DDoS on Maidan Monitoring Website - Information Wars Continue

Kharkiv - As reported by the Executive Director of Maidan Monitoring, via social media, the Maidan Monitoring site has been under Distributed Denial of Service during the last 24-48 hours. As someone involved in currating the English language part of that site, I have not been able to successfully log on and given the events in Kharkiv in the last forty-eight hours and in the past it comes as no surprise that these DDoS are taking place.

Over the past two days the All-Ukrainian Euromaidan Forum was held in Kharkiv in order to coordinate activities of all the different Euromaidan's throughout the country. However, as many may have expected, there was no structure that was created that would be above each individual Euromaidan from all regions of Ukraine. This was clearly specified by my old friend Ihor Kotsiuruba on his Facebook post:

Форум закінчився . Через годину їдемо на Київ-Львів . Коротенько про головне . Жодної , наголошую ЖОДНОЇ !!! надструктури не було створено ( це принципово ) В Харкові зібралися представники Євромайданів для аналізу ситуації в Україні . Розробили питання безпеки ,координації, комунікації Майданів . Працюємо далі . Слава Харкову ! Слава Україні !


In translation the following reads:


The Forum is over. In an hour we are driving form Kyiv-Lviv. Shortly about the most important. No, and I emphasize NO!!! overseeing structure was created (in principle). In Kharkiv the representives of the Euromaidans to analyze the situation in Ukraine. To develop matters of security, coordination and communication of the Maidans. We continue our work. Glory to Kharkiv! Glory to Ukraine!


Those in Kharkiv were not without their problems for a number of reason but one video that I saw becomes extremely disturbing when trying to understand those who are supposed to serve and protect decide to do things that anywhere in a developed democracy would be considered criminal.

I had seen this video once or twice during the course of the day, but when a friend of mine posted it on Facebook with the following note:

A good sized demonstration[In Kharkiv, VP] was held today. Watch this video if you would like to see:
1 - the catching of a provocateur throwing smoke bombs
2 - police taking control of the situation and walking off with the guy
3 - The guy running away
4 - A police lieutenant colonel explaining the situation

Watch it for evidence of police (put-in-your-own-bad-word) and citizen strength in documenting it.

Before I share the video with you I would like you to take note of my comments that I responded to him on his FB page regarding the video. I would like you all to make your own judgments, but such video footage always requires careful analysis.

It wasn't so much that they guy walked away after attacking someone but look at the video closely. The first guy the capture and are holding is wearing a hoody, and if you notice the back of his jacket @ about 0:29's into the video you will see that the jaket that this guy is wearing, looks like it is leather or immitation leather...

While he walks off with the guy, but here there seems to be a second character... Look carefully @ 01:28. You will see that there is knife on the ground and the cop moves towards it and @ 1:30 he places his foot on the knife in order to conceal it. e

Into the frame comes a third party, not the guy that they had caught throwing smoke bombs or whatever, but a guy with a pseudo-down coat on wearing what we in Canada would call a 'tuque'.

@ 1:31 the cop takes his foot off the knife...at 1:33 you can clearly see the knife between the cop and the third party.

@ 1:34 he covers it with his foot once again. @ 1:37 the third party pics up the knife and by 1:40 the third party has put this knife in his jacket to hide it..

The question I have is not about the first guy they let go wearing the hoody, but the second guy with the knife. So much is optics as a friend of mine put it. The cop did not identifiy himself until it was someone who had official media accreditation that asked him to do so - which is he must do. This happens at 3:55 when someone says. "I am a representative of the Press, please identify yourself!" Yes, in the end they are taking the guy in the hoody into custody, but the question remains? Who was the guy that the cop hid the knife for and what is their relationship?

Throughout the second part of this video there is one person who is constantly asking the Lieutenant why he let the guy with the knife walk away. You please make your own decisions, but right now, there is an information war going on and I must get things out via all possible channels with Maidan Monitoring being unaccesible to me as one if its Englihsh language currators.

