted to be in Europe
[Rodion] Not at all
[Maxim] At first, Maidan protesters stood for EU integration
[Maxim] But almost immediately, nationalists
appeared chanting slogans against Russian-speakers
'Ukraine for Ukrainians'
'Ukraine above all'
- Ukraine - Above all
Shukhevich - a hero of Ukraine!
[Maxim] They planned a revolution from the start
[Maxim] They prepared to depose the government from the start
[VO] Leaders and rank-and-file members of nationalist organisations admit they had
been preparing for violent street riots long before the protests engulfed Kiev.
[Daniil Yakovlev, Azov Nationalist Regiment] My brother and I, aged 16...
joined a nationalist organisation,
[Daniil] Ukrainian Patriot, as it was called then
[Daniil] And from the age of 16,
my brother and I started getting involved in pro-Ukrainian nationalist activities
[Daniil] We took more interest in Ukrainian history, culture, the Ukrainian language
[Daniil] We also had training sessions...
[Daniil] That's tactics, knife fighting, weapons handling and so on and so forth
[Daniil] So from the age of 16 and since 2011...
we were actively being prepared for military action or street clashes
[Life] Revolution! Revolution!
[Life] Glory to heroes! Glory to the nation!
[Life] Death to enemies! Glory!
[Oleg Goltvyansky, Commander,
Ukraine’s Pechersk Volunteer Battalion] I was head
of the Ukrainian National Union, one of our...
goals was to overthrow the Yanukovich regime
and set Ukraine on a path towards the West
[Oleg] Because Russia is our enemy,
and Europe is our friend
[Oleg] That's why at the start, we decided to oppose authorities that were pro-Russian
[Iryna Farion, People’s Deputy Of Ukraine,
2012-2014] Moscow has never been a strategic partner for us
[Iryna] It was always our strategic enemy
[Iryna] Shake off the shackles,
and spray the freedom with the evil enemy's blood!
[Iryna] Don't spill your own blood!
[Iryna] The commandments never change!
[Iryna] Our rebellion has only just begun. Right?
[Life] Yes!
[Life] Glory to the nation!
[Life] Death to enemies! Glory to the nation!
[Life] Death to the enemies of Ukraine!
[Rodion] There was one certain group in the West who embraced this
and became the driving force behind the movement
[Rodion] They became the core of the protest
[Rodion] And the feeling of those in the East,
Donbass in particular, was that we were deceived
[Rodion] We weren't heard
[Rodion] No one was interested in our opinion
[Rodion] 'Here we are, 50,000 people in the capital,
on the Maidan, we now define the rules of life
[Rodion] We will decide where we go, who our heroes are, where our history lies
[Rodion] And that was really infuriating
[Life] Ukraine! Ukraine for Ukrainians!
[Life] Glory to the nation!
[Life] Stab the Muscovites! Stab them!
[Maxim] There were disagreements that...
divided the people, but instead of finding common ground
and building a united, happy country, politicians constantly created discord
[Maxim] Southeast Ukraine is more of an industrial region with close ties to Russia,
cultural, historical and mental
[Maxim] The people speak Russian
[Rodion] We earned money, we mined coal, smelted metal
[Rodion] We fought for a share of Ukraine's
budget, we'd made it, and had the right to spend it
[Rodion] We didn't want western Ukraine to get
the money we'd made by the sweat of our brow
[Maxim] In Kiev, another rally supported the authorities, it was dubbed anti-Maidan
[Maxim] They opposed Euro-integration, and they wanted to say it
[Maxim] There was no way back, so they went to Kiev and joined the anti-Maidan
[Maxim] People said industry would collapse, Europe won't take you in
[Maxim] There will be unemployment, poverty and war!
[Maxim] Stop! Keep jumping and you'll get war!
[Maxim] At first, Maidan and anti-Maidan people tried to talk,
to convince each other, to change each other's minds
[Maxim] But at a certain point, the civil conflict escalated to the extent that they
started beating and taking each other prisoner
[Life] Ba***rds from Donetsk!
[Life] Here's your pay!
[Life] Pick up the money!
[Ruslan] They cynically pit the nation, the people, against each other
[Ruslan] They set everyone against each other.
[Ruslan] At first, everyone looked sullenly at each other
and then through gunsights
[Ruslan] Down with the gang!
