It took Lviv native Evelina Nefertari a year to assemble all videos from the most deadly day of the EuroMaidan Revolution in a single reconstruction.
The resulting two-hour video documentary pieces together the events that took place on Feb. 20 when at least 49 activists were killed in Kyiv. The video material captured by nine cameras covers events in chronological order in all the hot spots of the protests – on Maidan Nezalezhnosti and Instytutska Street. It popped up on YouTube on the anniversary day and has collected close to 300,000 views to date.
“It was very difficult to do it – both morally and technically,” Nefertari explains, adding that she had not had any experience of video editing. She tried it for the first time when she attempted to reconstruct the last hours of Bohdan Solchanyk, also a Lviv native who died on that day. That’s how the project was born.
Nefertari personally knew two people from the Heavenly Hundred, which is a reference to the people who died during the revolution. One of those was Yuriy Verbytskiy, 51, who was abducted and found dead in Boryspil, a suburb of Kyiv, on Jan. 23.
Solchanyk, the other victim, was a friend of Nefertari’s. He used to be a lecturer in modern history at the Ukrainian Catholic University. He came to Kyiv specially to take part in the EuroMaidan protests and was shot dead on Maidan Nezalezhnosti on Feb. 20.
“(Their deaths) was something that personally touched me, because I knew both of them,” Nefertari explains. Then she collected the videos from more than 60 open sources with the help of some enthusiasts. Nefertari said she had to put it all together herself.
The videos show protesters being shot and killed on Instytutska Street by snipers behind police lines at 9:01 – 9:16 , and 9:20 – 10:38. The timeline also incorporates an ntercepted radio communication between snipers of the Security Service of Ukraine’s Alfa special unit unit starting on the 11th minute. Some videos also show doctors trying to give first aid to the wounded and protesters behind the barricades ready for new clashes.
A Lviv activist assembled videos from the bloodiest day of the revolution.
While editing, Nefertari said she was once again amazed by the commitment of the Ukrainians. She said the voice from the stage, that of Yevhen Nishchuk, who was dubbed “the voice of Maidan” for his presence on stage during the three months of protests, helped her put the videos in order. She said what was said on Maidan was the only constant in various videos, and it helped to string the videos together in a coherent line.
In May, Nefertari posted her first version of the videos captured by four cameras. Then she came to Kyiv and showed the video materials to law enforcement officers.
“Then I didn’t want to continue – because I knew every single bloody picture of the explosion or shootout,” Nefertary told the Kyiv Post. She changed her mind later as she found more video materials. “I understood I have no right to stop.”
She also believes the videos may be helpful to investigate the crimes as Ukraine’s police and prosecutors still have not delivered on the killings of hundreds of civilians by the government that had been ousted.
Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Goncharova can be reached at [email protected]