Oh, in addition, the Forum that was held in Kharkiv was attacked many times by "titushky" (hired thugs). Most likely hired by the likes of the local Mayor and the Oblast Governor. The Kharkiv Euromaidan group has had had arson attacks, knifings, thefts and now attacks that just show how desparate those who have usurped power are to maintain it.


Vasyl Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant

Open Statement to the International Democratic Community from Ukraine

Kyiv: Dec.12, 2013

In the middle of the night, from 10 to 11 December 2013, Ukrainian special forces troops started another brutal attack on the peaceful demonstrators in Kyiv. Aside from the regular police, militia men were also widely involved, having been brought from the depressed cities of eastern Ukraine. Some of them were deployed to cause provocations, as it had been done during the scripted assault on the interior troops at the building of President’s Administration on December 1.

This time the Government and their local and Russian political technologists started to conduct “Nazi-like” activities amongst the protesters. More than a dozen young individuals wearing helmets with swastika and armed with armature rods were trying to break through to Maidan and stir up a fight with the police. Fortunately, the protesters prevented them just in time.

This incident could have been dismissed if there had been no ongoing campaign conducted for years by Moscow-financed agents in Ukraine, Russia and the West to discredit Ukraine, the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian nationalist movement, and the modern Ukrainian democratic opposition. The campaign’s aim is to undermine national aspirations to Ukrainian independence and sovereignty, in order to recapture Ukraine and incorporate it into a newly restored Russian Empire. The main message of this campaign is to depict Ukrainians as perpetual xenophobes and pogrom-orchestrators, anti-Semites and Nazi accomplices. It is obvious that today we have to deal with efforts at ascribing the same image to those who came out to protest against the actions of the President Yanukovych and his subordinates.

As a result of this, we want to emphasize that the current protests in Ukraine have brought to life the desire of the vast majority of the Ukrainian society to permanently and peacefully integrate into European civilization. The Ukrainian people are willing and eager to adopt and incorporate the values of the European political and economic community—in particular, implementing modern, universally accepted human standards of relations among individuals, peoples, confessions, etc. The main principle of the protest movement, approved by all opposition parties and regular participants of the protests, is the refusal to use force and allow any divisions in the Ukrainian political nation.

We urge the International Democratic Community not to believe the provocations of the security services, to resolutely condemn the violence by the current Government of Ukraine and to support the aspirations of the Ukrainian people toward Freedom and Democracy.

Refat CHUBAROV
Head of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People

Semen GLUZMAN
President of the Ukraine Psychiatrists Association, human rights activist and former political prisoner

Tetyana KHORUNZHA
Editor-in-chief of “Forum of Nations” newspaper

Myroslav MARYNOVYCH
Vice-Rector of Ukrainian Catholic University, human rights activist and former political prisoner

Vitaly NAKHMANOVYCH
Leading researcher of Museum of Kyiv History, Executive Secretary of the «Babyn Yar» Public Committee

Myroslav POPOVYCH
The Ukraine National Academy of Sciences academician, Director of the Institute of Philosophy

Meylakh SHEYKHET
Director of the Representative Office in Ukraine of the Union of Councils for the Jews in the Former Soviet Union

Taras VOZNYAK
Editor-in-chief of Independent Cultural Magazine “JI”

Joseph ZISSELS
Chairman of the Ukraine Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities, Executive Vice-President of the Congress of National Communities of Ukraine, human rights activist and former political prisoner

GoPro: Euromaidan on 8 December, 2013 in Kiev, Ukraine

Incredible panoramic views of Kyiv meeting on December 8, 2013

Vasyl Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant

The world is changing and let's make it change faster!

I love technology and love to abuse it...

In the last while with the events that have been going on in Ukraine - which I can understand completely - I want to look at manners which we as people can use technology to meet our needs.

So how do we do such a simple thing? It comes down to leveraging social media through a technology that was developed by some brilliant marketers at the DE-DE Group, LLC of New York.

