Trial and Investigation Testimonies of Wounded Maidan Activists and Witnesses

Abstract

This chapter analyzes testimonies concerning snipers by wounded Maidan activists and prosecution, defense, and Maidan witnesses at the Maidan massacre trial and the investigation in Ukraine.

This chapter analyzes testimonies concerning snipers by wounded Maidan activists and prosecution, defense, and Maidan witnesses at the Maidan massacre trial and the investigation in Ukraine. It also includes trial testimonies of relatives of killed Maidan protesters, Ukrainian journalists, and snipers and commanders from government units, and the Berkut police. It shows that the absolute majority of wounded protesters and about 100 prosecution and defense witnesses and relatives of the killed Maidan activists testified about witnessing snipers in the Hotel Ukraina and other Maidan-controlled buildings and areas and their shooting of the protesters and the police. Testimonies attributing the massacre to the Berkut police or government snipers were contradicted by synchronized videos and forensic ballistic and medical examinations by government experts. There were no confessions or witness testimonies about orders or specific involvement of President Viktor Yanukovych, his government ministers, Berkut and police commanders, in the massacre of the protesters, including their advance knowledge and any massacre orders.

5.1 Testimonies of Wounded Maidan Activists Concerning Snipers in Maidan-Controlled Locations

Although the official investigation denied existence of snipers in these Maidan-controlled buildings and areas, the absolute majority, 52 out of 74 wounded Maidan protesters, with whose shooting on February 20 Berkut policemen, were charged and whose testimonies were revealed at the trial, testified at the trial and/or the investigation that they were shot by snipers from Maidan-controlled buildings or areas, witnessed themselves snipers there, and/or were told by other Maidan protesters during the massacre about such snipers. At least 31 wounded protesters testified at the trial and/or the investigation that they were shot from Hotel Ukraina, Bank Arkada, and Zhovtnevyi Palace, Muzeinyi Lane and Horodetsky Street buildings, and other Maidan-controlled buildings or areas. At least 35 wounded Maidan protesters testified that they witnessed snipers there and/or were told about snipers in these Maidan-controlled locations by other protesters (see Video, 2023d; Map 3.1).

Videos, photos, and testimonies of Maidan activists show that Hotel Ukraina, Zhovtnevyi Palace, the Main Post Office, and the Music Conservatory were controlled by the far-right and other Maidan forces and Bank Arkada, Horodetsky 11, Muzeinyi Lane 8, 10, and 12 buildings were in the Maidan-controlled areas when Maidan activists, journalists, and other witnesses filmed or reported snipers there (see Chapter 3; Map 3.1; Katchanovski, 2023a; Video, 2023a). The government investigation denied that there were any Maidan snipers, who shot Maidan activists from these Maidan-controlled buildings and areas. A Berkut lawyer said that wounded protesters identified sectors of fire from Hotel Ukraina, Bank Arkada, Zhovtnevyi Palace, Horodetsky 11, Muzeinyi Lane 8, 10, and 12, the Main Post Office, the Music Conservatory, Instytutska 7 and 8, and Cabmin (Video, 2023d, 58:02).

5.1.1 Hotel Ukraina Snipers

The absolute majority of the wounded protesters testified about Hotel Ukraina snipers. At least 17 wounded Maidan activists, with whose attempted murder Berkut members were charged, stated at the trial and the investigation that they were shot from Hotel Ukraina. At least 28 wounded protesters testified that they witnessed themselves snipers in this hotel or were told by other protesters during the massacre about snipers there. (see Video, 2023d). Videos, the official statement by the far-right Svoboda Party, the Maidan massacre trial verdict, and interviews by hotel staff and the head of the Maidan group that guarded this hotel show Hotel Ukraina was controlled and guarded by the Maidan forces, in particular, far-right Svoboda activists, before, during, and after the massacre (see Chapters 3, 8; Katchanovski, 2023b) (Fig. 5.1).

