EuroMaidan Revolution
Chrystia Freeland: ‘We are all Ukrainians now’
Children wear signs reading \"Every receipt paid in the Epitsentr store is a shot of the police to a child,\" as opposition demonstrators blockade the Epitsentr construction materials market, which is owned by a leading member of the ruling Party of Regions, in the western city of Lviv on January 26, 2014. A widening local rebellion against Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's authority has now effectively blocked regional administrations in 13 out of the former Soviet republic's 25 provinces. Opposition protesters are blockading local government offices in four cities and have occupied official buildings in nine more, often after heavy clashes with riot police defending the offices of the Yanukovych-apointed governors. AFP PHOTO/ YURIY DYACHYSHYN
Ukraine is a country used to tough times. You can figure that out just by listening to the national anthem, whose first line makes the grave assertion: “Ukraine has not yet died.” In a history of national near-death experiences, this week’s protests and the brutal efforts to suppress them mark a turning point.
