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The Maidan Massacre in Ukraine: The Mass Killing that Changed the World
285 pages, Hardcover
Published September 1, 2024
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January 24, 2025 (The English review is placed beneath the Russian one)
Это самая загадочная книга о современной Украине, которую я когда-либо читал. Да, можно на книгу налепить лейб "российская пропаганда", но то, что говорится в книге, я уже встречал и встречал не у авторов придерживающихся путинского нарратива. По сути своей, автор обвиняет украинских националистов, которые играли ключевую роль во время Майдана в 2014 году в том, что именно они стояли за убийством, как полицейский, так и участников Майдана в 2014 году. Обвинение очень серьёзное, однако, аргументы автора так же довольно сильные. Поэтому я вижу лишь два объяснения, которое должно дать будущее украинское правительство: либо всё что написано в этой книги является ложью, либо автор прав и за теми десятками жизней стоят украинские националисты. То, что я пишу, выглядит довольно дико и напоминает обычный путинский нарратив, однако книга приводит настолько весомые доказательства, что боюсь без независимого и объективного процесса тут не обойтись. С другой стороны, и это тоже очень важно, я не считаю книгу объективной. И последнее для понимания книги. Вся книга построена на свидетельских показаниях совершенно разных людей, а также на тех видеороликах и новостных сообщениях, что были сделаны в те дни в Украине.
For example, journalists from such major Western and Ukrainian media as ABC, CNN, New York Times, BBC, Guardian, ARD, Bild, Spiegel, La7, TT News Agency, TVP, 1+1, 5 Kanal, ICTV, Novyi Kanal, 24 Kanal, and Kyiv Post reported about witnessing snipers in Hotel Ukraina, cited Maidan protesters about snipers there, or based their reports on such testimonies. Journalistsfrom ITV, TVP, Spiegel, 1+1, ICTV, and other Western and Ukrainian media similarly reported witnessing themselves or cited Maidan protesters about witnessing snipers in other Maidan-controlled buildings and areas, such as Bank Arkada, Zhovtnevyi Palace, the Main Post Office, and Muzeinyi Lane and Horodetsky Street buildings.
Вот он, главный тезис книги. Дальше идут детали, огромное их число выглядят вот так:
Serhii Kemsky was filmed in the Belgian VTM TV video advancing towards the Berkut in front of him and then falling to the ground after being shot. The right to left and steep top to bottom directions of his one wound and another wound in his back, as specified in forensic medical reports, show that he was shot from a Maidan controlled area, such as Hotel Ukraina.
<...>
A Radio Svoboda video from Hotel Ukraina shows Andrii Saienko killing at 9:08 am. His position in the video with Hotel Ukraina on his right and the Berkut in front along with forensic medical examination determined a steep right to left wound direction in upper front chest on the right and a steep top to bottom wound channel to the backbone. This points towards the top of Hotel Ukraina.
В книге изредка встречаются и более серьёзные утверждения, как например вот это.
Nadia Savchenko, a member of the parliament from the Fatherland Party, stated that she witnessed in the morning of February 20 an arrival of a group of Maidan protesters armed with hunting rifles near the Maidan stage and that they became members of the Ukrainian parliament after the Maidan. She said that she later witnessed armed Maidan activists entering a Hotel Ukraina elevator. Savchenko also said that she witnessed as one of the Maidan leaders brought the snipers to Hotel Ukraina and that she saw gunshots from Hotel Ukraina.
Отель "Украина" является главный действующим лицом (пусть и не единственным), ибо именно из этого отеля вёлся снайперами огонь по участникам Майдана.
In a leaked intercepted telephone call with the EU foreign affairs head, the Estonian minister of foreign affairs referred to Olha Bohomolets, one of the Maidan doctors, pointing during his visit to Ukraine to similarity of the wounds among the protesters and policemen, which served as an indication that the massacre was organized by some elements of the Maidan opposition (Michael, 2014). Because their wounds had the same distinctive features, this meant that both the police and the protesters were shot by the same “snipers.” The Estonian Foreign Minister confirmed the authenticity of this call.
<...>
Similarly, a senior Hotel Ukraina staff member stated that the Maidan protesters controlled this hotel before and during the massacre and that no police entered the hotel.
Как видите, аргументы серозные, ибо если именно участники Майдана владели отелем "Украина", то получается…очень опасная история, фактически политическая ядерная бомба.