Fig. 5.1

(Photo by the author)

Hotel Ukraina

For instance, Borys Kharchuk testified during the trial that he was wounded by a sniper from a Hotel Ukraina window. He said that he was shot immediately after he saw two persons in black clothes and black balaclavas in a Hotel Ukraina window between the fourth and the sixth floors, and one of them was aiming a rifle. When Kharchuk shouted “snipers,” he noticed that another protester near him was shot in the back and he himself was wounded in his arm when he turned to look at this protester. Kharchuk demonstrated his own position in the moment of his shooting and locations of his entry and exit wounds at a significant vertical angle. They all point to a gunshot from the direction and the height of the hotel and not from the Berkut police on the ground (Video, 2023d, 4:50).

Similarly, Sviatoslav Kolesnikov testified during two investigative experiments and his first interrogation in 2014 that he was wounded from upper floors of Hotel Ukraina. His wounding from Hotel Ukraina is consistent with his description of his position at the moment of the shooting that he demonstrated during both investigative experiments, his wound in the right shoulder, and its steep direction. A video showed Maidan protesters taking cover under this bridge and pointing towards shooting from the upper floors of this hotel at the direction of the bridge at the same time as Kolesnikov was wounded on the bridge. A government forensic expert during an on-site investigative experiment determined that the bullet impacted his chair, which he shielded himself from Hotel Ukraina, at a 35 degrees angle and that this pointed to a gunshot from an upper floor of this hotel (see Video, 2023d, 45:20; 2023g).

Volodymyr Venchak testified that he was wounded in the back from Hotel Ukraina. When he was in a group of Maidan protesters on Instytutska Street, Venchak saw TV operators and other persons in open windows of the hotel. He said that these Maidan activists felt that there was shooting in the back from this hotel and that they saw later in videos gunshot impacts that only could come from this direction (Video, 2023d, 0:15). Forensic examinations of his wounds and clothing also determined that Venchak was shot in the back from a steep direction. The Maidan massacre trial verdict stated that he was wounded from Hotel Ukraina (see Chapter 8).

Andrii Khalak said in the investigative experiment video that he was shot from Hotel Ukraina based on his position and his wounds locations (Video, 2023d, 7:37). Ivan Plish stated that he was wounded near Zhovtnevyi Palace in the back of his head from Hotel Ukraina. He said that there was then shooting from the back, from Hotel Ukraina and that he saw 3 to 5 people with weapons, including with an apparent assault rifle, on the roof of Hotel Ukraina. Plish stated that he and other Maidan protesters were shot from this hotel (Video, 2023d, 16:00). A government forensic examination confirmed the entrance bullet hole in the back of his helmet and exit holes in the front area of the helmet and in the glasses and their steep direction.

Mykola Rudyk testified that his group of protesters feared shots from the back from Hotel Ukraina. He feared danger from this hotel and from Zhovtnevyi Palace. Rudyk stated that he heard about a sniper in the hotel before he was wounded. He identified himself looking back towards the hotel shortly before the bullet hit a tree behind their group of the protesters because they said that there was a sniper in the upper part of the hotel (Video, 2023d, 19:23). His testimony is corroborated by the Belgian VRT video and the Maidan massacre trial verdict (Chapter 8; Video, 2023c).

Borys Aseev testified that the protesters in the same group talked about possible shooting from the hotel when they turned their heads towards Hotel Ukraina after a shot in that tree (Video, 2023d, 20:00). While he denied that he did this, the Belgian VRT video showed him pointing and shouting to Hotel Ukraina snipers after the bullet hit a tree near this group and narrowly missed them (see Video, 2023a, 2023c).

Roman Kachan testified that other protesters in the same group were shouting about a sniper firing from Hotel Ukraina and that there was a sniper on this hotel. He showed during an investigative experiment his entry wound on the right side and stated that he was wounded from Hotel Ukraina, which was on the right from him (Video, 2023d, 23:46).

Roman Tityk, who was in the same group, testified at the trial that other protesters wanted to go to Hotel Ukraina after they heard a rumor that somebody was shooting from this hotel. He states that Volodymyr Zherebnyi told him that he saw a gunshot flash in a hotel window in the middle or top area of the hotel. When Tityk looked at that part of the hotel, he saw an open window there (Video, 2023d, 52:13). He said in his Ukrainian media interview that some suspicious people among the Maidan activists, specifically a person in black, tried to lure them to the place where they were killed and wounded (NTN, 2014).

