Three more gubernatorial buildings taken, bringing number to 11

On Jan. 25, regional administrative buildings in Poltava, Vinnytsia and Chernihiv were sezied. Local media reports in Zakarpattya say that a large picket of demonstrators is currently surrounding the oblast’s capital of Uzhgorod. 

On Jan. 23-24 Lutsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Ternopil, Lviv, Rivne, Khmelntysky and Sumy were taken.

Cherkassy was taken but was later secured by Berkut riot police. 

Two national government buildings also have been taken over the past two days: Agricultural Ministry and Energy and Coal Industry Ministry, both by a staunchly anti-government group called Spilna Sprava (Common Cause). 

The president’s office has condemned the building seizures and investigations have started into the incidents, including an attempted takeover in Zhytomyr. 

Other public buildings have been taken over in the capital are the Kyiv City Hall, main Trade Union Hall and Zhovtneviy Palats. 

The events coincide amid a frail yet tense truce between protesters and police in downtown Kyiv that has been in effect since Jan. 23 following the deaths of several protesters in clashes with police. Frays have included live ammunition gun shots, rubber bullets, tear gas, and shock grenades being employed along Khrushevsky Street, and the use of a water cannon amid below freezing temperatures. Homeade grenades have also been used, but it is not clear from which side. 

The conflict erupted on Jan. 19 after President Viktor Yanukovych signed a package of freedom-crushing laws two days earlier that essentially established a police state in the country. 

Ivano-Frankivsk’s barridaded administration building after it was taken over by anti-government protesters on the morning of Jan. 24.

Two days of peace talks between three opposition leaders and the president have failed to reach an amicalbe outcome. Today, another round of peace talks is expected. 

The recent events furthermore exemplify Yanukovych losing control over a nation whose ire has been sparked over what it sees is a regime that is bent on ruthless corruption and oppression. 

It’s also part of a larger movement that was spawned on Nov. 21, called EuroMaidan, when protesters first took to the streets after Ukraine scrapped a landmark political and trade deal with the European Union. 

A brutally violent police breakup of the demonstration on Nov. 30 sparked public outcry. A permanent encampent has since been set up in central Kyiv whose members have swelled in the hundreds of thousands at times. 

Another attempted breakup of the area on Dec. 9-10 was repelled. 

The West has called for a peaceful resolution to the escalating political crisis. 

Already, the U.S. has revoked travel visas for Ukrainian officials deemed responsible for brutal acts againsts EuroMaidan demonstrators. Meanwhile a high-level European Union delegation was in Kyiv on Jan. 25 to try and find a solution to the political standoff to meet with Yanukovych and the political opposition. 

Kyiv Post editor Mark Rachekevych can be reached [email protected].