A forensic ballistic examination conducted by government institute experts with use of an automatic computer-based IBIS-TAIS system found that bullets extracted from killed protesters did not match police database of bullet samples from Kalashnikov assault rifles of members of the Kyiv Berkut regiment, including the special Berkut company that is charged with the massacre of the protesters.
<…>
One killed protester (Ivan Panteleev) and one wounded protester were shot with 7.62 × 54 caliber bullets. The prosecution stated that since the caliber matches Dragunov sniper rifles, this shows that they were shot by unidentified government snipers. But these bullets were not of a special sniper type but of LPS type developed in 1908 for Mosin rifles. Government units were not equipped with long obsolete Mosin rifles.
Интересно, а кто же тогда стрелял? Каковы итоги расследования и кто оказался на скамье подсудимых? Как я понял из книги, никто так и не был осуждён, а те загадочные снайперы так и не были идентифицированы.
The prosecution denied that snipers in the Maidan-controlled buildings massacred activists, despite de facto acknowledgment by the investigation and the trial and that most Maidan activists were shot on February 20 from the Maidan-controlled locations. It did not use ballistic experts to determine locations of shooters of most protesters even after court order. Key evidence disappeared. Nobody has been convicted with real prison sentence for killing of all 74 and wounding all 312 Maidan activists on February 18–20, 2014, and nobody is convicted for killing of all 13 and wounding of all 190 police and Internal Troops members on the Maidan.
Так что же, автор прав? Есть в книге то, что мне не понравилось и что зародило во мне сомнения.
They said that they then saw on February 20, 2024, Maidan snipers from Georgia, the Baltic States, and the far-right Right Sector-linked Ukrainian group shooting from the Music Conservatory and Hotel Ukraina. One of them stated in a USdocumentary that he shot protesters from Hotel Ukraina.
<…>
In interviews for the American, Italian, Israeli, Macedonian, and Russian media, seven Georgian self-admitted members of Maidan sniper groups testified that they and other sniper groups from Georgia and the Baltic States and the far-right-linked sniper group from Ukraine received orders, weapons, and payments from specific members of the Maidan leadership and former Georgian government leaders to shoot at both protesters and police in order to prevent a peace agreement from being signed by Yanukovych and Maidan leaders.
<…>
They stated that they also received shooting instructions from a far-right-linked ex-US Army sniper.
Пожалуй, именно это утверждение автора, вполне в духе путинской пропаганды, делает невозможным полностью поверить в версию автора. Уж слишком конспирологической получается версия. Тем не менее, многочисленные свидетельские показания, а так же другие факты позволяют утверждать, что нужно новое и теперь уже действительно независимое расследование. И ещё. Почему только один человек говорит об этой версии, ведь перед нами информационная и политическая бомба, которая способна похоронить очень многие карьеры? Это хороший вопрос. Действительно, если всё так очевидно, почему об этом больше никто не говорит, если это настолько всё очевидно?
Similarly, Davyd Zhvania, a member of the Maidan leadership and the head of a committee of the Ukrainian parliament during the massacre and the former associate of Poroshenko after the Maidan, stated that his requests to the State Bureau of Investigations of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General Office of Ukraine to launch an investigation based on his statements about involvement of the Maidan leaders in the Maidan massacre and also their and his own involvement in other serious crimes during the Maidan and to interrogate him were stonewalled for a long time.
<…>
Zhvania stated before the Russian invasion in 2022 that he returned to Ukraine and gave his testimony and other evidence to the Prosecutor General Office of Ukraine. He said that he was concerned for his safety in Ukraine because Maidan leaders can order his assassination. He was killed in mysterious circumstances in Ukraine in the frontline area during the Russia-Ukraine war (Gerashchenko, 2022).
Вот поэтому я и постоянно пишу, что главным является именно построение настоящей демократии, чтобы такие вот истории не повторялись. А что касается версии автора, которую похвалили многие путинферштейны (Richard Sakwa), то я просто не знаю.
P.S. Важное добавление: какая бы версия в итоге не оказалась истинной нужно не забывать, что именно Янукович был президентом и именно он ответственен как глава государства за то что пролилась кровь. Как президент всей Украины, он должен был ни при каких условиях не допустить гибели людей. В нормальных странах, для разгона протестующих используют специальную технику, а не вооружённых настоящем оружием людей. В конце концов, в самом начале этого кризиса можно было просто не трогать протестующих. Поэтому как минимум половина ответственности всё равно лежит на Януковиче.