[Oleg] So, there was confrontation, and not just with the police,
but also between people with different political orientations
[Ruslan] Liars! Bull****ters!
- Don't kill him! - We won't kill him!
[Ruslan] You'd better go that way!
[Ruslan] Don't let that rat go! Don't let him go!
[Us Senator, John Mccain] We are here to express the support of the American people
Free world is with you! America is with you! I am with you!
[Maxim] Everyone saw that Western politicians,
ambassadors, and leaders supported Maidan
Yanukovich was pressured not to use force
[Maxim] This led to further escalation because...
the protesters felt impunity with Western support behind them
[Dmitry Gulko, Officer, Interior Ministry's Special
Forces, 2013-2014] The protest was far from peaceful
because not only Molotov cocktails were used,
but metal clubs and chains were also given to each fighter
[Dmitry] They also had a tractor
[Dmitry] In other words, they deliberately provoked conflict with the police
[Maxim] All day, I watched broadcasts from Kiev
of protesters clashing with interior troops and Berkut special police
[Maxim] By then, it was clear to me that there was going to be war
[Maxim] I told my wife there would be war, that we had to do something
[Maxim] Every time the protest faded and people began to disperse from the Maidan,
there was...
another provocation
[Maxim] It seemed the flames were deliberately being fanned,
and by both sides
[Oleg] Goltvyansky, Commander, Ukraine’s Pechersk Volunteer
Battalion Pechersk] In late December, early January,
around New Year,
there were few people on Maidan, they all thought the protest had faded,
that it was a standoff, nothing going on
[Oleg] Then - the clashes on Grushevsky Street
On Grushevsky Street, I was involved too
[Oleg] I went to the barricades, we were positioned there
[Oleg] I was involved in clashes with Berkut
special police and there were a lot of people
[Oleg] There were National Union people,
[GEO] KIEV JANUARY 2014
a lot of guys from Kharkov and Kiev came, and that's where the first clashes took place
[VO] The radicalisation of maidan is proceeding
apace. The barricades appearing all over central
kiev. Maidan self-defence activists seize and
control government buildings. Confrontations
with the police are no mere scurmashes anymore
- real battles are raging in the city streets.
[VO] Protesters wield iron bars, improvised
batons, stones, and stacks of molotov cocktails.
[Life] But they saw that we aren't slaves, and
that's the price they'll pay for their crimes
[Life] Now, we have defeated them here
[Life] Today we have stood up to the occupiers. We must wait for reinforcements
[Life] They are coming here from all over Ukraine
[Life] Let's go back to the Maidan
[Life] They won't get us there. The devil himself won't get us there
[Life] And our brothers, who are coming from
Dnepropetrovsk, Lvov, Krivoy Rog, and Ternopol,
will join us, and together we'll finish our work
[VO] Journalist Ruslan Kotsaba covered the events on
Maidan in 2014. He saw what was happening in the centre
of Kiev with his own eyes and is still trying to understand
who was interested in keeping Maidan going and why.
[Ruslan] There were people here who we knew had
been paid to come. They didn't fund themselves
[Ruslan] The buses were paid for by oligarchs
[Ruslan] Someone fed them, gave them a daily allowance, we called it 'sandwich cash'
[Ruslan] Some lived here for months
[Oleg] Ordinary people couldn't have planned it, it would have needed a lot of money
[Oleg] Naturally, medium-sized businesses gave quite a lot of money,
and oligarchs like Poroshenko also helped with these matters
[Life] We're only one step closer to our dream
[Life] We will only be victorious when...
there is a new president in Ukraine!
[Life] Am I right?
[Life] Yes!
[Maxim] Poroshenko was in Maidan many times
[Maxim] Even then, he said the country needed a new president
[Maxim] But whether he meant himself or not, I don't know
[Life] Glory to Ukraine!
[VO] Aleksandr Khodakovsky was one of the commanders of the Ukrainian
Security Service's Alpha group in Donetsk. He was regularly sent to Kiev on
detached service and was well aware of the situation in the protest-ridden
streets. By February 2014, the situation on Maidan had escalated seriously.