Serhii Trapezun, who was also in this group of the Maidan protesters, showed during an on-site investigative experiment a bullet impact trace in the wall from Hotel Ukraina side and suggested that the bullet might be linked to killing of Ushnevych when he was protected by this wall from Berkut. Trapezun said during this investigative experiment that he saw an open window in Hotel Ukraina corner part on the 3d or 4th floor, and that he thought that he might have been shot from there (Video, 2023d, 20:49). This is consistent with his position in videos, a somewhat top to bottom wounds direction, and identification of the entry wound in his left thigh and the exit wound in his right thigh by a hospital (Video, 2023a).

Trapezun stated in his Ukrainian media interview that shots that killed and wounded most members of his group came from the sides and from the back (24 Kanal, 2014). He also said that he was wounded from Hotel Ukraina or possibly two-story building on the left (Horodetsky Street) (Video, 2023b). In his interview during medical treatment in Israel, Trapezun said that he saw snipers shooting at the protesters from the hotel roof and from a hotel room (Chapter 4; Slutskaia, 2014).

Yuri Andrushko testified that he saw a protester near him being shot, and he believes that this protester was shot from Hotel Ukraina. He also stated in his investigation testimony that he saw a bullet trajectory from this hotel (Video, 2023d, 26:27).

Vitali Karpyn stated at the trial and at the investigative experiment that he clearly saw gunshots from Hotel Ukraina, in particular gun flashes. He says that the gunshots were from Zhovtnevyi Palace side of the hotel. He saw these flashes when he was climbing to Zhovtnevyi. Karpyn saw many protesters shot near Zhovtnevyi Palace from Hotel Ukraina when he and others were climbing to Zhovtnevyi. He heard gunshots again from Hotel Ukraina when he was near the snow barricade, and he was wounded from a top direction (Video, 2023d, 8:05).

Pavlo Onufriiv testified during the investigation that there were one or two snipers in black uniforms on the roof of this hotel. Onufriiv identified during the investigation Hotel Ukraina and Zhovtnevyi Palace along with Bank Arkada on the map of 6 buildings that he saw snipers on with his binoculars. The locations of three other buildings were not made public at the trial. He testified during the investigation that there were one or two snipers in black uniforms on the roofs of Hotel Ukraina and Zhovtnevyi Palace and that he was shot by a sniper that might have been located on the hotel roof. Onufriiv pointed the exact location of a sniper on the roof of this hotel during the investigative experiment. But like many other protesters at the trial, he changed or dismissed as unimportant his testimonies during the investigation about snipers in these Maidan-controlled locations (Video, 2023d, 48:04).

Petro Ladym also testified during the investigation that there was shooting from Hotel Ukraina. Oleksandr Yashchuk stated that he feared danger from Hotel Ukraina above and put his shield to protect from there (see Video, 2023d, 15:14, 17:55).

Vadym Lapko testified that when he with his Maidan company started to move to Zhovtnevyi Palace some protesters were saying that there were gunshots from Hotel Ukraina.

In his investigation testimony, Lapko said that when they climbed to Zhovtnevyi and were crossing the area near its columns some protesters were warning about snipers in Hotel Ukraina. He testified that there were gunshots from Hotel Ukraina direction based on their trajectory when his company was approaching Zhovtnevyi Palace (Video, 2023d, 38:16).

Yuri Slyvka testified at the trial and the investigation that he saw three snipers who shot Maidan protesters from the roof and a window of Hotel Ukraina. Two of these snipers were on the hotel roof and one was on the top floor in a hotel room facing Zhovtnevyi Palace. Slyvka testified that he saw one sniper shooting from a Hotel Ukraina window. He also saw a sniper on the roof near Hotel Ukraina sign and another sniper on the roof of this hotel on Zhovtnevyi Palace side. These snipers were in balaclavas. He also witnessed protesters shouting about the snipers on Hotel Ukraina roof after a female medic was wounded. Slyvka said that some twenty protesters went to the hotel because of the sniper shooting from one of the window after a male protester was wounded (Video, 2023d, 02:07).

