By Solomiya Syvyk
Literary Editor

On Nov. 29, Viktor F. Yanukovych, the current president of Ukraine, presented an unexpected decision which accounted for the largest upheaval since the Orange Revolution in 2004. For more than a year, Ukraine has been on its way to signing the Association Agreement with the European Union; but, approximately three weeks ago, when Yanukovych was presented with the agreement at the EU’s Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius, he refused to ratify the document, then suggesting an alternative contract that would include the increasingly imperial and expansionist Moscow. This proposal resulted in mass protests in Independence Square, or Maidan, in the capital of Kiev, which have restlessly continued night and day under 12 degree Fahrenheit conditions.

After the Soviet Union was dismantled in 1991, Ukraine gained its independence and has been moving into a new, western direction, one free of Russian influence. “Unfortunately, years of political back-sliding and domestic corruption followed, allowing Yanukovych to capture the presidency and the old, pro-Moscow status quo to regain traction in Kiev,” stated Ilan Berman from USA Today. To further twist the knife in the wound, Yanukovych met behind closed doors with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Dec. 7 in Sochi with a resultant invitation to Yanukovych of having Ukraine join the neo- Soviet economic, anti- EU project, known as the Eurasian Union.

To make matters even worse, “the country of 46 million people has been in recession for more than a year, and the government is in desperate need of foreign funding to avoid a default,” published Fox News. Meanwhile, the EU is working on bettering its offer, but Moscow has gained leverage on Yanukovych’s decision; Russia supplies Ukraine with natural gas, it has offered price discounts and loans, previously accompanied with a threat of a trade war. The European Union also continues to hold a pre-requisite for the government to free the detained former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, who was accused of abuse of power two years ago, but it is apparent that the imprisonment was politically motivated .

“Hopefully, this does not accumulate into a war because this country has had enough struggles in its history,” said freshman, Tanya Leshkiv. One week prior, photos of the riot police, or Berkut beating the non-violent campaigners with batons was publicized and accounted for as being unauthorized actions. With that being announced, on Tuesday Dec. 10, Ukrainian Interior Minister, Vitaliy Zakharchenko, told the public that the quickly multiplying Berkut were placed to keep the roads clear, not to disperse the people.

Having this belief instated, many disbanded for the night, with the clear intention of returning the next day. Their plans were hastened when the Berkut, in the predawn darkness of Wednesday at about 1 a.m., fanned across Kiev, creating a virtual lockdown; they destroyed the well-structured barricades manned by the demonstrators, and in the process, evicted people into the below-freezing weather, many of whom traveled across the country.

“The crackdown by the authorities came hours after a three-and-a-half-hour meeting between Mr. Yanukovych and Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign policy chief,” wrote David M. Herszenhorn and Andrew E. Kramer from the New York Times. Along with Ashton, influential figures such as George Clooney, Hayden Panettiere and UK Foreign Secretary William Hague have expressed their concern for the innocent people and opinion about the government’s decision to send in the riot police.

Laura Smith-Spark wrote in CNN that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the crackdown on protesters by stating, “The United States expresses its disgust with the decision of Ukrainian authorities to meet the peaceful protest in … Maidan Square with riot police, bulldozers, and batons, rather than with respect for democratic rights and human dignity. This response is neither acceptable, nor does it befit a democracy.”

There are currently two top opposition leaders, Vitali Klitschko, from the “Udar” party and Arseniy Yatsenyuk, leader of the “Fatherland” party. “A step towards closer relations with Russia is a step backwards in the movement towards democracy for Ukraine. Either way, considering the escalating conflicts, we need to pay close attention to the events because it could cause an international incident,” said Hank Houseman, one of Neshaminy’s European history teachers. Ukraine’s revolutionaries have made it clear that they will no longer allow for their country to be dominated through fraudulence since that Ukraine’s destiny is to be free and pro-western.