I hope that right now together with a fellow Canadian I will be able to use this technology to help the people of Ukraine.

Today we launched a Thunder Clap called LiberatEUkraine - located at http://thndr.it/IuplOh we will appreciate your support and would love to be able to say that fourteen days from now that at least a billion people know about the the current situation in Ukraine.


 Vasyl Pawlowsky Independent Consultant

Dear fellow citizens, policy makers and citizens of the world!

We, the citizens of Ukraine, are asking for your help and appealing for your support and solidarity. In Ukraine the power has been seized by a group of oligarchs leading by the President Yanukovych who violently dispersed peaceful demonstrations against the anti-Ukrainian policy of the President Yanukovych. In the early morning they attacked unarmed people who decided to stay at the place of demonstrations through the night.

On the night of 29/30 November, on the Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti) in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, about 500 people, mostly unarmed students, women and elderly citizens have received a shock from bumps and injuries inflicted by groups armed with clubs and in camouflage gear. On the Independence Square the blood was shed of those who came to express their views, support of Ukraine’s integration into the European Union and distrust of President Viktor Yanukovych who despite the will of the nation had refused to sign the Association agreement on November 29, 2013.

Yanukovych was simultaneously haggling both with representatives of the European Union and Russian President Putin over the financing attraction in exchange for the association with either the EU or the Russian Customs Union. This is unacceptable from the point of view of diplomacy and honour. Ukraine's economy is quickly approaching collapse and the treasury is empty, but Ukrainian oligarchs jointly own assets of the value that by several times exceeds the annual budget of Ukraine. These funds have been stolen from the nation. Oligarchs buy real estate, banks and businesses in European countries and the USA. Please, be assured that these people will never stop. If nobody puts an end to their crimes, they will spread the plague of corruption also in the neighboring democracy countries.

The President Yanukovych does not represent the interests of Ukrainian majority. As a result of the activities of his administration, the law and the Constitution of Ukraine have been significantly changed and no longer offer legal framework for the defense of the inviolable rights and freedoms of Ukrainian nation. The law on national referendum has been amended leaving no legitimate mechanisms that allow peaceful and legal change of power. In 2015 Yanukovych is going to declare himself a president for life through fraudulent actions and changes in legislation, which is inevitably pushing our country towards totalitarism.

The oligarchical structures control big businesses, and most ofoligarchs are a part of the Yanukovych Family. They attack, absorb and usurp medium size enterprises. Authorities, courts and police are corrupted by the government and headed by individuals loyal to Yanukovych and the ruling party, which is why they make biased decisions against the citizens and justice.

Most Ukrainian media spread false information. The representative of the Yanukovych family quasi-oligarch Alexander Kurchenko bought the largest media holdings Ukraine and introduced censorship there. Hundreds of journalists left in protest, and hundreds were fired as they refused to implement the Yanukovych’s anti-Ukrainian and anti-state plans and promote ideas of the union with the totalitarian and putinesque Russia. Major media resources in Ukraine are controlled by Yanukovych and this is why the world does not know the whole truth about the battle between the people of Ukraine and the criminal authorities that has been going on for years despite the fact that activists and honour people are thrown in jail and mutilated because of their views at demonstrations. We, the citizens of Ukraine, have exhausted all options of influencing the situation, so our last resort is to go on the streets of our cities and protest against the criminal actions of the authorities by means of disobedience acts and solidarity with political prisoners and victims of violence on our streets..

