The barricades still stand in Independence Square, the encampments occupied.
While Russia threatens invasion, the primary concern in Kyiv remains the revolution.
On an old storefront off Independence Square a poster calls on passersby to come in and join the army. But this is not your usual army: It’s a band of revolutionaries calling themselves the Self Defence Force.
From all over Ukraine, they’ve signed up as volunteers to work for no pay. And in Kyiv alone, they say, they number more than 7,000 – growing by the day, driven by a need to protect.
“They left their families, their jobs, their children. Now they are here for such a long time and they are living together, working together. They really are now like a real family,” says Sofiya Harbuziuk, a university student who quit her studies to join the cause.
She says the men and women of the Self Defence Force work with local police to defend the city from hooligans, from strangers and from the “titushki” – young men they believe were hired by the former government to cause trouble.
Why do they do it? One man standing in Kyiv’s European Square in a brown jacket instead of a uniform gave Global National this reason: “It is our country. I love my country. I have a mother, a sister…”
There are young and old, men and women. In Kyiv they patrol the square, protect the interim government, provide food in the square and man the barricades.
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Former President Viktor Yanukovych fled the city Feb. 22. Elections are set for May 25. But demonstrators and the Self Defence Force remain because they are skeptical: Governments have betrayed their hopes before.
One member of the Self Defence Force tells us, “I don’t trust government. I trust people. I trust all the people of Ukraine.”
For that reason, the demonstrators in Independence Square and the Self Defence Force say they’ll remain until after the elections on May 25 to make sure they see their goals realized – a new president, a new parliament and real change for Ukraine.
Memories of the more than 80 people killed in demonstrations since November hang heavy here. Harbuziuk, the university student, says members of the Self Defence Force owe it to the dead to realize those goals.
“A lot of people died and now we feel responsible for making sure that we will achieve our goals.”
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