A power shift?

(Baonghean) - Temporary hospitals in Maidan, Ukraine, are in a state of emergency, according to reporters from the World Times, who spoke with Tarass Semoushchak, the man in charge of a field hospital set up just a few hundred meters from Independence Square in Kyiv. Wearing a white lab coat, he looked tired but attentively listened, guided, and provided information to visitors.

Religious symbols, the peaceful statues of Saint Michael lined up on shelves behind the doctor, seemed to offer some solace to the tense atmosphere. This medical center was set up on Tuesday in a small white church within the grounds of the golden-domed Saint-Michel monastery. But make no mistake, beneath the calm white coat Semoushchak wore lay a rebellious spirit, no less violent than those with grenades strapped to their waists outside.

A volunteer was shot in the throat by snipers in Independence Square, Kyiv, on February 20.

Rebel leaders reached an agreement with President Viktor Yanukovych on Friday, February 21, offering hope for a way out of the bloody crisis. However, the crowds in Maidan booed those who signed the agreement and demanded Yanukovych's resignation. At least 77 people have died in the past three days, including a friend of Dr. Semoushchak. He has lost faith in the government's promises since seeing the gunshot wounds to the neck and head, leaving no chance of survival for the victims. In his ambulance, he volunteered to treat a wounded police officer. But if it were out there, in the crowd, "face to face, I would kill him." In any case, since Friday, there hasn't been a single police officer in the city.

From Thursday, temporary medical centers began to be reorganized in case bloodshed resumed. Protesters recaptured the Palace of the October Revolution from the Interior Ministry's security forces. For five days they occupied the conservatory's auditorium, moving emergency medical stations from the partially burned union building to the upper floors of the monastery. By Friday, an estimated 12 emergency stations had been set up around Maidan. Each station's medical supplies consisted of only a few first-aid tables, some splints, cabinets, and chairs with boxes of medicine and tablets brought in by volunteers throughout the day. Doctors and nurses took turns on duty, having arrived from all over Ukraine within just a few days. Most were of Western origin, mainly from Lviv, the opposition's second-highest strength. Violence and bloodshed had not deterred them; they continued to pour in. Doctors from the provinces would return to their hospitals in the coming days. But many people plan to return to Kyiv.

Marta and Ivan Khavounka finished their shift at the Palace of the October Revolution shortly after the agreement was announced. They cleaned up the debris left behind from the clashes, each wearing a metal helmet and protective armor thick enough to withstand blows, their self-defense weapon a knife. Their 20-year-old son had given them the knives—knives distributed in a church. “I cried when I saw the first dead on TV,” Marta, 36, affirmed. “This week, I knew the police had deployed snipers, but a massacre of this magnitude… I absolutely couldn’t have imagined.” And next time? Marta hopes there won’t be a next time. Another civilian, Oleg, hopes that Ianoukovitch “will resign on his own.”

According to the latest information, the opposition has gained control of most of the key positions in the government. President Yanukovych is in western Ukraine, in a meeting with pro-Russian regions. The new Speaker of Parliament of Ukraine, Olexandre Tourtchinov, who is also the right-hand man of opposition leader Ioulia Timochenko, declared that the opposition's goal is the return to "normal functioning of the state apparatus." Rumors about the incumbent president's departure began circulating on Friday evening, and confirmation of his departure from Kyiv on Saturday morning further increased the credibility of these rumors.

Currently, his whereabouts remain a mystery, and the presidential office and his residence are no longer under the same strict security as before. Crowds of protesters have flocked there to "see what conditions the president is living in." Adding to this is the news of several figures from Yanukovych's faction resigning due to "health reasons." Ukrainian police have also shown their support for the opposition with a statement declaring, "The police are ready to serve the public and share their excitement about the coming changes..." This weekend is expected to see significant changes in Ukraine, including persuading members of parliament to approve the impeachment of the incumbent president.

It seems a power shift is imminent in Ukraine. Could this be the way out of the protracted and bloody crisis in the country? It remains to be seen who will play the political stage, and how, but perhaps this is already too much suffering and loss for the Ukrainian people. Let us wait and pray for the Ukrainians!

Reishi Mushroom