Similarly, Bohdan Datsyshyn testified that when he was near Zhovtnevyi Palace other protesters told him that a sniper was shooting from the 6th floor of Hotel Ukraina and killed or wounded a couple of protesters. He stated during the trial that he himself saw for 10–15 minutes opening and closing of curtains in a partially opened window on the 6th floor of the hotel, and he showed its location. This is consistent with modus operandi of snipers there in videos and testimonies. Datsyshyn said that there was a motorbike helmet near Zhovtnevyi with a bullet hole on the right, i.e., hotel, side. It matches the killing of Kotsuba, since he wore such a helmet and was shot in the head near Zhovtnevyi (Video, 2023d, 9:52).

Petro Kovalchuk testified that he was wounded in the back and that after he was carried to Zhovtnevyi he waited there during shooting, which came from Hotel Ukraina. He stated during the investigation that he was shot either from this hotel or Zhovtnevyi Palace. Kovalchuk also heard shots from Hotel Ukraina direction circa 6:00am when he was on the Maidan.

A steep direction of his wounds, the location of the entry wound in the back, and his position described by him are consistent with him wounded a “sniper” there (Video, 2023d, 13:50).

Andrii Navaliany testified that he was shot from a Hotel Ukraina direction. He said that after he was wounded on the Maidan and brought for treatment he heard about shooting from Hotel Ukraina and that many protesters were killed there (Video, 2023d, 14:38). Kushnir testified during the investigation that he was wounded from the same hotel in the area of the pedestrian bridge during the advance of Maidan protesters. He stated during the trial that he was shot from a Hotel Ukraina direction (Video, 2023d).

Vasyl Symchyn testified that lots of people were saying during the massacre that there was a sniper in Hotel Ukraina, in particular, on the 7th floor (Video, 2023d, 29:00). Vitalii Gukov stated at the trial that some protesters were saying about gunshots from Hotel Ukraina. He said during an on-site investigative experiment that he was wounded in the right side of his right thigh and stated that then Hotel Ukraina was on his right (Video, 2023d, 32:00).

Yuri Ksenchuk testified during the investigation that he saw a sniper in a black uniform with a rifle on a Hotel Ukraina balcony. However, at the trial he omitted this testimony and then claimed that his testimony was incorrectly recorded by the investigation. Investigation documents signed by him and his testimony in the investigative experiment video, which was shown at the trial, confirmed that Ksenchuk testified during the investigation that he saw a sniper in a black uniform with a rifle on a balcony in the middle part of Hotel Ukraina. He identified a sector from which he was wounded that included Zhovtnevyi Palace and Hotel Ukraina. He showed during an investigative experiment the location of the sniper in this hotel. A Berkut lawyer noted at the trial that another wounded protester showed a sniper location in the same hotel area (Video, 2023d, 33:58).

Oleksandr Huch stated during the trial that his fellow Maidan protester told him that he along with other Maidan activists captured in Hotel Ukraina a man with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and with one full and one empty magazine. They transferred him to the Maidan stage to Parubii, the Maidan Self-Defense commander, because they assumed that this was a police sniper. But they heard no information about this captured sniper afterward (Video, 2023d). A rational explanation is that this was a cover-up of a Maidan sniper by the Maidan leadership.

Mykhailo Medvedetsky testified at the trial that he heard from the other protesters during the Maidan massacre about shooting from Hotel Ukraina. Yaroslav Hrabovetsky stated during the investigative experiment that there were also shooters at the top and pointed to a top in a Hotel Ukraina direction. Ihor Vikuliov testified during the investigative experiment that he might have been shot from Hotel Ukraina or Zhovtnevyi Palace (see Video, 2023d, 51:28).

In his testimony at the trial and the investigation, Volodymyr Buchenko stated that he was shot from a Hotel Ukraina direction. He said during an investigative experiment that protesters behind him feared danger from Hotel Ukraina and tried to hide behind shields from that direction (Video, 2023d, 52:48).