On 22 November 2012, more than a week before the day the Association Agreement was expected to be signed Ukrainians went on the streets and squares to express their disagreement with the European policy of the Government and demand its resignation. It was a grassroots show of support, without the leaders and party symbols. On Sunday, 24 November, Mr. Yatsenyuk, Mr. Tyahnybok and Mr. Turchynov, the representatives of so-called opposition addressed to the meeting, And after this more than 50 thousand people in Kiev came from the European Square and marched under the Cabinet of Ministers and Presidential Administration, which encountered resistance from the police’s special forces "Berkut". About 30 thousand people however continued to protest on Independence Square, the central square of Kyiv, without any party symbols. People remained on the Independence Square for a week, day and night. Men and women, residents of Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities and towns. They spent their nights outdoors, rain and shine. The rest of the country also joined the protests, their residents rallied in support of the meeting in Kyiv and against the criminal government of the President Yanukovich. Ukrainian communities in Germany, United Kingdom, Poland, Austria, Canada, France, Portugal, the USA and other countries expressed their support for Ukrainians and also held rallies near the Ukrainian embassies.


The situation becomes more dangerous due to the Ukrainian oppositional parties and their heads are not represented by authentic and decisive leaders who are ready to consolidate the society and start a real fight against Yanukovych regime. On numerous occasions, when the massive protests took place including against the anti-Ukrainian law On Languages, they had a chance to join the strikes and organize a nationwide movement and opposition to the regime, but they have never used these opportunities due to the fear of retaliation from Yanukovych and his fellow party oligarchs. On the eve of the bloody events on the Independence Square opposition “leaders” took the precaution of leaving the meeting on the Independence Square before the special forces were brought to disperse the demonstration.

Citizens of the world, colleagues and all good people! Life of people of good will can’t be free and happy when the rights of your neighbours are affected, when freedom and justice are in danger, when blood of innocent civilians is shed. We ask all good and honest people to demand that all democratic governments of Europe, America and the rest of the world help Ukraine to restore democracy. The killings and repressions must be stopped immediately.

We would like to ask you and the officials of all democratic countries to perform the necessary actions to reaffirm their democratic position regarding Ukraine and its people. For the sake of peace and humanist values, please voice your opinion and, as soon as possible, take the appropriate governmental decisions to facilitate the following:

1. Sanctions against Ukrainian politicians, oligarchs, officials and their families, declaring them personae non grata in your countries, blocking entry, arresting assets in their foreign bank accounts and seizing their movable and immovable property. Have no doubt that it has been stolen from the Ukrainian nation.

2. Officially condemn the actions by President Yanukovych and Minister of Internal Affairs Zaharchenko that led to dispersion and violence towards a peaceful demonstration on the night of 30 November 2013 in Kyivv.

3. Stop and avoid all negotiations with the Yanukovych government regarding the loans. This government is not able to ensure the proper distribution of funds, because it acts against the interests of people. Any decision on the loan extension will be declared invalid after the regime change. Do not give money to liars and blackmailers!

4. Commence criminal prosecution of the criminals involved in corruption and violence in Ukraine. We would like to ask you never to give them asylum that would prevent them from facing the UN international tribunal. We would also like to ask you to apply sanctions against every country giving them asylum.

5. Avoid signing contracts or entering any agreements with the leaders of so-called opposition until they confirm their position with regard to change the regime in Ukraine.

Good people of the world, we are asking you to help Ukraine in this difficult time to throw off the yoke of corruption. We would like to ask for your support to help us stop the totalism on its way to the West. We would like to thank you for your support of universal values - freedom, democracy and humanity.

We believe that we will soon join the international community as free people. Long live the spirit of freedom around the world!

I, Vasyl Pawlowsky, as an Independent Consultant have reposted this in support of the people of Ukraine who believe in the rule of law, democracy and European values.

Desparate measure of a desparate bandit

As I write this short blog, I would like to go back to something that I mentioned a number of years ago regarding a particular character by the name of Viktor Yanukovych. Anyone who has followed things in Ukraine clearly knows that there is nothing but Kangaroo Court justice in the country.

Some people even believe that the man with the name above is the president of one of Europe's largest countries. However, it is becoming even clearer today that even though he holds the position of president, his way of thinking as well as those who make up his Cabinet of Ministers is more criminal than anything that has anything to do with Europe or European values.

