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They kind of disappeared in an instant.
- Over there, you can see it there. - From Hotel Ukraine, right? - Yes, on the balcony.
- ***! ... Shooting from [Hotel] Ukraine!
- With bullets. Did you hear that? Watch it!
Andriy Yanchenko (Vysota), centurion of the 1st 'hundred': - It was Operation Boomerang.
Andriy Yanchenko (Vysota), centurion of the 1st 'hundred': They provoked the actions, our actions, to attack them.
They drew our forces into the snipers' line of fire and then just started shooting heavily.
That's a typical operation.
- We were holding the line there, it was okay. But then they began...
- Check the window. - The trees, I cannot shoot from behind the trees.
- There's the f*ckin' bullet. There's the f*ckin' hole. - I've got too...
- The splint, give me the splint! - I got one down here, get it! Take it!
- Put him down! - Now! - Sit down!
- Pressed it down. Pressed it down. - Hold on, brother. Hold on.
- The first aid kit!
- Doctors, doctors, up there!
- What have I got there? Anything serious? - We'll see.
- Cover him up. - Take his helmet. Take the helmet.
- Make way! - Carry now! - Where to?
- Where are you taking him? - Somebody take the helmet!
- People were coming closer to the October Palace
and at that moment the man who was walking beside me,
he was sort of adjusting his helmet fastener with his hand.
The helmet strap must be over your chin and not your throat, because this strap could break your neck if you were shot.
And while I was telling him this, I turned to him - and this man was lying dead already.
Of course the feeling of despair came after, I guess, the word from the stage that
we needed to write our blood type and telephone numbers of our mothers or close relatives above the elbow.
Then it was sort of clear there would be no weapons [for us] and no hope for something better either.
- They have looked death in the face. I have looked death in the face, I have seen people fall.
- Pick it up... - Put him over here over the shield, over the shield over here...
- Don't, we'll pull him just like this...
- But at that moment somehow you were not thinking what could happen to you.
We were thinking that we needed to cover someone, and get the wounded out of there, not to leave them there.
No one was thinking about himself at that moment. Just like my Ustym was not thinking of it.
In a video shot by some foreign cameraman, one can see him carrying out the wounded, he was able to do that.
Even this blue helmet, which was made so widely known, which he was wearing.
He took a regular military helmet and painted it blue.
He wanted to prove this way that he was no extremist, he was no terrorist, it's the United Nations peacekeepers' blue helmet.
He used to say that helmet was safeguarding him.
So many twists and turns, so many battles, and he came out almost unscathed.
He must have believed it to be his talisman.
Actually, I did believe, it was easier for me,
I thought I could cover him with my own body, that I would be able to protect him.
But there was a real battle there. And during a real battle it is impossible to find one another.
There's not enough time for that.
Andriy Yanchenko (Vysota), centurion of the 1st 'hundred': The operation has several stages: retreat, delaying the other side.
And then the opposing side is simply swept away by stronger forces.
They were unable to complete this last stage. Because the guys did not run away.
They were running to attack, but they were not running back.
They were carrying out the wounded, taking out the dead, but they were holding on.
- Come on, pull him... he's dead... Guys, there, pull the wounded there! We need to get there! Don't worry.
- Where's the wounded? Get the wounded!
- I think the objective was to shoot the gutsiest, the bravest. And that would scare the rest.
But it turned out they couldn't take down the gutsiest, because more and more newcomers kept arriving.
- Over here!
- Need to take the wounded! But to carry! Two more!
Oleh Lemiakin, deputy centurion of the 18th 'hundred': - People were coming not to attack,
Oleh Lemiakin, deputy centurion of the 18th 'hundred': but for the wounded, to carry out their fellows.
And they were yelling they were allegedly only shooting at those people who had weapons.
No, they were not shooting at armed people. They were shooting whoever they could.
In other words, it was a shooting gallery there, we were targets.
- Guys! Help!
Mariya Nazarova, Maidan Medical Service volunteer: - That's not war, that's peacetime.
But where is this line between war and peacetime? Was that not war?
- More stretchers. Stock up.
- Put him down! - Volunteers, take the...
- The stretcher, the stretcher, the stretcher! - Guys...
- Water! Does anybody have water? ... Water ... We need water!