This is the most enigmatic book about modern Ukraine I have ever read. Yes, you can label the book “Russian propaganda”, but what the book says is something I've seen before, and I've seen it not from authors who adhere to Putin's narrative. Essentially, the author accuses Ukrainian nationalists, who played a key role during the Maidan in 2014, of being behind the murder of both police officers and Maidan participants in 2014. The accusation is very serious, but the author's arguments are also strong. So I see only two explanations that the future Ukrainian government should give: either everything written in this book is a lie, or the author is right, and Ukrainian nationalists are behind those dozens of lives. What I'm writing looks rather wild and resembles Putin's usual narrative, but the book provides such strong evidence that I'm afraid an independent and objective process is needed. On the other hand, and this is also very important, I don't consider the book objective. One last thing for understanding the book. The whole book is based on the testimonies of completely different people, as well as on the videos and news reports that were made in those days in Ukraine.
For example, journalists from such major Western and Ukrainian media as ABC, CNN, New York Times, BBC, Guardian, ARD, Bild, Spiegel, La7, TT News Agency, TVP, 1+1, 5 Kanal, ICTV, Novyi Kanal, 24 Kanal, and Kyiv Post reported about witnessing snipers in Hotel Ukraina, cited Maidan protesters about snipers there, or based their reports on such testimonies. Journalistsfrom ITV, TVP, Spiegel, 1+1, ICTV, and other Western and Ukrainian media similarly reported witnessing themselves or cited Maidan protesters about witnessing snipers in other Maidan-controlled buildings and areas, such as Bank Arkada, Zhovtnevyi Palace, the Main Post Office, and Muzeinyi Lane and Horodetsky Street buildings.
There it is, the main thesis of the book. Next come the details, a huge number of them look like this:
Serhii Kemsky was filmed in the Belgian VTM TV video advancing towards the Berkut in front of him and then falling to the ground after being shot. The right to left and steep top to bottom directions of his one wound and another wound in his back, as specified in forensic medical reports, show that he was shot from a Maidan controlled area, such as Hotel Ukraina.
<…>
A Radio Svoboda video from Hotel Ukraina shows Andrii Saienko killing at 9:08 am. His position in the video with Hotel Ukraina on his right and the Berkut in front along with forensic medical examination determined a steep right to left wound direction in upper front chest on the right and a steep top to bottom wound channel to the backbone. This points towards the top of Hotel Ukraina.
There are occasional more serious statements in the book, such as this one.
Nadia Savchenko, a member of the parliament from the Fatherland Party, stated that she witnessed in the morning of February 20 an arrival of a group of Maidan protesters armed with hunting rifles near the Maidan stage and that they became members of the Ukrainian parliament after the Maidan. She said that she later witnessed armed Maidan activists entering a Hotel Ukraina elevator. Savchenko also said that she witnessed as one of the Maidan leaders brought the snipers to Hotel Ukraina and that she saw gunshots from Hotel Ukraina.
Hotel Ukraine is the main protagonist (though not the only one) because it was from this hotel that snipers fired at the Maidan participants.
In a leaked intercepted telephone call with the EU foreign affairs head, the Estonian minister of foreign affairs referred to Olha Bohomolets, one of the Maidan doctors, pointing during his visit to Ukraine to similarity of the wounds among the protesters and policemen, which served as an indication that the massacre was organized by some elements of the Maidan opposition (Michael, 2014). Because their wounds had the same distinctive features, this meant that both the police and the protesters were shot by the same “snipers.” The Estonian Foreign Minister confirmed the authenticity of this call.
<...>
Similarly, a senior Hotel Ukraina staff member stated that the Maidan protesters controlled this hotel before and during the massacre and that no police entered the hotel.
As you can see, the arguments are serious, for if it was the Maidan participants who controlled the Hotel Ukraina, it turns out to be...a very dangerous story, in fact, a political nuclear bomb.
A forensic ballistic examination conducted by government institute experts with use of an automatic computer-based IBIS-TAIS system found that bullets extracted from killed protesters did not match police database of bullet samples from Kalashnikov assault rifles of members of the Kyiv Berkut regiment, including the special Berkut company that is charged with the massacre of the protesters.
<…>
One killed protester (Ivan Panteleev) and one wounded protester were shot with 7.62 × 54 caliber bullets. The prosecution stated that since the caliber matches Dragunov sniper rifles, this shows that they were shot by unidentified government snipers. But these bullets were not of a special sniper type but of LPS type developed in 1908 for Mosin rifles. Government units were not equipped with long obsolete Mosin rifles.
