This should make the reality of Kiev hit home:

[Are_grits_groceries]

@nycjim: Medical workers amid devastation and carnage of #Kyiv. via @onlinekpru


The dead:


Many Olympians are returning home to this. They may be on the front lines too.

[MadrasT]

1. K&R

[madrchsod]

2. i listened to bbc overnight today.

the reporter said the police who were surrendering were protected by the demonstrators and shielded till they could get to safety. seems the police/military have snipers on some of the buildings,

this situation is not going anytime soon.

[Gemini Cat]

3. Horrible.

k and r.

[LuvNewcastle]

4. Freedom isn't free. I hope they achieve their goal.

[Loaded Liberal Dem]

5. Russian troops will be there after the Olympics are over

"Requested" by Yanukovich to "restore law and order," of course.

[pampango]

6. Russia is leaning on Yanukovych now, telling him to stop being a 'doormat'.

“We need partners who are in good shape and for the authorities that work in Ukraine to be legitimate and effective, so that people don’t wipe their feet on them like a doormat,” said Medvedev in televised remarks.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/blog/2014/feb/20/ukraine-crisis-new-clashes-strain-truce-live-updates#block-5305db01e4b0e0e8038da857

Perhaps Yanukovych has a few days - until the Olympics end - to prove that his security forces can 'get the job done' before all bets are off. I still think it is hard to imagine the Russian military rolling into Ukraine.

[LiberalEsto]

7. I'm 1/4 Ukrainian and this is tearing my heart out

I fear Putin will massacre not hundreds but tens of thousands of Ukrainians to preserve his "empire". Damn him to hell.

[thucythucy]

13. Do you still have family there?

Ukraine has not only had an incredibly tragic history, but it seems to me that its history is often deliberately obscured. For instance, it makes me cringe whenever I see the figure "twenty million Russian dead" cited for World War II, since the plurality of those deaths weren't "Russian" but rather Ukrainian. A culture that has had centuries of foreign domination/intervention, with only a very few windows of anything like self-determination, open for mere decades, if that.

This is one of those eras. Whether it lasts any longer than Ukrainian independence in the early 20th century, only time will tell.

Best wishes to you and yours.

[LiberalEsto]

23. None that I know of. The family seems to have died out.

I'm mostly Estonian, and I have relatives in Estonia.

Putin also would like to re-annex Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and other former Soviet republics. What we see happening now could one day happen in the Baltic nations if Putin gets his way in Ukraine

[11 Bravo]

8. If any of the dead were swimsuit models, this post would already have 500 replies.

I miss DU.

[kelliekat44]

9. +++1000. nt

[pampango]

10. She's not a 'swimsuit model' but here's one woman serving as a medic who's been shot.

Death of a medic

A young medic who posted “I’m dying” on a networking site after being shot by the police, is reported to be among those killed in the clashes, the news site Interpret Mag reports.

Olesya Zhukovskaya, 21, was shot in the neck by a sniper, according to the protest group Euromaidan.

Her last post on the site Vkontakte read: “I’m dying”.

She was photographed clutching her neck as it bled onto her white coat emblazoned with a red cross. Her message appeared to have cross posted to Twitter.



I have seen reports that she is not dead. She had surgery and has survived.

I realize that your reference to 'swimsuit models' was facetious, but I thought it was a good one to respond to with this information.

[Are_grits_groceries]

11. I hope she is alive! nt

[JDPriestly]

17. Wouldn't it be great if mixed in with the swimsuit models, Sports Illustrated pictured

a few women heroes like Olesya Zhukovskaya and a few outstanding sportswomen?

[pampango]

19. Best idea I have heard in a long, long time, JDPriestly. Thanks. n/t

[thucythucy]

14. Well put. Nt.

[riqster]

12. Kick so the Putin apologists can't miss it.

And the apathetic among us, too.

Here's my take: http://bluntandcranky.wordpress.com/2014/02/20/what-do-putin-and-a-child-molester-have-in-common/

And

http://bluntandcranky.wordpress.com/2014/02/20/the-many-faces-of-vladimir-putin/

[Ikonoklast]

18. I wonder where all the Putin ass-kissers on DU are now?

Funny how so many of them profess love and admiration for an autocratic authoritarian but hate this president.

Tells me all I need to know about such "progressives".

[riqster]

22. They'll be along, no doubt.

For now, the sound of crickets is quite soothing, don't you think?

[thucythucy]

15. These images are so difficult to look at.

Still, I have to thank you for posting them.

Tragic, heart breaking, infuriating. Words can't say enough, or do enough.

Thanks again, though, for posting.

[Are_grits_groceries]

20. I'm leaving out the very graphic ones

showing injured people.

[toby jo]

16. We need better tools for peaceful revolutions

How to get it done and respect life every inch of the way.

[Are_grits_groceries]

21. Well, one side can try to peacefully revolt all they want.

If the other side is determined to use force, it 's a done deal if they don't care who sees the bloodshed.