[Aleksandr Khodakovsky, Commander, Alpha Group’s Donetsk Unit,
Security Service Of Ukraine, 2014] When this operation unfolded,
they'd already seized...
many government institutions in central and western Ukraine, including...
SSU and Ministry of Internal Affairs buildings
[Aleksandr] They broke into arms depots, and grabbed a load of guns
Some weapons must've found their way to Maidan
[Aleksandr] They also had quite a few hunting weapons. So they had enough guns!
[Aleksandr] That wasn't a problem
[Aleksandr] So, of course, after that it was as if they were let loose,
and they started firing at guys who had nothing but batons and, at best, mace canisters
[Oleg] It all started with fireworks...
[Oleg] Then they started making all kinds of contraptions
[Oleg] I saw other weapons too. People brought guns with them,
because they were shooting at us, so we also had to...
[Oleg] Everyone understood it was going to be a serious clash
[Oleg] So indeed, there were weapons
[Maxim] The three bloodiest days on Maidan were 18th, 19th, and 20th February 2014
[Maxim] On February 18, shooting started. People were killed on both sides,
protesters and law enforcers alike
[Maxim] On the 20th, a bloodbath began!
Dozens of people died, and hundreds were wounded
[Life] All hands there!
[Maxim] On February 20, protesters started
shooting at law-enforcers, killing several people
[Maxim] Berkut special police began to retreat and shoot back
[Maxim] They killed several protesters
[Maxim] Then unidentified shooters killed dozens of people
[Maxim] It's still unclear who the shooters were
[GEO] KIEV FEBRUARY 20, 2014
[Ruslan] We'll never know the truth about what really happened. But it was fratricide
[Ruslan] Ukrainians against Ukrainians!
[Ruslan] Euromaidan on one side, anti-Maidan on the other
[Ruslan] They violated public order too. They also had weapons. Both sides did
[Ruslan] We all saw how harshly such clashes were handled by the US authorities,
which are now semi-officially regarded as Ukraine's overseas supervisors
[Ruslan] Remember, every single person, all those who attacked the Capitol...
they all face long prison sentences now
[Ruslan] And here?
[Life] I'm alive, I'm alive!
[Life] Sasha, let's go!
[Life] We need IV sets!
[Life] Don't come near here... we need to work!
[Life] I need a knife! And IV sets!
[Oleg] Honestly...
[Oleg] I anticipated this would lead to a serious rift,
that there would most likely be a civil war
[Oleg] When the first blood was shed, it became clear
this wasn't going to end quietly. When they started using weapons,
it became obvious. The only thing that wasn't
clear was where the frontlines would be...
[Oleg] In Kiev, western Ukraine, or in the East
[Oleg] Everything depended on the situation and what the higher-ups decided
[Maxim] After the violent events in Kiev,
Yanukovich made concessions to the opposition,
and signed an agreement with them, but no one honoured it
[Maxim] Fearing for his life, Yanukovich fled the country
[Maxim] Once Maidan came to power, the first thing they did
was to revoke the special status of the Russian language
[Maxim] This angered the Southeast
[Rodion] We demanded elementary things
[Rodion] Don't tell us Ukrainian is our native language
[Rodion] In Donbass, it never has been
[Rodion] About 90% of the population only spoke Russian
[Rodion] Some in northern parts spoke a dialect, a mix of Ukrainian and Russian
[Rodion] But we'd never used Ukrainian per se, either in Lugansk or Donetsk
[Rodion] We want to speak Russian
[Rodion] We want good relations with our neighbours
and easy access to Russian towns along our long border
[Rodion] We realised Kiev had decided our fate without asking us!
[Rodion] They said they needed Europe, not the EACU or Russia
[Rodion] They wanted the European Union
[GEO] LUGANSK MARCH 1, 2014
[Rodion] What was happening in Kiev disturbed us hugely
[Life] Kharkov is a Russian city!
[GEO] KHARKOV APRIL 2014
[Life] One for all, and all for one!
[GEO] ODESSA APRIL 2014
[Maxim] People didn't recognise the new Kiev regime
[Maxim] They started to gather in groups
[Maxim] In the Southeast, they began to use Maidan tactics
[Ruslan] I witnessed an administrative takeover in my hometown of Ivano-Frankovsk
[Ruslan] They took over administrative buildings,
blocking internal military forces,
to prevent them from going to Kiev and killing civilians
[Ruslan] It all started here...
in western Ukraine
[Ruslan] What started happening in Donbass
was simply, how to say...