I wonder, then, who was the shooter? What was the outcome of the investigation and who ended up in the dock? As I understood from the book, no one was ever convicted and those mysterious snipers were never identified.
The prosecution denied that snipers in the Maidan-controlled buildings massacred activists, despite de facto acknowledgment by the investigation and the trial and that most Maidan activists were shot on February 20 from the Maidan-controlled locations. It did not use ballistic experts to determine locations of shooters of most protesters even after court order. Key evidence disappeared. Nobody has been convicted with real prison sentence for killing of all 74 and wounding all 312 Maidan activists on February 18–20, 2014, and nobody is convicted for killing of all 13 and wounding of all 190 police and Internal Troops members on the Maidan.
So, is the author right? There are things in the book that I didn't like and that gave me doubts.
They said that they then saw on February 20, 2024, Maidan snipers from Georgia, the Baltic States, and the far-right Right Sector-linked Ukrainian group shooting from the Music Conservatory and Hotel Ukraina. One of them stated in a USdocumentary that he shot protesters from Hotel Ukraina.
<…>
In interviews for the American, Italian, Israeli, Macedonian, and Russian media, seven Georgian self-admitted members of Maidan sniper groups testified that they and other sniper groups from Georgia and the Baltic States and the far-right-linked sniper group from Ukraine received orders, weapons, and payments from specific members of the Maidan leadership and former Georgian government leaders to shoot at both protesters and police in order to prevent a peace agreement from being signed by Yanukovych and Maidan leaders.
<…>
They stated that they also received shooting instructions from a far-right-linked ex-US Army sniper.
Perhaps it is this statement by the author, which is quite in the spirit of Putin's propaganda, that makes it impossible to fully believe in the author's version. It is too conspiracy. Nevertheless, numerous testimonies and other facts allow us to assert that a new and now truly independent investigation is needed. Also. Why is only one person talking about this version, because we are facing an information and political bomb that can bury so many careers? That's a good question. Indeed, if it's so obvious, why isn't anyone else talking about it, if it's so obvious?
Similarly, Davyd Zhvania, a member of the Maidan leadership and the head of a committee of the Ukrainian parliament during the massacre and the former associate of Poroshenko after the Maidan, stated that his requests to the State Bureau of Investigations of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General Office of Ukraine to launch an investigation based on his statements about involvement of the Maidan leaders in the Maidan massacre and also their and his own involvement in other serious crimes during the Maidan and to
That's why I keep writing that the main thing is to build a real democracy so that such stories don't repeat. As for the author's version, which many Putinfersteins (Richard Sakwa) praised, I just don't know.
P.S. An important addition: whatever version turns out to be true in the end, we should not forget that it was Yanukovych who was president and it is he who is responsible as head of state for the bloodshed. As the president of the whole of Ukraine, he had to prevent the death of people. In normal countries, special equipment is used to disperse protesters, not people armed with real weapons. After all, at the very beginning of this crisis, it was possible to leave the protesters alone. So at least half of the responsibility still lies with Yanukovych.
Это самая загадочная книга о современной Украине, которую я когда-либо читал. Да, можно на книгу налепить лейб "российская пропаганда", но то, что говорится в книге, я уже встречал и встречал не у авторов придерживающихся путинского нарратива. По сути своей, автор обвиняет украинских националистов, которые играли ключевую роль во время Майдана в 2014 году в том, что именно они стояли за убийством, как полицейский, так и участников Майдана в 2014 году. Обвинение очень серьёзное, однако, аргументы автора так же довольно сильные. Поэтому я вижу лишь два объяснения, которое должно дать будущее украинское правительство: либо всё что написано в этой книги является ложью, либо автор прав и за теми десятками жизней стоят украинские националисты. То, что я пишу, выглядит довольно дико и напоминает обычный путинский нарратив, однако книга приводит настолько весомые доказательства, что боюсь без независимого и объективного процесса тут не обойтись. С другой стороны, и это тоже очень важно, я не считаю книгу объективной. И последнее для понимания книги. Вся книга построена на свидетельских показаниях совершенно разных людей, а также на тех видеороликах и новостных сообщениях, что были сделаны в те дни в Украине.
For example, journalists from such major Western and Ukrainian media as ABC, CNN, New York Times, BBC, Guardian, ARD, Bild, Spiegel, La7, TT News Agency, TVP, 1+1, 5 Kanal, ICTV, Novyi Kanal, 24 Kanal, and Kyiv Post reported about witnessing snipers in Hotel Ukraina, cited Maidan protesters about snipers there, or based their reports on such testimonies. Journalistsfrom ITV, TVP, Spiegel, 1+1, ICTV, and other Western and Ukrainian media similarly reported witnessing themselves or cited Maidan protesters about witnessing snipers in other Maidan-controlled buildings and areas, such as Bank Arkada, Zhovtnevyi Palace, the Main Post Office, and Muzeinyi Lane and Horodetsky Street buildings.
Вот он, главный тезис книги. Дальше идут детали, огромное их число выглядят вот так:
Serhii Kemsky was filmed in the Belgian VTM TV video advancing towards the Berkut in front of him and then falling to the ground after being shot. The right to left and steep top to bottom directions of his one wound and another wound in his back, as specified in forensic medical reports, show that he was shot from a Maidan controlled area, such as Hotel Ukraina.
<...>
A Radio Svoboda video from Hotel Ukraina shows Andrii Saienko killing at 9:08 am. His position in the video with Hotel Ukraina on his right and the Berkut in front along with forensic medical examination determined a steep right to left wound direction in upper front chest on the right and a steep top to bottom wound channel to the backbone. This points towards the top of Hotel Ukraina.
В книге изредка встречаются и более серьёзные утверждения, как например вот это.
Nadia Savchenko, a member of the parliament from the Fatherland Party, stated that she witnessed in the morning of February 20 an arrival of a group of Maidan protesters armed with hunting rifles near the Maidan stage and that they became members of the Ukrainian parliament after the Maidan. She said that she later witnessed armed Maidan activists entering a Hotel Ukraina elevator. Savchenko also said that she witnessed as one of the Maidan leaders brought the snipers to Hotel Ukraina and that she saw gunshots from Hotel Ukraina.
Отель "Украина" является главный действующим лицом (пусть и не единственным), ибо именно из этого отеля вёлся снайперами огонь по участникам Майдана.
In a leaked intercepted telephone call with the EU foreign affairs head, the Estonian minister of foreign affairs referred to Olha Bohomolets, one of the Maidan doctors, pointing during his visit to Ukraine to similarity of the wounds among the protesters and policemen, which served as an indication that the massacre was organized by some elements of the Maidan opposition (Michael, 2014). Because their wounds had the same distinctive features, this meant that both the police and the protesters were shot by the same “snipers.” The Estonian Foreign Minister confirmed the authenticity of this call.
<...>
Similarly, a senior Hotel Ukraina staff member stated that the Maidan protesters controlled this hotel before and during the massacre and that no police entered the hotel.
Как видите, аргументы серозные, ибо если именно участники Майдана владели отелем "Украина", то получается…очень опасная история, фактически политическая ядерная бомба.
A forensic ballistic examination conducted by government institute experts with use of an automatic computer-based IBIS-TAIS system found that bullets extracted from killed protesters did not match police database of bullet samples from Kalashnikov assault rifles of members of the Kyiv Berkut regiment, including the special Berkut company that is charged with the massacre of the protesters.
<…>
One killed protester (Ivan Panteleev) and one wounded protester were shot with 7.62 × 54 caliber bullets. The prosecution stated that since the caliber matches Dragunov sniper rifles, this shows that they were shot by unidentified government snipers. But these bullets were not of a special sniper type but of LPS type developed in 1908 for Mosin rifles. Government units were not equipped with long obsolete Mosin rifles.
Интересно, а кто же тогда стрелял? Каковы итоги расследования и кто оказался на скамье подсудимых? Как я понял из книги, никто так и не был осуждён, а те загадочные снайперы так и не были идентифицированы.
The prosecution denied that snipers in the Maidan-controlled buildings massacred activists, despite de facto acknowledgment by the investigation and the trial and that most Maidan activists were shot on February 20 from the Maidan-controlled locations. It did not use ballistic experts to determine locations of shooters of most protesters even after court order. Key evidence disappeared. Nobody has been convicted with real prison sentence for killing of all 74 and wounding all 312 Maidan activists on February 18–20, 2014, and nobody is convicted for killing of all 13 and wounding of all 190 police and Internal Troops members on the Maidan.
Так что же, автор прав? Есть в книге то, что мне не понравилось и что зародило во мне сомнения.
They said that they then saw on February 20, 2024, Maidan snipers from Georgia, the Baltic States, and the far-right Right Sector-linked Ukrainian group shooting from the Music Conservatory and Hotel Ukraina. One of them stated in a USdocumentary that he shot protesters from Hotel Ukraina.
<…>
In interviews for the American, Italian, Israeli, Macedonian, and Russian media, seven Georgian self-admitted members of Maidan sniper groups testified that they and other sniper groups from Georgia and the Baltic States and the far-right-linked sniper group from Ukraine received orders, weapons, and payments from specific members of the Maidan leadership and former Georgian government leaders to shoot at both protesters and police in order to prevent a peace agreement from being signed by Yanukovych and Maidan leaders.
<…>
They stated that they also received shooting instructions from a far-right-linked ex-US Army sniper.
Пожалуй, именно это утверждение автора, вполне в духе путинской пропаганды, делает невозможным полностью поверить в версию автора. Уж слишком конспирологической получается версия. Тем не менее, многочисленные свидетельские показания, а так же другие факты позволяют утверждать, что нужно новое и теперь уже действительно независимое расследование. И ещё. Почему только один человек говорит об этой версии, ведь перед нами информационная и политическая бомба, которая способна похоронить очень многие карьеры? Это хороший вопрос. Действительно, если всё так очевидно, почему об этом больше никто не говорит, если это настолько всё очевидно?
Similarly, Davyd Zhvania, a member of the Maidan leadership and the head of a committee of the Ukrainian parliament during the massacre and the former associate of Poroshenko after the Maidan, stated that his requests to the State Bureau of Investigations of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General Office of Ukraine to launch an investigation based on his statements about involvement of the Maidan leaders in the Maidan massacre and also their and his own involvement in other serious crimes during the Maidan and to interrogate him were stonewalled for a long time.
<…>
Zhvania stated before the Russian invasion in 2022 that he returned to Ukraine and gave his testimony and other evidence to the Prosecutor General Office of Ukraine. He said that he was concerned for his safety in Ukraine because Maidan leaders can order his assassination. He was killed in mysterious circumstances in Ukraine in the frontline area during the Russia-Ukraine war (Gerashchenko, 2022).
Вот поэтому я и постоянно пишу, что главным является именно построение настоящей демократии, чтобы такие вот истории не повторялись. А что касается версии автора, которую похвалили многие путинферштейны (Richard Sakwa), то я просто не знаю.
P.S. Важное добавление: какая бы версия в итоге не оказалась истинной нужно не забывать, что именно Янукович был президентом и именно он ответственен как глава государства за то что пролилась кровь. Как президент всей Украины, он должен был ни при каких условиях не допустить гибели людей. В нормальных странах, для разгона протестующих используют специальную технику, а не вооружённых настоящем оружием людей. В конце концов, в самом начале этого кризиса можно было просто не трогать протестующих. Поэтому как минимум половина ответственности всё равно лежит на Януковиче.
This is the most enigmatic book about modern Ukraine I have ever read. Yes, you can label the book “Russian propaganda”, but what the book says is something I've seen before, and I've seen it not from authors who adhere to Putin's narrative. Essentially, the author accuses Ukrainian nationalists, who played a key role during the Maidan in 2014, of being behind the murder of both police officers and Maidan participants in 2014. The accusation is very serious, but the author's arguments are also strong. So I see only two explanations that the future Ukrainian government should give: either everything written in this book is a lie, or the author is right, and Ukrainian nationalists are behind those dozens of lives. What I'm writing looks rather wild and resembles Putin's usual narrative, but the book provides such strong evidence that I'm afraid an independent and objective process is needed. On the other hand, and this is also very important, I don't consider the book objective. One last thing for understanding the book. The whole book is based on the testimonies of completely different people, as well as on the videos and news reports that were made in those days in Ukraine.
For example, journalists from such major Western and Ukrainian media as ABC, CNN, New York Times, BBC, Guardian, ARD, Bild, Spiegel, La7, TT News Agency, TVP, 1+1, 5 Kanal, ICTV, Novyi Kanal, 24 Kanal, and Kyiv Post reported about witnessing snipers in Hotel Ukraina, cited Maidan protesters about snipers there, or based their reports on such testimonies. Journalistsfrom ITV, TVP, Spiegel, 1+1, ICTV, and other Western and Ukrainian media similarly reported witnessing themselves or cited Maidan protesters about witnessing snipers in other Maidan-controlled buildings and areas, such as Bank Arkada, Zhovtnevyi Palace, the Main Post Office, and Muzeinyi Lane and Horodetsky Street buildings.
There it is, the main thesis of the book. Next come the details, a huge number of them look like this:
Serhii Kemsky was filmed in the Belgian VTM TV video advancing towards the Berkut in front of him and then falling to the ground after being shot. The right to left and steep top to bottom directions of his one wound and another wound in his back, as specified in forensic medical reports, show that he was shot from a Maidan controlled area, such as Hotel Ukraina.
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A Radio Svoboda video from Hotel Ukraina shows Andrii Saienko killing at 9:08 am. His position in the video with Hotel Ukraina on his right and the Berkut in front along with forensic medical examination determined a steep right to left wound direction in upper front chest on the right and a steep top to bottom wound channel to the backbone. This points towards the top of Hotel Ukraina.
There are occasional more serious statements in the book, such as this one.
Nadia Savchenko, a member of the parliament from the Fatherland Party, stated that she witnessed in the morning of February 20 an arrival of a group of Maidan protesters armed with hunting rifles near the Maidan stage and that they became members of the Ukrainian parliament after the Maidan. She said that she later witnessed armed Maidan activists entering a Hotel Ukraina elevator. Savchenko also said that she witnessed as one of the Maidan leaders brought the snipers to Hotel Ukraina and that she saw gunshots from Hotel Ukraina.
Hotel Ukraine is the main protagonist (though not the only one) because it was from this hotel that snipers fired at the Maidan participants.
In a leaked intercepted telephone call with the EU foreign affairs head, the Estonian minister of foreign affairs referred to Olha Bohomolets, one of the Maidan doctors, pointing during his visit to Ukraine to similarity of the wounds among the protesters and policemen, which served as an indication that the massacre was organized by some elements of the Maidan opposition (Michael, 2014). Because their wounds had the same distinctive features, this meant that both the police and the protesters were shot by the same “snipers.” The Estonian Foreign Minister confirmed the authenticity of this call.
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Similarly, a senior Hotel Ukraina staff member stated that the Maidan protesters controlled this hotel before and during the massacre and that no police entered the hotel.
As you can see, the arguments are serious, for if it was the Maidan participants who controlled the Hotel Ukraina, it turns out to be...a very dangerous story, in fact, a political nuclear bomb.
A forensic ballistic examination conducted by government institute experts with use of an automatic computer-based IBIS-TAIS system found that bullets extracted from killed protesters did not match police database of bullet samples from Kalashnikov assault rifles of members of the Kyiv Berkut regiment, including the special Berkut company that is charged with the massacre of the protesters.
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One killed protester (Ivan Panteleev) and one wounded protester were shot with 7.62 × 54 caliber bullets. The prosecution stated that since the caliber matches Dragunov sniper rifles, this shows that they were shot by unidentified government snipers. But these bullets were not of a special sniper type but of LPS type developed in 1908 for Mosin rifles. Government units were not equipped with long obsolete Mosin rifles.
I wonder, then, who was the shooter? What was the outcome of the investigation and who ended up in the dock? As I understood from the book, no one was ever convicted and those mysterious snipers were never identified.
The prosecution denied that snipers in the Maidan-controlled buildings massacred activists, despite de facto acknowledgment by the investigation and the trial and that most Maidan activists were shot on February 20 from the Maidan-controlled locations. It did not use ballistic experts to determine locations of shooters of most protesters even after court order. Key evidence disappeared. Nobody has been convicted with real prison sentence for killing of all 74 and wounding all 312 Maidan activists on February 18–20, 2014, and nobody is convicted for killing of all 13 and wounding of all 190 police and Internal Troops members on the Maidan.
So, is the author right? There are things in the book that I didn't like and that gave me doubts.
They said that they then saw on February 20, 2024, Maidan snipers from Georgia, the Baltic States, and the far-right Right Sector-linked Ukrainian group shooting from the Music Conservatory and Hotel Ukraina. One of them stated in a USdocumentary that he shot protesters from Hotel Ukraina.
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In interviews for the American, Italian, Israeli, Macedonian, and Russian media, seven Georgian self-admitted members of Maidan sniper groups testified that they and other sniper groups from Georgia and the Baltic States and the far-right-linked sniper group from Ukraine received orders, weapons, and payments from specific members of the Maidan leadership and former Georgian government leaders to shoot at both protesters and police in order to prevent a peace agreement from being signed by Yanukovych and Maidan leaders.
