It snowed last night in Kamyanets-Podilskyi. Slavko Polyatinchuk accompanied me to the bus station and waited until my bus left for Khmelnytskyi. By 9 p.m., I was there. I had four hours to wait before the departure of my train to Uzhhorod. I spent two hours on my laptop in a cafe, then I went to the station. There were about twenty people asleep in the waiting rooms, most of them elderly. Several clearly homeless. Gypsy children aged around twelve ran between these rooms, looking for victims they could nick something from. I noticed that they were watching me too. Finally, I got on the train, climbed into the upper bunk and fell asleep straight away.
In Uzhhorod, I was welcomed by Oksana, a university student. She took me to a cafe near the station and we were joined by Misha Roshko, who is a writer and also a dean at the national university of Uzhhorod. We talked about the day’s schedule. We cancelled the meeting with history students, due to the fact that the rector had given them political holidays to take part in rallies. In fact, Misha told me, the students who live in other towns and villages simply went home, taking advantage of the situation. But the meeting with the philology students took place, as did my speech at the municipal library.
There were not many people in the central square, though students from the Carpathian university of Augustin Voloshin were there – so not everyone has deserted the city. There were also some from the Theological Academy, holding banners. A few orators spoke in a jerky, incoherent way, ending with the words ‘Banda, guet’!’ – which means ‘Get out, crooks!’
In Kiev, protesters organised a picket line in front of the Public Prosecutor’s office to demand the liberation of people held in custody. Apparently one of the protesters beaten up and arrested by the police has a damaged eye and needs an urgent operation. The people taking part in this protest erected two tents outside the building and swore they would not leave until they had been given what they demanded. Vitaliy Zakharchenko, the Minister of Internal Affairs, declared that police would no longer strike protesters. He has no intention of resigning, but promises an internal investigation. For now, legal proceedings have started against three policemen for ‘abuse of authority’, and against sixty-four protesters. How very fair and balanced!
In the city, car stickers of the European flag are now for sale, intended to be placed above the Ukrainian flag that features on Ukrainian registration plates. Traffic police have already warned that they will issue tickets for this, as the stickers make it difficult to read the number plates. Kiev’s policemen now have eyes only for cars’ registrations.
On the stage at the Maidan, the singer Ruslana7 promised to set fire to herself if the government refused to listen to the protesters and sign the Association Agreement. In other cities too, the movement is becoming more radical. Except in eastern Ukraine, of course.