Anton Lubianetsky testified during the investigation that he was shot from a Hotel Ukraina direction. Andrii Frantsuz during an investigative experiment showed his position near Zhovtnevyi Palace entrance, his entry and exit wounds locations, and their steep top to bottom and right to left direction. The investigative experiment video showed Hotel Ukraina in that direction. A Berkut lawyer said that Frantsuz testified in the investigative experiment video that protesters were hiding behind Zhovtnevyi Palace entrance columns from a Hotel Ukraina sniper and that he did the same (Video, 2023d, 53:42, 55:30).

Anatolii Adamovsky stated that protesters told him that they saw and heard shooting from Hotel Ukraina and that one sniper position was in a hotel room, which had constantly filming video camera on the balcony (Video, 2023d, 56:20). This matches either the 9th floor room, from which a long video of the massacre was filmed by Svoboda activists, or the German ZDF TV room on the 14th floor, from which a long ARD video of the massacre was filmed and in which the far-right-linked group of Maidan snipers was filmed shooting (see Video, 2023a).

Oleh Sukhinsky during the investigative experiment pointed towards Hotel Ukraina as the direction of the gunshot that wounded him. He said in his Ukrainian media interview that he saw that he was shot from Hotel Ukraina (Omelianchuk et al., 2014). A Berkut lawyer stated in his closing arguments during the trial that Droziuk saw snipers in the Maidan-controlled Hotel Ukraina and that Soloviov and Amelchenko testified that they could have been wounded from this hotel (Video, 2023d, 58:48).).

The Maidan massacre trial verdict noted that another wounded Maidan activist possessed information about snipers in Hotel Ukraina windows. His description matches Petro Lukashevych from the Volyn Region in Western Ukraine. The verdict noted that he initially was avoiding the investigation and refused to testify at the trial: “As can be seen from the written statements of PERSON_1483 dated May 11 and 17, 2014 (vol. 166 a. 34, 44, 57), the latter initially asked not to open criminal proceedings due to the fact of his injury, stated his lack of desire to support private prosecution and claims against anyone because of his injury” (Vyrok, 2023).

5.1.2 Zhovtnevyi Palace Snipers

At least 7 wounded Maidan activists, with whose attempted murder Berkut members were charged, testified at the trial and the investigation that they were shot from Zhovtnevyi Palace. At least five wounded protesters testified that they witnessed themselves snipers in this building or were told by other protesters during the massacre about snipers there (see Video 2023d). Videos, photos, and testimonies of Maidan activists show that Zhovtnevyi Palace was controlled by the Maidan forces when Maidan activists, journalists, and other witnesses filmed or reported snipers there (see Chapter 3; Video, 2023d).

For example, Ivan Filipovych suggested at the on-site investigative experiment that he was wounded from Zhovtnevyi Palace based on his position and locations and a steep direction of his entry and exit wounds, respectively, below his left eye and the right side of his neck (Video, 2023d, 11:22). Another protester, who witnessed his shooting, also stated in his interview that Filipovych was shot from Zhovtnevyi Palace (Vikna, 2014).

Bohdan Datsyshyn testified and showed in the on-site investigative experiment video recording that he was shot from Zhovtnevyi Palace, specifically from its roof, because of his position turning towards it, locations of entry and exit wounds, and their top to bottom direction. A forensic medical examination confirmed such locations and directions of his wounds (Video, 2023d, 9:52). Maidan protesters were filmed inside Zhovtnevyi Palace and on its roof facing his wounding spot around the time of his wounding circa 10:30 am (see Video, 2023d).

Symchyn stated during an investigative experiment that he was wounded from the 2d floor of Zhovtnevyi Palace. He testified at the trial that he did not see Berkut or any other government forces there at that time but saw protesters near Zhovtnevyi around that time. Andrii Marchak stated that he feared danger from direction of Zhovtnevyi Palace and a part of Instytutska Street where Hotel Ukraina located, because there were constant gunshots from there. Roman Kotliarevsky, a wounded Maidan medic, testified that he heard a gunshot from Zhovtnevyi Palace roof. Petro Ladym testified during the investigation that he saw snipers in windows of Zhovtnevyi Palace shooting people (see Video, 2023d).