[Ruslan] They just copied us
[Ruslan] In the East, they did the same as in the West, only a few months later
[Ruslan] That's it. Nothing more!
[Ruslan] The only difference being, we held EU flags,
and there they had a different mentality: they were waving Russian flags
[GEO] DNEPROPETROVSK APRIL 2014
[Maxim] In Kiev they called it the Revolution of Dignity
[Maxim] In the Southeast they saw it as a coup and didn't recognise the regime
[Maxim] Some took up arms, others went to protests
[Life] Way to go!
[GEO] SLAVYANSK APRIL 2014
[Life] Russia! Russia! Russia!
MAIDAN ROAD TO WAR
[Vladimir] They loved saying how people came to Maidan,
and the people decided
[Vladimir] In the regions, it was also the people who decided. We're people too!
[Vladimir] We decided not to recognise you, you're criminals
[Vladimir] You committed an armed, unconstitutional
coup, with much bloodshed, murder, etc...
[Vladimir] The fact that Yanukovich fled changes nothing
[VO] The Russian-speaking Southeast Ukraine refused
to accept the COUP’S outcome. People took to the
streets of Ukraine’S largest cities: there had been
protests in Kharkov, Odessa, Mariupol and Zaporozhye.
[GEO] ODESSA APRIL 2014
[VO] Mass protests broke out in the Crimean Autonomous
Republic. AN overwhelming majority of Crimean
citizens voted at the referendum to break away from
Ukraine. And March 2014 Crimea rejoined Russia.
[Maxim] Crimea was the only region to avoid a bloodbath
[Maxim] Every single pro-Russian movement has been suppressed, except for Donbass
[Maxim] In Kharkov, Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk, Odessa... everywhere!
[Maxim] The authorities used right-wing radicals and nationalists to quell them
[GEO] ODESSA MAY 2, 2014
[VO] Nationalists try to suppress pro-russian
public sentiment with extreme violence. On may the
2nd, far-rightists organise a march named ‘for
united ukraine’. The march ends in a bloodbath.
[Daniil] When we knew there'd be a march in Odessa on May 2,
everyone realised what was going to happen
[Daniil] We knew things were going to get really hot,
because all far-right groups from Kharkov were coming
[Daniil] And not just to watch football!
[Daniil] They went there to help Odessa's far-right
to fight anti-Maidan and Russian sympathisers, so-called separatists
[GEO] ODESSA MAY 2, 2014
[VO] The nationalists smash a pro-Russian activists’ TENT CAMP at Kulikovo field.
[VO] And they’re hunting down those hiding in the nearby Trade Union Building.
[Life] Tell the boys there's an entrance here
[Life] Guys, don't do that!
[VO] They set the building on fire. People who
jumped out of windows, to escape the flames, are
being finished off by radicals with baseball bats.
48 are killed and about three hundred wounded.
[Vladimir] It wasn't just a clash that day in the city
[Vladimir] It was arson and mass murder... an administrative building on fire
[Vladimir] People surrounded it, shooting
guns, throwing Molotov cocktails, pipe bombs...
improvised explosives!
[Vladimir] The police just stood by, watching...
[Vladimir] They watched for half an hour or more!
[Vladimir] They weren't doing their jobs, their duty
[Vladimir] And you must ask why?
[Vladimir] They either didn't get any orders, or, on the contrary,
they received orders not to get involved! Who could have given such an order?
[Rodion] We all knew people had been murdered, that they didn't care about those lives
[Rodion] It had been done by trained people
[Rodion] A radical person doesn't necessarily have to be physically strong,
but he must be ready to kill. He must be ready to cross that line
[Rodion] There were those ready to corner people, set them on fire,
and coral them. They didn't care what happened to those people
[Vasily Prozorov, Former Officer, Ukrainian Security Service
1999–2018] I can't believe that on May 2, 2014, in Odessa,
the right-wing radical groups acted alone,
without Ukraine's Security Service knowing
[Vasily] I believe they were guided and orchestrated...
by the Security Service and the powers in Kiev
[Vasily] I believe it was done deliberately
to suppress Odessa's pro-Russian sentiments,
to drown them in blood, no matter how dramatic that sounds
[Vasily] They had to show southeast Ukraine what they'd get for, let's say,
resentment towards the Kiev regime
[Woman] It was a punitive operation, people were burned alive
[Woman] And this slogan 'Glory to Ukraine' makes me want to cry and ask:
who needs such a Ukraine, where they burn people and say, 'Glory to Ukraine'?
