Breaking.Point.The.War.for.Democracy.in.Ukraine.2017.WEBRip.x264-ION10 Subtitles

00:04:19,958 --> 00:04:24,The endlessly
fertile black earth.

00:04:24,041 --> 00:04:27,For centuries,
Ukraine'’s blessing.

00:04:27,375 --> 00:04:31,But also its curse.

00:04:35,250 --> 00:04:38,From East to West,
the invaders came.

00:04:38,750 --> 00:04:41,First, the Mongols,

00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:45,then the Poles.

00:04:50,041 --> 00:04:52,Then the Turks.

00:04:52,500 --> 00:04:55,Then the Russians.

00:05:01,583 --> 00:05:04,Hungry for grain,
hungry for bread,

00:05:04,625 --> 00:05:09,the invaders conquered the
land and reaped its harvest.

00:05:10,750 --> 00:05:16,Empire after empire stained
the earth with blood and ash.

00:05:24,458 --> 00:05:27,It's not an accident that the
Ukrainian national anthem

00:05:27,250 --> 00:05:30,the first line is
"“Ukraine has not yet died."”

00:05:32,416 --> 00:05:35,Your country is
living on the edge,

00:05:35,625 --> 00:05:37,if that's how you
celebrate your existence.

00:05:37,958 --> 00:05:40,We're still here!
We're not dead quite yet!

00:05:40,250 --> 00:05:41,I remember,

00:05:41,916 --> 00:05:45,my grandmother was from
central Russian-ruled Ukraine.

00:05:45,375 --> 00:05:48,My grandfather was from
western Polish-ruled Ukraine.

00:05:48,708 --> 00:05:51,She was Orthodox,
he was Catholic.

00:05:51,041 --> 00:05:53,and one of the most
intense debates,

00:05:53,750 --> 00:05:57,which raged almost daily
around their kitchen table was:

00:05:57,625 --> 00:06:00,"“Who repressed us more?"”

00:06:01,541 --> 00:06:04,In 1932 and 1933,

00:06:04,583 --> 00:06:08,Stalin starved to death
millions of Ukrainian farmers

00:06:08,375 --> 00:06:11,to crush the country'’s
dream of independence.

00:06:16,291 --> 00:06:19,Millions more were killed
during World War II

00:06:19,500 --> 00:06:22,in the Nazi-Soviet
battles over Ukraine.

00:06:23,083 --> 00:06:24,Just like Stalin,

00:06:24,416 --> 00:06:25,Hitler thought Ukraine was
a kind of breadbasket

00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:27,that he needed for an empire.

00:06:32,125 --> 00:06:34,The Soviet Union starts
when Russia and Ukraine

00:06:34,083 --> 00:06:34,are brought together,

00:06:34,875 --> 00:06:35,and the Soviet Union ends

00:06:35,916 --> 00:06:38,when Russia and
Ukraine come apart.

00:08:04,125 --> 00:08:06,Newly independent Ukraine

00:08:06,083 --> 00:08:11,was a country still ruled by
its communist era bosses.

00:08:11,833 --> 00:08:14,They didn't call themselves
communists anymore,

00:08:14,166 --> 00:08:17,but they were still in charge.

00:10:19,750 --> 00:10:27,The Orange Revolution was
very brave and very promising.

00:10:28,333 --> 00:10:31,What happened next
is incredibly disillusioning

00:10:31,500 --> 00:10:33,and very sad.

00:10:33,250 --> 00:10:36,The government they
want comes to power

00:10:36,250 --> 00:10:41,and it does so badly
at actually running the country

00:10:41,750 --> 00:10:43,that Yanukovych,

00:10:43,250 --> 00:10:47,who had failed to become
president fraudulently,

00:10:47,166 --> 00:10:50,is then elected as
President of Ukraine.

00:11:05,791 --> 00:11:07,A last minute about
turning Ukraine

00:11:07,791 --> 00:11:10,has seen the government
suspend a trade pact with

00:11:10,041 --> 00:11:13,the European Union just a week
before it was set to be signed.

00:11:13,875 --> 00:11:15,The government has
now issued an order

00:11:15,875 --> 00:11:18,calling off parliamentary
votes on the deal

00:11:18,125 --> 00:11:20,saying it will renew active
dialogue with Russia.

00:11:20,791 --> 00:11:22,Ukrainian President
Victor Yanukovych

00:11:22,708 --> 00:11:24,refused to sign the deal

00:11:24,333 --> 00:11:26,despite last-ditch efforts
by European leaders

00:11:26,583 --> 00:11:28,to persuade him overnight.

00:11:28,625 --> 00:11:31,That'’s prompted anger.

00:13:45,041 --> 00:13:46,I live not far away from here.

00:13:46,791 --> 00:13:50,So, I was able actually to come
to Maidan three times a day.

00:13:50,291 --> 00:13:51,Sometimes two times a day.

00:13:51,458 --> 00:13:54,Sometimes stay some
hours in the night.

00:13:54,208 --> 00:13:56,I liked especially the
fact that students

00:13:56,875 --> 00:13:59,wanted to have a
nonpolitical protest.

00:13:59,583 --> 00:14:01,Then I became very optimistic

00:14:01,541 --> 00:14:06,thinking it's much easier to
put a small country in order

00:14:06,291 --> 00:14:08,than a huge country in order.