Pavlo Onufriiv identified during the investigation Zhovtnevyi Palace on the map of 6 buildings that he saw snipers on with his binoculars. A Berkut lawyer stated that Onufriiv’s mother testified in an investigation protocol that he told her when she visited him in a Polish hospital that he was shot from the roof of Zhovtnevyi Palace. He denied this at the trial testimony. Oleksandr Gornytskyi testified during the investigation that he saw a person with a firearm on Zhovtnevyi Palace balcony. Vitalii Karpyn testified that he and other protesters checked Zhovtnevyi Palace during the massacre (see Video, 2023d).

5.1.3 Bank Arkada Snipers

At least five wounded Maidan activists, whose attempted murder Berkut members were charged with, testified at the trial and the investigation that they were shot by snipers from Bank Arkada. In addition, at least one wounded Maidan protester stated that he witnessed snipers there.

In the investigative experiment video, Oleksandr Yashchuk identified a top part of Bank Arkada as the location of his shooter and showed that he took cover from Berkut behind a tree. The same location of the shooter was determined by a ballistic expert during the on-site investigative experiment. Similarly, the court verdict stated that Viacheslav Khoroshavin testified during the investigation that he was shot from the upper floors of Bank Arkada (Chapter 8). As noted, Onufriiv testified during the investigation that he saw with his binoculars snipers on Bank Arkada.

Yuri Kravchuk testified at the trial that he was wounded first two times from a sideway direction from Bank Arkada and not from the Berkut barricade in front of him. He determined this because he was taking cover behind a tree from the Berkut, because the bullet did not go through a tree, and because he saw down flying in front of his face from a bullet hole in his jacket. A ballistic expert during an investigative experiment also determined that Kravchuk was wounded there not from a Berkut barricade, as the prosecution charged, but from Bank Arkada or the attached metro entrance (Video, 2023d, 41:40).

Similarly, Roman Kotliarevsky stated during the investigation experiment that he was most likely shot from Bank Arkada based on the steep direction of his wound channel. A government ballistic expert during an on-site investigative experiment concluded that this wounded Maidan medic was shot from a sector ranging from Hotel Ukraina to Bank Arkada. A forensic medical report made public during the trial confirmed that Kotliarevsky was shot in the top back part of his right thigh at a steep angle from a top to bottom direction. The moment of his wounding was filmed by CNN from Hotel Ukraina and used by the media in the West and in Ukraine as evidence that the government forces deliberately targeted even medics (see Video, 2023d, 30:58; 2023g). A forensic ballistic report, which was made public during the trial, found that this medic was shot from the same 7.62 × 39 caliber weapon, which was used to kill Mykola-Oleh Pankiv.

5.1.4 Muzeinyi Lane, Music Conservatory, and Other Maidan-Controlled Locations Snipers

At least 3 wounded Maidan activists, with whose attempted murder Berkut members were charged, suggested at the trial and the investigation that they were shot by snipers from Muzeinyi Lane buildings (see Video, 2023d). For example, Oleksandr Tonsky testified during investigation that he was shot from a building opposite of the subway entrance, i.e., a Muzeinyi Lane building. He said that he was wounded in his right shoulder when he was standing behind a tree and facing Maidan. This position and a forensic medical examination finding of a right to left direction of the bullet are consistent with a Muzeinyi Lane building (Video, 2023d, 22:30).

Anatoli Panchuk stated during an investigative experiment that it was impossible for the gunshot that wounded him to be from the front direction, i.e., the Berkut barricade. He said that the sector of fire was from National Bank corner to Zhovtnevyi Palace. A ballistic expert identified in the investigative experiment reconstruction of the Panchuk wounding the sector of fire, which ranged from Zhovtnevyi Palace corner to Cabmin Club corner and excluded the Berkut barricade. This sector includes Muzeinyi Lane buildings in both cases (Video, 2023d, 43:45).

Mykola Shevchenko testified during the investigation that he was shot from tall buildings on the left when he was facing the Berkut barricade on Instytutska Street. He showed his position and his wounds direction. This matches Muzeinyi Lane buildings. Shevchenko said that he was wounded into his left thigh from a left to right perpendicular direction. A forensic medical examination found that he was wounded from a left to right and steep top to bottom direction (Video, 2023d, 57:26).

