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Headquarters of the Revolution and nearby…

When you enter the Trade Union Home, a monumental soviet building situated on Independence Square, you start realizing pretty fast that you are at the protesters’ headquarters. Many entrances are blocked by patrols organized by the protesters, people are running back and forth along the corridors busy with an assignment, you are always in someone’s way. For some reason you really want to get inside the room, out of which every 30 seconds appears a person carrying a pot or a tray full of plastic cups. Exclaiming “Watch out! Hot tea!” they are making their way through a crowd of people towards the exit and disappear somewhere on the street, on Independence Square / The Maidan. It looks like that very room is the epicenter of the war.

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It wasn’t so easy to get to the kitchen. I wasn’t let in by the guys at the entrance, even my press card didn’t work. It turned out that in order to take pictures even using a telephone one needs permission from the headquarters commandant who is on the second floor. There I found an ex-deputy of the Kyiv City Council, Zoryan Shkiryak, who was exhausted and unshaven; he says he hasn’t been home for a week. He took me to the commandant. The commandant escorted me downstairs and only then was I finally let into the kitchen.

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It turned out that 1600 volunteers work in the kitchen. 24/7 in 3 shifts. They are mainly young women. They are making sandwiches, preparing tea. Everyone is in a hurry. Volunteers from an epidemiological center organized the hygiene of the process – meat and dairy products are in a separate zone, in refrigerators, everyone is wearing face masks, plastic hats and gloves. I also had to take my outwear off and put a mask on.

According to the commandant, this kitchen feeds 44 thousand people every day. They are cooking here for the protesters who have occupied the building of the Kyiv City Administration.

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Here we also found Arseniy Yatsnyuk’s (leader of the “Batkivshchyna” party) wife, Tereziya.

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I didn’t really understand where this large number of volunteers came from. Obviously the youth is really fed up with the Ukrainian President, Viktor Yanukovych

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And here’s the leader of this process the commandant Stepan Kubiv. Before this he managed a bank, he was the chairman of the board in Kredobank, now he is managing the headquarters of the revolution. He says he has organized the work of the headquarters the same way as he used to in the bank, according to similar principles.

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Here is the place where pharma drugs are accepted, the ones that were brought in opened are immediately disposed of. Kubiv says that it’s important to find specialists in certain fields while organizing a volunteer movement. With specialists, seven people can organize 70. Obviously, they managed to find medics.

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They have also found material managers, people who used to work as warehouse managers during the Soviet era. Today they are accepting warm blankets. The latest batch consists of 1000 pieces.

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Field kitchens were moved to the entrance on the Trade Union Home. They are making gruel

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The members of the Party of Regions don’t want to make any concessions at all, for example, they don’t want to dismiss the minister of the Internal Affairs, and people are obviously not going anywhere. They have got enough firewood to last them a month. And it’s not clear where this will lead to. If I were Viktor Yanukovych, I would make a considerable concession and let some steam off.

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Priest at the barricades. An inspiration for the faithful.

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Here and there the groups of protesters on Independence Square/The Maidan, remind you of scenes from a Hollywood disaster movie. Los Angeles after a nuclear bombing, year 2034.

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A lot of people are sleeping not in the tents, but on the streets, on mats

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Helmets have become fashionable – ski, hockey, builders’, military. It’s clear that it’s not that pleasant to get a hit on the head with a police club.

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The Capitol Christmas tree of mass change. Calls for harvesting the Vegetable (a disrespectful way the locals call Yanukovych) are ripe, Putin is sent to go south himself and get warm there. (The word play, mixture of slang which means even tougher cursing).

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Viktor Yanukovych is looking at the Terracota Army in China and at home figures of him are hanging on the capital Christmas tree as ornaments.

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The most popular Christmas card on Maidan, showing President Yanukovych and PM Azarov behind bars “The Holiday is approaching”

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please help, do not be indifferent!!!