[Maxim] In the evening, when we started receiving news from Odessa,
we couldn't believe it at first. It was a shock
[Maxim] People were shocked most not by the fact that people were burned,
but by the reaction of Ukrainian society
[Maxim] Imagine the scene:
ambulances hadn't yet taken away the dead and the wounded,
but Ukrainians were there, singing the national anthem
and screaming, 'Ukraine! Ukraine!'
[Maxim] 'Death to enemies!' etc
[Aleksandr] Events in Odessa clearly showed how supporters of Maidan were operating,
and that they were ready to resort to any methods
[Aleksandr] My goal was to warn people that they
didn't fully realise the gravity of the situation
[Aleksandr] 'Tomorrow, they'll come, and this time they'll kill us'
[VO] By that time, aleksandr khodakovsky had already quit the ‘alpha’ special
group. He was among the first to begin gathering self-defence militia groups.
[Aleksandr] I want to ask you, do you sympathise with Russia?
[Aleksandr] Yes!
[Aleksandr] Now I want to ask you this: do you want to break from Ukraine?
[Aleksandr] Yes!
[Aleksandr] I want to ask you:
which of you, my friends, are ready to give your life for this?
[Aleksandr] We are! Yes!
[Aleksandr] So, those standing here today are
probably the finest representatives of Donetsk society
[Aleksandr] I'm not saying we're not ready
[Aleksandr] We need to gather forces and resources
because tomorrow we'll have to fight those radicals
[Aleksandr] By the time we'd taken some buildings under control
and organised a way to work with our population
[Aleksandr] I was trying to lead them to an understanding of what was coming:
that…
they'd never leave us in peace if we established a pro-Russian administration here
[Aleksandr] They'd never allow us…
any autonomy or to contradict Ukraine in anything - they'll try to break us
[Rodion] That's probably why Donbass became such a flash point
[Rodion] When it became clear that no one would listen to us,
and when talk began of them coming to suppress us by armed force,
then, of course, there were already guys who said:
[Rodion] 'I don't give a damn! We'll protect
our homes no matter what, in any way we can'
[VO] The militia sets some checkpoints on the road to await uninvited guests.
[Man] This is the entry road
[Man] This is the border of the Donetsk Federal Republic
[Man] This is our future, the future of Donbass
[VO] The new government decided to subdue the pro-russian
regions with the help of maidan’s radical activists. They were not
only officially trained at military camps, but also armed. And
then, they were sent to the southeastern part of the country.
[Maxim] At one point, groups of right-wing radicals began to move from Kiev
in order to secure the results of Maidan
[Maxim] All those so-called 'Maidan Hundreds'
were incorporated into both the Ukrainian military and Ministry of Interior
[Maxim] They were armed and trained
[Maxim] Regular army troops didn't want to shoot,
but the right-wing radicals in the armed forces
and the Interior Ministry made sure they did
[Maxim] Unlike the nationalists in Odessa with sticks and Molotov cocktails,
the ones in Donbass were armed with small arms and grenade launchers in just a week
[Maxim] And then armed clashes broke out in Mariupol
[GEO] MARIUPOL MAY 9, 2014
[VO] These radical groups were ready for such a turn of events.
