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Transcript/ScriptKRAINE MAIDAN ANNIVERSARY
HEADLINE: Ten Years after Maidan, Ukraine’s Activists say Their Fight Continues
TEASER: This week marks a decade since the start of the Revolution of Dignity, the wave of protests that changed Ukraine and the lives of its people forever
PUBLISHED: 11/21/2023 at 5:40p
BYLINE: Lesia Bakalets
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Kyiv
VIDEOGRAPHER:
SCRIPT EDITORS: LR, Bill Ide, djones approved
PRODUCER:
VIDEO SOURCES: VOA ORIGINAL, REUTERS, AFP
PLATFORMS: WEB __ TV X_ RADIO_
TRT: 2:53
VID APPROVED BY: Jepsen
TYPE: TV/R
UPDATE:))
((INTRO:))
[[It has been 10 years since the start of the uprising known as Maidan, or the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine. The wave of civil unrest was sparked by the Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovych's decision to not sign an association agreement with the European Union, which set off a three-month resistance movement. VOA met with three Maidan activists, whose lives — along with their country — changed forever in November 2013.]]
((NARRATOR))
The demonstration in Kyiv’s main square — Maidan Nezalezhnosti — started when then-President Yanukovich declined to sign a pact with the European Union,
instead choosing closer ties to Russia.
((NARRATOR))
Yiuliy Terekhov was a student back then. In the early morning of November 30, 2013, he was at the center of Maidan Square when Ukrainian riot police violently clamped down on the protesters.
((Yiuliy Terekhov, Maidan Activist – MALE, UKR))
“I didn't think I would have so many consequences from a beating. But when I looked in the mirror, half of my back was bruised.”
[[RADIO VERSION: Yiuliy Terekhov, a Maidan activist, remembers that he didn't think he would have so many consequences from the beating. But he says that when he looked in the mirror, he saw that half of his back was bruised.]]
((NARRATOR))
The violent dispersal of protesters sparked even more demonstrations that lasted for three months, with hundreds of victims.
((Yiuliy Terekhov, Maidan Activist – MALE, UKR))
“This is the place where I got one of my concussions because of the riot police.”
[[RADIO VERSION: Activist Yiuliy Terekhov shows the place where he got a concussion in a confrontation with Yanukovich’s riot police.]]
((NARRATOR))
Yiuliy was in Maidan Square the whole time, and the revolution marked him forever. Protesters claimed victory for their revolution when Yanukovich fled the city. But their triumph was followed by the Russia’s annexation of Crimea and later the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war in the east of the country. All of it changed Yiuliy’s plans.
((Yiuliy Terekhov, Maidan Activist – MALE, UKR))
“I wanted to be some kind of famous DJ and write electronic dance music, but you see how life turned out. The war in the East started and I, like all my comrades, joined the military.”
[[RADIO VERSION: Terekhov recalls that he wanted to become a famous DJ and write electronic dance music, but he says the war in the East started, and he joined the military along with others his age.]]
((NARRATOR))
Yiuliy is a captain in the Ukrainian Armed Forces now.
Maidan changed the life of Oksana Syvak too. At the time, she worked as a gynecologist and went to Maidan to treat sick and wounded protesters.
((Oksana Syvak, Maidan Activist – FEMALE, UKR))
“My friends and I put white T-shirts on top [of our clothes] and painted a cross with lipstick on them and went to the first barricade where I received my first wounded.”
[[RADIO VERSION: Oksana Syvak says she and her friends put white T-shirts on top of their clothes and painted a cross with lipstick on them and went to the first barricade to treat the wounded.]]
((NARRATOR))
Oksana describes it as "controlled chaos.” Everyone, she says, somehow clearly understood who should do what.
((Oksana Syvak, Maidan activist – FEMALE, UKR))
“We even had a schedule: Doctors from Kyiv usually came to Maidan at night. Doctors from other cities took vacations in order to be in Maidan and were there during the day.”
[[RADIO VERSION: Oksana Syvak says, they even had a schedule: she says doctors from Kyiv usually came to Maidan at night. Meanwhile, doctors from other cities took vacations in order to be in Maidan and were there during the day.]]
((NARRATOR))
After Maidan, Oksana left her medical practice and is now more involved in promoting medical legislation.
((Oksana Syvak, Maidan Activist – FEMALE, UKR))
“At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, we met the same company of friends we had in Maidan, and I said, ‘My God, all the same people!’ But my friend responded that ‘No, there were more of us. Our children have grown up.’”
[[RADIO VERSION: Oksana Syvak says, at the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2021, they met the same group of friends that they had at Maidan, and she was surprised to see they were the same people. But her friends corrected her and said there were actually more of them because their children had grown up.”]].
((NARRATOR))
Activists say the Maidan Revolution is still going on for them as they battle Russia’s assault on Ukraine's sovereignty and continue their fight for Western-style democratic reforms in their country.
((Lesia Bakalets, VOA News, Kyiv))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)
Kyiv
Embargo DateNovember 21, 2023 18:44 EST
Byline
Lesia Bakalets, VOA News
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
