Ukraine marks sixth anniversary of assault on Maidan

After long scuffles on the evening of February 18, protesters were pushed back to the Maidan. The confrontation got even more fierce on the night of February 18 to 19. Earlier, Berkut riot police officers surrounded protesters from Instytutska Street and Yevropeiska Square. An assault began. Activists set fire to tires to protect themselves. After some time, they succeeded in creating a complete line of blaze that prevented law enforcers from passing. People were throwing everything they found into the fire.

Security forces brought water cannons to the Maidan, trying to extinguish the flames, but attempts were in vain. Maidan protesters repulsed the attack with bricks, fireworks and Molotov cocktails. At the same time, Berkut riot police officers tried to storm the barricades even on BTR armored personnel carriers, but it was in vain.

The Trade Unions House caught fire at 1 o'clock at night. The activists who ran out of the building said there were Berkut riot police officers inside the building who came in from the roof and the first floor and deliberately set fire to the building. When the flames covered most of the building, people still remained inside. They were rescued by means of a crane and a rope. The blaze was put out only on February 20.

On the morning of February 19, law enforcement officers again started assaulting the Maidan. As a result, eight people were killed on that day and 206 were injured, 35 of them seriously.

Kyiv remained in a transport collapse. People holding machine guns were on duty at the entrances to the city, and the subway did not work due to a so-called terrorist threat declared by the authorities. Railway services with Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions were suspended.

The deadly assault on the Maidan triggered mass protests in Ukraine's regions. As the authorities ignored the demands of the protesters, there was a large-scale seizure of government buildings in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil, and Lutsk.