Today there is a gathering what are known as “titushky” in Kyiv, to basically  provoke and cause problems. Titushki are basically hired thugs, the kind of people Viktor Yanovych knows extremely well, given that is the way he thinks. There are close to five hundred such thugs who have been bussed into Kyiv – and one of its first victims was Dmytro Hnap of Hromadske Telebachennya (Public Television).

Beaten journalist from Public Television, Dmytro Hnap, Kyiv, November 29, 2013

Shortly thereafter member of Parliament Vyacheslav Kyrylenko tweeted the following:

His first and lower tweet reads:

If the “titushky” descend on the students and peaceful citizens on #Euromaidan the entire responsiblity will fall personally on the Minister of Internal Affairs.

His second and higher tweet reads. 

Because MIA knows about everything, were warned about everything including the "titushky" which they have basically taken under their own protection. Are you serving legally Mr. Zakharchenko? Or for whom are you working?

While what happens in Ukraine is an internal affair of Ukraine, it is time that Yanukovych and all the like minded criminals in his country be treated as such.

Their assets abroad should be frozen, they should not be accepted to travel to Canada, the USA or any European Union country or country that strives to be govern by the rule of law.

Vasyl Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant

The strength of the human spirit!

Many of have probably heard about the Ukrainian Government making a sudden flip-flop on its pro-European aspirations, and has decided it will not be signing the Association Agreement at a summit in Vilnus next week. Many of the people of Ukraine feel betrayed by the government and have decided to take to the central squares of all the major cities in Ukraine in protest.

This happened on the eve of the ninth anniversary of the beginning of the Orange (R)evolution a day which had become know as Freedom Day. There is plenty material out there in the English Language his recent bit of civil protest that has just started and should be growing, but if you want to know more n the background of what this is all about you can search Twitter for the hashtag #450UA you will be able to find links to English language materials on Ukraine and then search for Association Agreement or Europe and Ukraine together. There is a good deal of material on what has happened, though what I want to share with you is about the strength of the human spirit.

The following is something a journalist acquaintance of mine, Marichka Padalko, posted on her Facebook wall a short while ago in Ukrainian. I will translate it for my English speaking friends below, but this is worth knowing about and really tells you something about the human spirit.

"З вражень дня... Переходжу Хрещатик в бік Монумента через підземний перехід близько шостої вечора. Переді мною сходами підіймається невисокий хлопець, він тримається за перила, і кожен крок йому дається дуже важко, ноги ікс-ом, плутаються, схоже, ДЦП. Перша думка - допомогти, бо прямо боляче на нього дивитися. Друга - звичайно, не чіпати, хлопець дає собі раду сам і, напевно, цим пишається. Він таки підіймається нагору, а на вулиці ......дістає з кишені свого чорного плаща синьо-жовтий прапор і загортає в нього свої розправлені плечі. Хлопець йшов на Майда..."

"Impressions of the day... I was crossing Khreschatyk towards the Monument via the pedestrian underpass at about six in the evening. In front of me was a young man of small stature, he is holding the hand rail, and it seems to me that every step is extremely difficult for him, his legs are crossed, kind of mixed up, it seemed that he was afflicted by something like cerebral palsy. My first thought - was to help him, because it pained me to watch him. My second - of course was, to leave him alone, as he seemed to be coping just fine, and his probably very proud of himself. He continues upward and makes his way up to the street... he reaches into the pocket of his black jacket and pulls out an azure-yellow flag and drapes it over his straigtened shoulders. This guy was heading to Maydan..."

If that one person with his physical difficulties could do it, why can't any other Ukrainian who has the aspiration in being part of Europe where the rule of law exists. Ukraine has a lot of work to do, but the robber barons seem to want to just plunder more of the nation's wealth while they are in power. While they look down at the people they are supposed to be serving. The current government of Azarov has to go, and they should be tried by a tribunal of unbribable judges in the European Court of Human Rights for everything they had done since usurping power.


Vasyl Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant