For my money, it’s the most beautiful ground in the world.
War has renewed the Lobanovski stadium’s former glory.
Dinamo play here, not the Olimpiski, as do Zorya Luhansk, despite leaving Luhansk ten years back.
Continue reading Where the trees sing – Dinamo Kyiv 1 Shakhtar Donetsk 1
The famous meme of a Ukrainian farmer towing a Russian tank away is immortalised in this central reservation tribute.
It’s at KPI, about a mile from the central station on the main route west out of town.
Ukrainian man needs 2 months to make a shelf in the bathroom and only 2 hours to make the barricade #euromaidan
— Nadia (@nadiagulevich) January 23, 2014
FROM MY PAL IN KYIV (who is not the writer of the above tweet). The strong views of what he thinks will happen are his.
January 24, 11pm:
Pretty sure this weekend will decide it. People are flooding into Kyiv and more people in the city than ever are saying they will demonstrate, so there will be big/moderate turnout.
Many people are prepared for battle, there are large stocks of bulletproof vests, petrol bombs around conflict areas.
About 1,000 men must now win or face at least 15 year prison by new laws, but they believe the govt will kill them.
THIS IS AN UPDATE FROM A FRIEND:
The other night (to be specific, Sunday night) I was watching the real conflict start, as buses started going up in flames and there were constant explosions from stun grenades, fireworks, gas canisters and molotov cocktails.
The demonstrators have been very careful not to damage private property, and were trying to physically manhandle a parked car out of the way of one of their hastily-erected barricades.
In the middle of all this, the car owner appeared, got in the car, drove off down the street. Given that a nearby car was overturned and on fire, it must have been his lucky day.
One of the most extraordinary features of the Euromaidan movement in Ukraine is that it has sparked a welter of artistic efforts to capture the national spirit.
Artists can be seen painting in Independent Square and their works are on the walls of the Globus shopping centre.
So Euromaidan is not only a political movement but it has a cultural, artistic impetus.
Apart from the art there’s also constant entertainment from the main stage which has featured such magnificent acts as Dakh Daughters about whom I could gurgle all day.
21.00 – people are heeding social media calls to swell numbers in the centre. Atmosphere fairly jolly. Protesters that I have seen in Lutheranska/Institutska area roaming the streets are not carrying sticks.
18.15 – in the last hour police have started to blockade a camp set up by protesters in Lutheranska.
This was set up by opposition activists yesterday opposite a row of riot police guarding an entrance to the Presidential Administration in a bid to disrupt government operations.
Two of the remaining three exits were sealed and an operation to remove a barricade 100 metres away began.
Different tack today – uploading photos with captions. Latest photos will be at bottom of page.
Vitali Klitchko speaking last night in Independence Square. Now being widely touted as the next President.
9pm Rock bands play on Maidan square. People head home.
In the city hall’s main chamber, which has been commandeered by opposition parties, food is served and hundreds of people from the west of Ukraine are sleeping on the floor.
2.20pm Independence Square (Maidan) calm. Thousands of people milling around. No police visible.
Crikey! Come to Ukraine on holiday and a national crisis emerges. Am in Dnipropetrovsk today but head to Kyiv tomorrow to watch events unfold, and report on them.
I’ve seen small protests in Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk in the last week, and been told, though can’t confirm, protests here in DP and Lugansk were attacked.
Students at a university class I taught at last Monday in Lugansk seemed unconcerned by events the previous weekend.
Miles from Nowhere 