- Don't pour it on me, don't! - No, no, we won't pour it! Drink, drink it!
- I'll be cold, don't spill it on me.
- 14 wounds.
- I clamped the vein!
- Be brave! Everything is going to be ok! - Relax, soldier!
- The smell of blood, the smell of death, the smell of fear, people having mixed emotions.
and you are trying to sort out your feelings and figure out how to act in a way to be helpful in this situation
but you realize again that in this situation
the only thing you can do is simply go forward like the rest to simply face certain death.
- We were then strengthening the frontline from the side of October Palace.
Ustym stopped answering his mobile and somebody called me and said,
"Volodia, is Ustym there by your side?". I said, "He is not answering his phone."
I was told, "Volodia, there is a scrolling text on the Internet that says Ustym was killed."
Then I left the battle and started looking for my son.
I ran to look under the Stella monument, where the dead were lying.
It was hard to lift each blanket, because my heart was sinking. And each time I prayed it wouldn't be him.
After that, I ran to City Hall and couldn't find him there, either.
Then I ran to the Liadski Gate monument by the Archangel Mykhayil, couldn't find Ustym there, either.
Then I ran to Mykhaylivskiy Cathedral, couldn't find my son there, either.
From there I ran to the Ukrainian House, couldn't find him there.
And when I was there I got a call and was told Ustym is in Hotel Ukraine.
That was the hardest moment, when I heard that. My friends helped me get there, because I had no strength left.
And I still cannot believe my child is gone.
The text on the note: Holodniuk Ustym Volodymyrovych, [born on] 12 August 1994, the city of Zbarazh, Ternopil Oblast.
The text on the note: [Varenytsia] Roman Mykhailovych, [born on] 11 December 1978, the village of Old Yar, Yavorivskiy Rayon, Lviv Oblast.
The sniper's bullet pierced Ustym's head and went through that very helmet.
I guess, I guess... the color did not matter.
- Glory to Ukraine! - Glory to the heroes!
- Glory to the nation! - Death to the enemies!
- My heart is bleeding, because this human impulse...
Well, again I did say back in January, there is the impulse and there is ... a commitment.
Although I did say back in January, there is the impulse and there is ... a commitment.
On an impulse one can throw him- or herself under the tank.
But to stand for three months, one must hold the position that Ukraine is worth not just to go on living,
but to live on without allowing oneself to be afraid.
- The words that are really etched into my memory are from little Ustym,
when he was taking care of those around him at the barricades.
In order not to scare them, he asked that in case of danger someone yell to him and his friends "The sky is falling!"
That would alert him to the danger and that he needs to move forward. Without scaring others.
"The sky is falling" will probably tingle in my ears forever, because it fell on him.
But he will hold the sky for us. He is in the heaven's hundred. I believe they are protecting Ukraine
- Lvivska Brama, attention! They will bring our brother now.
There are only his, well, friends and relatives as far as I understand,
but no one knows which 'hundred' he belongs to.
I think this is irrelevant for now. - Yes, agree.
- We will take him and do what we have to do. - Yes.
- Do all agree? - Yes, agree. - This is it. We wait then.
Singing: Hey, there is a small duck swimming down the Tysa river,
Singing: a small duck swimming down the Tysa river.
(People chanting: - Glory! Glory! Glory! Glory!)
Singing: Mother, indeed do not scold me.
Singing: You could go for me at the wrong time.
Singing: I have no idea myself where I'm going to fall.
- Many people here changed the course of history, but it's they who turned events completely around.
Ukraine is no longer the same. And it will never be the same again,
because there are guys just like them who survived. We will come out, we will stand against the bullets again.
We don't give a damn. We won't let it happen.
We won't let a single politician to do to Ukraine what they did before.
- Lvivska Brama, line up!
- Lvivska Brama, your triple! - Glory! Glory! Glory!
- Lvivska Brama, line up in two columns! - How many? - Two!
- You're a moron... Yulia is coming... - Oh, f*ck, Yulia gets into the place, f*ck.
- Let her in! Take a step to the right! - C'mon, take a step to the right.
- Let them in. - Why should I? I'll stand here, I am going to stand here.
- Step aside. - ...on the stage...
- Out of the way, out of the way! - Get out of the way!