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They stated that they also received shooting instructions from a far-right-linked ex-US Army sniper.
Perhaps it is this statement by the author, which is quite in the spirit of Putin's propaganda, that makes it impossible to fully believe in the author's version. It is too conspiracy. Nevertheless, numerous testimonies and other facts allow us to assert that a new and now truly independent investigation is needed. Also. Why is only one person talking about this version, because we are facing an information and political bomb that can bury so many careers? That's a good question. Indeed, if it's so obvious, why isn't anyone else talking about it, if it's so obvious?
Similarly, Davyd Zhvania, a member of the Maidan leadership and the head of a committee of the Ukrainian parliament during the massacre and the former associate of Poroshenko after the Maidan, stated that his requests to the State Bureau of Investigations of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General Office of Ukraine to launch an investigation based on his statements about involvement of the Maidan leaders in the Maidan massacre and also their and his own involvement in other serious crimes during the Maidan and to
That's why I keep writing that the main thing is to build a real democracy so that such stories don't repeat. As for the author's version, which many Putinfersteins (Richard Sakwa) praised, I just don't know.
P.S. An important addition: whatever version turns out to be true in the end, we should not forget that it was Yanukovych who was president and it is he who is responsible as head of state for the bloodshed. As the president of the whole of Ukraine, he had to prevent the death of people. In normal countries, special equipment is used to disperse protesters, not people armed with real weapons. After all, at the very beginning of this crisis, it was possible to leave the protesters alone. So at least half of the responsibility still lies with Yanukovych.
July 10, 2025
Very detailed / in-depth analysis of the available evidence surrounding the Maidan Massacre in 2014. It honestly gets very dry in some sections due to the sheer number of testimonies, video reconstructions, various reports, etc that it documents in order to show that the official narrative around the massacre is not likely the correct one. Katchanovski seems like a very knowledgable and thorough political scientist and I look forward to reading his latest work on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
January 5, 2025
This one had an interesting censorship story through Routledge who deep-sixed it, so I was surprised Springer Verlag printed it
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Katchanovski’s study is a model of contemporary social science research based on social media, testimonies of participants, and evidence and verdicts of subsequent legal trials. Analysis derived from the data is unparalleled in the study of extra-legal politics in post-Soviet Ukraine. This is a convincing book which should be read by everyone interested in knowing the truth about current developments in Ukraine and especially the underlying causes of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict.
David Lane, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Cambridge
A courageous and important study of one of the most momentous events in recent history. Based on a painstaking analysis of the available evidence, Katchanovski demonstrates how the false flag shootings of 18-20 February 2014 unfolded and their impact on subsequent developments in Ukraine. If a single book can change our understanding of a historical event, this is it.
Richard Sakwa, Emeritus Professor of Russian and European Politics, University of Kent
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Katchanovski’s study is a model of contemporary social science research based on social media, testimonies of participants, and evidence and verdicts of subsequent legal trials. Analysis derived from the data is unparalleled in the study of extra-legal politics in post-Soviet Ukraine. This is a convincing book which should be read by everyone interested in knowing the truth about current developments in Ukraine and especially the underlying causes of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict.
David Lane, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Cambridge
A courageous and important study of one of the most momentous events in recent history. Based on a painstaking analysis of the available evidence, Katchanovski demonstrates how the false flag shootings of 18-20 February 2014 unfolded and their impact on subsequent developments in Ukraine. If a single book can change our understanding of a historical event, this is it.
Richard Sakwa, Emeritus Professor of Russian and European Politics, University of Kent
September 28, 2025
If you haven't grappled with the case Katchanovski puts forward here, then you can't possibly have an objective view of what actually transpired on Maidan Square, in February of 2014. This global citizen jurer finds the charges thus state to be proven far and away beyond any reasonable doubt.
Hundreds of eye-witness testimony, dozens of ballistic and autopsy reports, thousands of hours of video and photographs, admissions by the real perpetrators, evidence of a cover up, and evidence of U.S. strategic and financial support. The Ukraine-Russia War started in 2014 with a false flag operation that left 93 dead and hundreds wounded.
Hundreds of eye-witness testimony, dozens of ballistic and autopsy reports, thousands of hours of video and photographs, admissions by the real perpetrators, evidence of a cover up, and evidence of U.S. strategic and financial support. The Ukraine-Russia War started in 2014 with a false flag operation that left 93 dead and hundreds wounded.
November 27, 2025
Исследование расстрела протестующих на Майдане украинскими националистами
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