Letter from Kiev: They carried the bodies singing ‘glory to Ukraine’

 
Katie Stallard21 February 2014

Twice last tonight masked men came to our room, the first time with a pistol, the second carrying a crowbar, politely asking to have a look around. They said they were looking for police snipers.

They asked for some water, but nothing more.

In the streets yesterday, I saw protesters firing handguns from behind wooden shields, running up the road towards police.

The police fired back with Kalashnikovs and shotguns — shooting directly at the crowds from close range. I saw a sniper crouched on sandbags, working with a spotter, targeting protesters with a high-velocity rifle before rapidly retreating up the hill.

The interior ministry troops are better armed and better equipped, but it’s the protesters who held the road outside last night.

They pushed right up towards the government district, moving towards the presidential palace. Some of the deputies — members of parliament — wore flak jackets in the rada, Ukraine’s parliament.

The front line has moved up the road past us. Where earlier we were in no man’s land, now we’re behind protester lines, and they’re shoring up their defences as we speak.

The harder core are on the barricades, but there are hundreds more working behind. We saw babushkas (older women) helping to break up the pavement beneath their feet for bricks — to be passed up a human chain to the front.

We had a round fired into the hotel room we’re broadcasting from. It’s chipped the plaster in the ceiling, but thankfully nobody was hurt. Several other news crews have reported the same. It seems protesters are targeting camera positions — mistaking the camera tripods for police marksmen.

The lobby downstairs has been turned into a field hospital. The reception desk is now piled high with medical supplies, hotel staff bringing blankets and towels, at times in tears, watching anxiously on.

During the height of the fighting they were carrying casualties in here, volunteer medics in hard hats treating them where they lay on the floor. We saw a number of critically injured protesters — one man with a gunshot wound to the chest, another with a gunshot wound to the groin.

An orthodox priest knelt among them, praying and talking to one man’s family on the phone.

In the corner we saw a man’s body covered with a blanket, a bloodied shield lying on the floor.

Outside they were painting a red cross on a white sheet to hang above the door. They’ve marked red crosses on their helmets too. But there are reports that medical teams are being deliberately targeted — a 21-year-old volunteer was shot dead yesterday.

They held a service for those who died here. I counted 11 bodies laid out under white sheets on the floor.

One man’s mother knelt over him, making the sign of the cross, tucking the sheet across him, saying her goodbyes.

As they carried them out they started to sing the national anthem. They sang it again and again until the last man was stretchered out.

And then with tears in their eyes they chanted “glory to Ukraine, glory to the heroes”. They believe these men have died for their country. They will be buried as heroes in this cause.

Katie Stallard is a Sky News correspondent.

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