[Daniil] So, when the war started,
when heavy fighting broke out in Crimea, Donbass, Lugansk, Kharkov,
and in southeast Ukraine, we were ready for them
[Daniil] At least we understood what to do and how
[Daniil] So, it wasn't like we just found ourselves at war
[Daniil] We walked into it ourselves, steadily, step by step, like a guerrilla unit
[GEO] MARIUPOL MAY 9, 2014
[Rodion] These are gangs, or mobs, that were
legalised, given money, arms, and camouflage and told:
[Rodion] 'Now it's time. Go do whatever you want: you may steal, shoot, and kill
[Rodion] Your main objective is to get those protesters out of there
[Rodion] Your task is to take control of their territory or pillage it
[Rodion] You can do whatever you want and get away with it'
[Rodion] And they came and did it
[Maxim] Donbass' first victims were killed by radicals
[Maxim] Interestingly, 3 people at a post in Balbasovka were killed with the same rifle
that killed policemen on the Maidan
[Maxim] After the fact, Ukrainian investigators found
that two policemen were killed with that rifle on Maidan on February 20
[VO] Vasily prozorov, formerly highly placed with ukrainian intelligence, and who
had recently left the country, managed to smuggle out some documents. They prove
that maidan’s leaders had started planning the use of force against the rebel regions
once they came to power. They were not going to negotiate with the south-east.
[Vasily Prozorov, Former Officer, Ikrainian Security Service,
1999-2018] This is a document from the Security Service of Ukraine
[Vasily] It's a letter including some features of the conduct in the ATO in Donbass
[Vasily] It was even stipulated in advance that civilian casualties were essential
[Vasily] Moreover, these civilian casualties had to be presented as human shields
used by the 'terrorists' and separatists, who had chosen this path themselves
[Vasily] So, it was their fault that they still lived where the separatists were
[Vasily] They said, 'There's nothing to discuss
with the people of Donetsk and Lugansk Regions
[Vasily] They're like dust, dirt'
[Vasily] The terms 'Lug-condoms' and 'Downs-basses' were coined as early as 2014
[Vasily] 'There's nothing to discuss, they should
be driven into a stall like cattle, and that's it
[Vasily] We, here, are the winners in Kiev on the Maidan
[Vasily] We are the supporters of European values,
and these lowbrow miners don't know a thing
[Vasily] Now, we'll quickly corral them'
[Vasily] They really believed everyone here would be on their knees within two months
[VO] The story of Donbass residents being victims of Russian
propaganda is gaining momentum at the state level. This
point of view is still popular, particularly with the
militants IN THE Ukrainian nationalist volunteer battalions.
[Sergey Voytsekhovsky, Azov Nationalist Regiment]
All people living in Lugansk and Donetsk Regions
have been heavily brainwashed
[Sergey] All those who resisted brainwashing moved to other parts of Ukraine
[Sergey] But there's one 'but' – they also stink a bit of separatism
[Maxim] They've always thought we've been
brainwashed and that our opinions couldn't be our own
[Maxim] They started saying we should move to Russia
[Maxim] I was told by some guys from western Ukraine, some Kharkov nationalists,
that I should leave the land built by my ancestors,
who built these factories, fought for them in
World War II, and rebuilt all this afterwards
[VO] Kiev announces the start of an anti-terrorist operation in south-east
ukraine. At the same time the electoral race is harting up. The main presidential
candidate is Pyotr Poroshenko, one of the leaders at maidan. During debates
he underlines that the crackdown on protests in the regions won’t take long.
[Pyotr Poroshenko, President Of Ukraine,
2014-2019] The anti-terrorist operation cannot and will not last 2-3 months
It should and will take just hours
[Maxim] At first, the army didn't want to fight
[Maxim] We treated the troops who came like our own sons and lads
[Maxim] We fed them and whatnot
[Maxim] But, of course, the people stopped and blocked the columns
[Life] Step away from the wires
[Life] I am Colonel Aleksandr Nikolayevich Shvets,
a commander in the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces
[Life] Not once in Ukraine's entire history
has even one airborne trooper aimed or shot at their own people
[GEO] KRAMATORSK APRIL 16, 2014
[VO] Ukrainian soldiers aren’t enthusiastic
about engaging in a civil conflict unleashed by
politicians. Many soldiers desert their positions,
equipment and guns. Some take sides with the militia.
[Codename ‘Vergel’, Donetsk People’s Republic Militia]
Well, I'm from Lugansk myself, and my parents,
relatives, and friends all live here
[Vergel] Watching the news unfold, we were all entirely opposed to Maidan in principle,
and those who took power after Yanukovych fled
[Vergel] It was, in fact, a coup…
a completely illegal seizure of power
[Vergel] Naturally, we were against it
[Vergel] I decided to stay in the militia to support the will of the people
[Maxim] On May 2, they began to shoot the people blocking the columns
[Maxim] Before that, the people had stopped and even disarmed the armed columns
[Maxim] But after May 2, there were no attempts to
stop the columns because they began to shoot to kill
[Life] You are criminals!
