Editor’s Note: More than 100,000 people packed Kyiv’s Independence Square to celebrate the impeachment of President Viktor Yanukovych and the freedom of ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who got released from a prison hospital in Kharkiv and spoke to the crowd. People chanted “Yulia!” and “Heroes do not die!” Most listened attentively, but a few of her detractors smirked. The speech was interrupted briefly when the crowd thought they had spoted “titushki,” government-hired thugs, creating disturbances. Ex-Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, also a former political prisoner like Tymoshenko spoke, and so did member of parliament and multimillionaire businessman Petro Poroshenko.
Freed ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko:
“My dears, when I came to Kyiv I could not recognize Kyiv – burnt cars, barricades, but this is free country that you have given us as a gift. When I came to Kyiv, the first thinkg I wanted to do si to go to Hrushevskoho Street and touch the barricades where Ukrainian boys and girls were first ready to give their lives for Ukraine.
“People who have been on Maidan and died here are heroes. Heroes will never die. They will always be with us. They will be our inspiration. Every official and every politician who will at least think of betraying you should see these boys in front of his eyes.
“When snipers were shooting in the hearts of our guys, those are the bullets that will always wound us. If we do not take those (snipers) to court, we should be ashamed.
“We could put an end to this dictatorship once and for all. Remember that you are the guarantor of victory. You cannot leave Maidan before we do what we came here to do. You are the force that can guarantee that. You have earned this with your patriotism and courage.
“If somebody says that now you can leave, do not believe those people. You can’t leave before everything is done.
“No one but you could have done that. When our guys were covering themselves with wooden shields, this is the nation and the people that cannot be put on their knees. No one will be building Mezhyhiryas again while you have to gather kopecks for sick children. You will not let that happen.
“I was praying to be part of you. We have to do a few things: We have to take Yanukovych and all his goons to Maidan. If you could have changed Ukraine, you can do anything. You were not happy about the agreement with Yanukovych and it is not working now.
“When I saw AutoMaidan, I saw that we cannot be defeated. Many people are afraid to come to Maidan, they are looking for your protection. Not everyone has the strength to come to Maidan and sacrifice their lvies. They are scared and you are their hope.
“We now have an open way to build Ukraine the way we want it. We know politicians are not trusted. Therefore we have to stand here till the end. You have deserved to run your own country. If government and parliament is composed without your participation, it will not be just.
“From this time on there will be a different Ukraine. I will be a guarantor that you are not betrayed. Politics is sometimes a big theater. I will be the guarantor that it is not that way. I am asking you to forgive me for all politicians regardless of political parties, positions. Politicians of today did not deserve you.
“My dear, I feel what situation that you have lived in all this time and I’m proud of you. The liberation of Ukraine will be followed by the democratization in other post-Soviet countries. We are on the right path. We will always be with you. We are one team. This revolution will be the beginning of changes in other post-Soviet coutnries. Now I will be doing everything so you would feel happy in your country. Glory to Ukraine!”
Ex-Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko:
“Today we have a real victory. We have a real victory. We have put an end to the bloody dictator Yanukovych. Yanukovych was stripped of his authority in the parliament, but what was the price. A minute of silence in memory of those who died on Maidan. All politicians that will come to power in a new Ukraine have to remember that there is Nebesna Sotnya of Maidan that will watch over them. They put down they body and soul to our freedom. Let’s congratulate all the sotnyks of Maidan. Let’s say thank you to Andriy Paribiy who organized self-defense units. A thank you to Pravy Sector and it’s leader Dmytro Yarosh.
“We have to thank all civil organization that have worked here on Maidan. Here a new generation of Ukraine has been born. We have to thank priest that were praying under the bullets. We have to thank all businessmen that helped here financially. All middle class were here. A separate thank you to Kyivans. I won’t be wrong if I say that only in Kyiv such a revolution could have taken place. Kyiv has deserved to have a mayoral election. Mayoral elections in Kyiv will be a lesson for all politicians. A thank you for western Ukraine that has been as the forefront of the revolution. Only this UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army) land could have given birth to people that brought this victory. Let’s thank to those Ukrainians in the east and in the south. Thank you to the press which are the heroes of Maidan.
“Thanks to all the protesters. Thanks to Ukrainians of the world. Ukrainians have put down this dictatorship. But we could not have done that if Europe did not support us. Thanks Russians who came here. Catch freedom in Russia. Thanks to the U.S. Glory to our Maidan and Glory to Ukraine!”
Member of parliament Petro Poroshenko:
Petro Poroshenko showed a new issue of Holos Ukrainy newspaper, the government-owned publication where new laws are published, to show the new constitution adopted by parliament today and all the new appointments approved by parliament. It also printed the resolution of the firing of Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko, General Prosecutor Viktor Pshonka, appointing acting interior minister Arsen Avakov and the resolution. on preventing separatism. “It means that the Rada’s voting have now taken effect,” Poroshenko said. “The 22nd of February is the date of the birth of a new Ukraine.”
