February 21 and 22, 2014 were the most turbulent and rapidly changing 24 hours that we have ever lived through. Based in Eastern Ukraine, we watched first-hand how Ukraine went through a national political revolution that shocked us all by its power and pace.
The revolution followed weeks of street protests and violence after the previous regime, under pro-Russian President Victor Yanukovich, rejected the signing of an Association Agreement with the EU last November, choosing Russian help instead. This sparked initially peaceful demonstrations on the Maidan (‘square’ in Ukrainian) in support of European integration for Ukraine, but these morphed into anti-corruption and pro-democracy forces after heavy-handed police tactics to beat peaceful students with riot squads in the middle of the night.
Over 100 dead
What happened over the following two months was played out on all of our TV screens, as over 100 people lost their lives and thousands were injured in the volatile conflicts on the streets of a European capital. Most of the initial clashes were restricted to Kiev, as the previous regime struggled to contend with the overwhelming uprising of ordinary Ukrainians who wanted a better, less corrupt, European future.