00:15:56,625 --> 00:15:58,Those who tried to
save themselves

00:15:58,750 --> 00:16:02,were caught, thrown to the
ground and beaten with sticks.

00:16:03,625 --> 00:16:08,Some of the protesters escaped
towards St. Michael'’s Square.

00:16:10,208 --> 00:16:13,A monk invited them to take
refuge in the monastery.

00:16:13,750 --> 00:16:17,They barricaded the
door from within.

00:16:24,333 --> 00:16:26,The young people taking
refuge in the monastery say

00:16:26,833 --> 00:16:28,they do not intend to go home.

00:16:29,958 --> 00:16:34,After this morning, they'’re no
longer afraid of anything.

00:17:57,791 --> 00:18:02,They felt physically dutied

00:18:02,583 --> 00:18:05,living in Yanukovych's Ukraine.

00:18:05,291 --> 00:18:08,You couldn't live
an honorable life.

00:18:08,250 --> 00:18:11,Paying bribes, accepting bribes.

00:18:11,666 --> 00:18:13,You had to be corrupt.

00:18:13,708 --> 00:18:16,Especially for this
younger generation.

00:18:16,166 --> 00:18:17,People who came at the age

00:18:17,666 --> 00:18:19,after the Soviet
Union had collapsed.

00:18:19,291 --> 00:18:20,People who knew the West,

00:18:20,958 --> 00:18:23,they knew you didn't
have to live like that.

00:18:23,375 --> 00:18:27,And a lot of this was:
"“I will not live this way.

00:18:27,583 --> 00:18:29,I refuse to live this way."”

00:20:35,041 --> 00:20:39,When you have a revolution,
whether peaceful or violent,

00:20:39,041 --> 00:20:40,you have of course

00:20:40,583 --> 00:20:43,destruction of so called
peaceful rhythm of life,

00:20:43,541 --> 00:20:45,because you don't know
what to expect next.

00:20:45,708 --> 00:20:48,You don't know how the
protest will finish,

00:20:48,125 --> 00:20:50,and you don't know whether
it is dangerous or not

00:20:50,791 --> 00:20:52,to be next to the protest.

00:27:52,041 --> 00:27:54,Tetyana Chornovol told
police her car was stopped

00:27:54,458 --> 00:27:57,by a gang of men near
Kyiv just after midnight.

00:27:57,208 --> 00:27:58,She was dragged
from the vehicle,

00:27:58,708 --> 00:28:00,assaulted and left in a ditch.

00:28:00,250 --> 00:28:03,She suffered a broken nose,
concussion and numerous bruises.

00:28:03,125 --> 00:28:04,The reporter had just
published an article

00:28:04,625 --> 00:28:08,on the personal wealth of
Ukraine'’s interior minister.

00:29:00,875 --> 00:29:02,Ukrainian members of
parliament on Thursday

00:29:02,833 --> 00:29:04,voted for a draft law

00:29:04,375 --> 00:29:06,that threatens
fundamental freedoms

00:29:06,166 --> 00:29:08,including the right to assembly.

00:29:08,125 --> 00:29:11,Opposition members tried to
block the vote but failed.

00:32:01,333 --> 00:32:03,The main two things
which shocked me

00:32:03,625 --> 00:32:07,that at some point, people
lost sense of humor on Maidan.

00:32:07,291 --> 00:32:11,And almost next day they
lost fear of death.

00:32:21,500 --> 00:32:24,This is still something
which puzzles me

00:32:24,708 --> 00:32:28,because I cannot decipher the
psychological instruments

00:32:29,416 --> 00:32:32,which force people to forget
about security, safety,

00:32:32,500 --> 00:32:34,about their personal life,

00:32:34,083 --> 00:32:38,personal obligations to their
families and to the closed ones,

00:32:38,416 --> 00:32:43,and how they become ready
to die for their country

00:32:43,333 --> 00:32:45,which was always corrupt.

00:37:27,750 --> 00:37:31,The BBC can'’t independently
verify this footage

00:37:31,333 --> 00:37:33,but video has emerged
which appears to show

00:37:33,833 --> 00:37:35,president Yanukovych's entourage

00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:39,fleeing from his luxurious
mansion outside Kyiv...

00:38:15,041 --> 00:38:18,This afternoon crowds
of curious Ukrainians

00:38:18,250 --> 00:38:20,streamed into Yanukovych'’s
sprawling compound.

00:38:20,916 --> 00:38:22,It'’s a huge estate. I mean,

00:38:22,708 --> 00:38:25,they say it'’s half the
size of Monaco,

00:38:25,541 --> 00:38:28,costs millions of
Euros in making.

00:38:28,250 --> 00:38:30,A lot of protesters
are very unhappy

00:38:30,458 --> 00:38:32,that Yanukovych had
such a place to live

00:38:32,500 --> 00:38:34,given that living standards
in this country are so low

00:38:34,833 --> 00:38:38,that average monthly salary
is around 300 Euros.

00:38:38,208 --> 00:38:40,What was the level of
Yanukovych'’s corruption?

00:38:40,708 --> 00:38:43,it'’s hard to compare in hard
numbers how Yanukovych

00:38:43,625 --> 00:38:45,ranks to his predecessors,

00:38:45,250 --> 00:38:48,but Yanukovych seems to have
been in a class by...