Kyiv (Kiev) is burning. This historic city dating back to the year 482, the birthplace of modern Russia and capital of the independent nation of Ukraine, is literally covered with soot and smoke.
President Viktor Yanukovich has been given 24 hours to resign and/or call new elections.
President Yanukovich has been holding meetings with his advisers as fighting has begun to spread to other Ukrainian cities. Many citizens say the battles are no longer about pro versus anti Russia, but about the legitimacy of the Yanukovich/Azarov government. (President Yanukovich, center left, in the photo below.)
Meanwhile Prime Minister Arazov, an ethnic Russian, is offering the resignation of his government.
Citizens are angry over continued corruption and cronyism and have taken to the streets for a second time in a month to battle police and take over government buildings.
Like most of Europe, there are no second amendment rights here and so it is literally a battle of sophisticated weaponry against citizens wielding bows and arrows and homemade rocket launchers to propel rocks and broken glass.
Citizens are using Molotov cocktails to set government troops on fire and government troops have begun to use Molotov cocktails against citizens.
This latest wave of protests began back on November 21, 2013, when Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich suddenly reversed course in signing an Association Agreement with the European Union and chose instead to realign with the Russian Federation, Ukraine’s powerful next door neighbor.
Independent media sources are now warning against going to hospitals as wounded protestors are allegedly “disappearing” shortly after being admitted to emergency rooms.
(fotos: Rain TV)
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