As dozens of protesters were dying on the streets of Kyiv by blunt force and bullets from police on Feb. 19-20, Ukraine's now former President Viktor Yanukovych was quietly making an escape from his palatial estate located outside the city known as Mezhyhirya, according to time-stamped security camera footage allegedly recovered from the residence and published on YouTube.
The series of closed-circuit videos, which the Kyiv Post could not independently verify as authentic, show the deposed president had plenty of help planning his Kyiv exit days in advance and even oversaw the operation himself in the hours ahead of his final departure late on Feb. 21, following negotiations with opposition leaders and foreign ministers earlier in the day, at which time an exit strategy to the more than three-months-long political conflict was agreed upon.
The footage filled by cameras positioned at the estate’s main residence, known as Honka, shows dozens of men and women helping to carry and wheel out of the lavish residence several paintings, vases, statues and candelabras, as well as several other items. Some videos show what appears to be a small arsenal of weapons being carried away, including at least three apparent automatic rifles fixed with scopes and more than two dozen other rifles, some in a glass case.
Several vehicles were used to haul the items away, including at least five large moving trucks.
Yanukovych fled his luxurious residence in the late hours of Feb. 21, making his way to Kharkiv, Donetsk and then Crimea before turning up in Rostov-on-Don. Lawmakers from opposition parties and Yanukovych’s own Party of Regions in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, voted on Feb. 22 to impeach him. Yanukovych has said twice since during press conferences from the southern Russian city that he remains the legitimately elected president of Ukraine and did not flee the country.
“I remain not only the legal president, but the chief commander. I did not turn down my authority, and I am alive,” he said.
“They say in the U.S. and other European countries that I ran from the country. I repeat: I did not run. As armed people basically attempted a coup with arms, I was still on the territory of Ukraine – I was in Kharkiv first, then I go to Donetsk and then to Crimea.
“As soon as circumstances allow, I am convinced it’s not long to wait. I will return to Kyiv.”
The CCTV footage, uploaded to YouTube by user Viktor Honka, can be seen below.
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Footage from camera No. 8, filmed at the main entrance of the residence on Feb. 19, shows some a number of people assisting in taking items from the home, as well as Yanukovych (1:02) and a light-haired woman, assumedly the former president’s long-time live-in girlfriend, Lyubov Polezhay (2:03).
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Footage from camera No. 7 inside the residence shows dozens of people removing items from Yanukovych’s personal quarters. The items include large vases, statue and other boxed items. A Pomeranian dog is seen running out of the doorway as well, followed by a blonde woman believed to be the daughter of Polezhay (2:38). Towards the end of the video a man can be seen carrying out two apparent automatic rifles fixed with scopes.
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Footage from camera No. 6 near an entrance to Honka shows men coming and going from the residence on Feb. 19.
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Footage from camera No. 3 near an entrance to Honka shows men coming and going from the residence on Feb. 19-22.
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Footage from camera No. 5 near an entrance to Honka shows men and a blonde woman (0:52) coming and going from the residence on Feb. 20.
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Footage from camera No. 2 near an entrance to Honka shows men coming and going from the residence on Feb. 21, carrying several painting and suitcases, as well as other items to numerous moving trucks. At least three men can bee seen beginning at the 17:00 mark carrying rifles out of the house.
