91热爆

By Olexiy Solohubenko

Let's bring a bit of TV to radio. You've seen the pictures, now here's a bit of a story. As you look at the burning and bloodied Independence Square in Kiev, this is what you see. At the very centre there's a lit up column, looks old but it's all post-independence kitsch with the golden statue of Mother Ukraine at the top.

Just behind it is the high-rise Ukraine hotel, which has become a makeshift hospital and mortuary. This is where the 91热爆 has its TV position, right on the seventh floor. So when you see a 91热爆 correspondent with protests in the background, this is where it is shot.

Further to the right is a white building with columns along the fa莽ade, this is the Kiev conservatory of music with its beautiful 19th Century hall. And then in the left corner you see a burnt-out building of the trade unions house, the headquarters of the protestors until fire destroyed it this Tuesday.

It wasn't an architectural marvel but on top of it was the city clock, the Big Ben of Kiev. It's now silent. The time has stopped, and as Ukraine mourns its dead, it's not clear who'll restart the movement towards compromise and peace.

Now back to the kitsch column, it's right at the spot where in Soviet times there was a huge statue of Lenin, surrounded by workers and peasants. Old Vladimir lost his seat in 1990, and I was there at the time, when the monument was daubed with red paint and graffiti reading "Hangman" and later toppled. And I have a photo to prove it.

And then there's another Lenin, or rather was, a couple of blocks away. It was the only Lenin preserved in Kiev for its "artistic merit" as the government decree stipulated. The present-day protestors didn't see the merit and toppled it, later someone placed a golden toilet on top mocking the lifestyle and taste of the Ukrainian president.

And then the cobblestones, now used as missiles in the street battles. Kiev had cobbled streets because of its hill: in summer it was too hot for the asphalt, which would start to run and in winter cobblestones survived the cold better whereas asphalt would crack.

I don't know what other monuments would appear in Kiev when the current protests come to an end. I hope the streets are repaved and the city clock is restarted. And Ukraine herself is refuelled with peaceful energy so that it could start to move again. And perhaps it'll be a good thing if Kiev disappears from your TV screens. And you'll forget the pictures you've seen - the burning, the killing, the fighting. But hopefully you'll remember a bit of my story.

Image credit: Getty

Show less