[Life] Who are you shooting? Where are you shooting?
[Life] Criminals! Shame!
[Life] Get down!
[Life] They're shelling the area, watch out!
[VO] The army soon goes into combat action. The first to come under attack were
Slavyansk residents. In trying to out the militia from the town, the ukrainian
security forces don’t take civilian casualties into account. For the first time
in the history of modern ukraine heavy artillery was firing on residential areas.
[GEO] SLAVYANSK MAY 26, 2014
[Life] Look! Film it! Look there!
[Life] Why are peaceful people suffering?
[Life] A 30-year-old girl had her arm blown off
[Life] Look, a young man died near the flowers!
[Life] And for what?
[Life] They are fighting for power, made loads of money, but it's us who are suffering
[Life] How much longer? I can't sleep with the blasts and screaming
[Life] They're shooting again
[Life] There was a bang, the shockwave blew me into the hall
[Life] A passerby was killed, shot in the head with his leg blown off
[Life] I was afraid to go to him, there was a lot of blood
[Life] Then there was smoke and screaming, children screaming
[Life] Glass everywhere, a nightmare!
[Life] Never in my 54 years did I expect to be treated like this by our government
[Vasily Prozorov, Former Officer, Ukrainian Security Service,
1999-2018] In May of 2014, it was inconceivable
that the Ukrainian Air Force would bomb cities
[Vasily] I remember sitting with soldiers, members of an artillery team
[Vasily] We were drinking together
[Vasily] The subject came up, and someone said:
[Vasily] 'Are you nuts? How could we fire on peaceful cities?'
[Vasily] And just 2 weeks later, an SU-25 bombed Lugansk,
the Lugansk administration building
[Vasily] It was a very symbolic moment
[Life] What, did he fire?
[Life] Ba***rd!
[Rodion] At first no one believed it
[Rodion] Even those who saw them launch the
rockets said, 'Look what they did! What's this?'
[Rodion] People only began to realise when they
bombed the administration building and park,
when the attack aircraft flew over the square and the trees were blown back,
loads of falling leaves and trees, a gaping hole in the administration building
[Rodion] An office was hit and smoke was coming out of it
[GEO] LUGANSK JUNE 2, 2014
[Rodion] We saw the plane fly into the distance. At first, I thought it was thunder
[Rodion] The rumble sounded just like thunder
[Rodion] And then, when I realised what was going on, we rushed there and saw all this
[Rodion] In front of the administration building,
there were people lying in pools of blood, some were still alive and asking for help
UKRAINIAN AIR ATTACK ON LUGANSK JUNE 2, 2014
[Life] Guys, help
[Life] Please bring that handbag and plastic bag
[VO] Poroshenko was inaugurated on the 7th of June 2014 in Kiev. The man who had come
to power with a pledge to be President of peace, turned out to be President of war.
[GEO] KIEV JUNE 7, 2014
[Maxim] Poroshenko sold himself as a President of Peace
but turned out to be Ukraine's president of blood
[Maxim] He was elected in the hope that he'd end the war,
but, in fact, he made a decision to settle the conflict by force
[Maxim] Poroshenko and the Maidan government had many chances to stop the war,
but they chose the road to war every time
[Life] Sanya! - What?
[Life] How many should we fire? - 1,107 maximum
[Life] Gunners, prepare to fire!
SLAVYANSK JULY 3, 2014 UKRAINIAN ARTILLERY POSITION AMATEUR FOOTAGE
[Life] Ready! Aim! Fire!
- Where? - Here!
- All inside, I said! - Out of the street!
[Life] Sasha, out of the street!
[Life] Where to hide?
- Nowhere! You see what's happening! - We are like...
[Life] Take aim!
[Life] Take cover!
[Life] They're firing, damn them!
- Where are the firemen? - You see how many fires there are
[Life] There are people and children living here, this town's not empty
[Life] There are little kids, 18 months old! What are you doing?
[Life] You are monsters, not humans, monsters!
[Life] We need peace!
[Life] What are you doing?
[Life] The civilian population is dying, people are dying, young men on both sides
[Life] You, magnates, wake up!