Following a night of fighting between anti-government protesters and police, the death toll of Kiev’s protests has risen to 77 and churches near to the Ukrainian capital’s Independence Square are being converted into makeshift morgues. Up to 570 people are reported to be injured, and one of them is 21-year-old voluntary medic Olesya Zhukovskaya.
Immediately after being shot in the neck, she tweeted ‘I’m dying’. Wearing ski goggles, presumably to guard herself against the smoke produced from the barricades of burning tyres the protestors have been using, and a helmet – presumably to protect against snipers (more on that later) – she was photographed with blood pouring down her neck. Initially believed to be dead, she is believed to be in recovery in hospital and a tweet sent from Olesya’s account earlier todayroughly translates as ‘I live! Thank you to everyone who supported and prayed for me! I'm still stable!’
Back to that sniper thing: today, doctors have suggested that the government might be using snipers against its own people: ‘There were single bullets to the head, to the heart, and to the lungs’ said Natalya Hot, the deputy chief of a hospital in western Ukraine. ‘They were shooting straight at the neck, the heart, and the lungs,’ Olga Bogomolets, a professor of medicine in Kiev told The Guardian.
The interior ministry told the paper that their forces would only be given guns and other firearms ‘in self-defence and in line with the law’. President Viktor Yanukovych has signed a deal with opposition leaders, promising an early presidential election later on this year. The agreement came after hours of talks between three European Union foreign ministers. The irony is that the whole reason people in Kiev began protesting against the government was because it refused to join the EU, and instead decided to retain its' ties with Russia.
For more on WTF is going on in Ukraine, check out this video.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.