Vadym Lapko testified that during the massacre another Maidan activist shouted that a sniper was on the left when Kemsky, Opanasiuk, and Dziavulsky were killed. Muzeinyi Lane buildings are located in that direction.

Several wounded protesters also testified about witnessing snipers in the Maidan-controlled Music Conservatory and the Maidan barricades near the Maidan stage in the early morning of February 20. Volodymyr Venchak testified at the trial that he saw two or three persons with weapons on the Music Conservatory roof circa 7:30–8:00 am and that a politician on the Maidan stage warned protesters about snipers there. Andrushko saw one protester on the Maidan shooting at Berkut from a hunting rifle and another protester there with a Kalashnikov assault rifle or its hunting version. They were often changing positions between the Maidan and the Music Conservatory (see Video, 2023d).

Andrii Navaliany saw a person with a rifle shooting from the third floor of the Music Conservatory circa 10:00 pm–2:00 am the night before. Borys Kharchuk said that he saw several Maidan protesters with hunting rifles on February 19 during the day and heard that Maidan protesters shot from the Music Conservatory on that day. Mykhailo Medvedetsky testifies at the trial that he heard from the other protesters during the Maidan massacre about shooting from the roof of the Music Conservatory. Anton Lubianetsky said that he saw near the Music Conservatory a Maidan activist, who made two shots from a hunting rifle on the morning of February 20 (see Video, 2023d).

Ruslan Figol testified during the investigation that he was shot in the back near Zhovtnevyi from buildings behind the Maidan stage (Video, 2023d, 12:12). Such buildings include Kozatsky Hotel, which was reported by many Maidan activists as one of the locations of snipers (see Video, 2023d). A Berkut lawyer said that this Maidan activist testified that he was shot from the Music Conservatory. A Berkut lawyer stated during the trial that wounded Maidan activists also identified sectors of fire from the Main Post Office (Right Sector headquarters), Horodetsky 11 building, and the Music Conservatory (Map 3.1; Video, 2023d).

The testimonies of the wounded Maidan protesters concerning snipers in the Maidan-controlled buildings shooting them and other protesters are generally consistent with videos of snipers in these buildings and testimonies and reports by over 100 witnesses during the massacre about such snipers, testimonies at the trial, the media, and the social media about such snipers by over 300 other witnesses, with results of initial forensic medical and ballistic examinations by government experts, and with positions of these wounded protesters at the time of their shooting in videos (see Video, 2023a, 2023b, 2023e, 2023g).

In addition, the GPU investigation determined based on their testimonies and investigative experiments that about half of the Maidan protesters were wounded on February 20 from other sectors than the Berkut police and did not charge Berkut with their shooting. The trial and investigation found no evidence of Russian or any other third force snipers. The trial and investigation testimonies of commanders of government sniper and counter-sniper units and other evidence, such as videos, revealed that government snipers arrived in their positions when almost all protesters were already killed and wounded, and therefore could not massacre the absolute majority of these Maidan protesters (Chapter 8; Video, 2023e). This suggests that these activists were wounded from the Maidan-controlled buildings or areas and that the absolute majority of them also testified concerning snipers in the Maidan-controlled locations.

Their testimonies were not made public at the trial. However, Volodymyr Honcharovsky stated in his interview from a German hospital that the protesters there were shot from behind and that he himself was wounded in the back, i.e., from Maidan-controlled areas, such as Hotel Ukraina and Zhovtnevyi Palace. He said that when he was wounded, he heard a gunshot behind and that shots came not from the front but from the back, i.e., from the Maidan-controlled area (Art Press Event, 2014; Video, 2023b, 33:29). Another Maidan protester from Lviv stated during the Maidan massacre trial that he was wounded by a sniper from Zhovtnevyi Palace and that he saw this sniper aiming at him. However, the judge stopped his testimony because nobody was charged with his wounding (Video, 2023d, 59:11).

5.1.5 Staged Wounding of a Female Maidan Medic

The Prosecution and in 2021 the Maidan massacre trial refused to classify Olesia Zhukovska, a Maidan female medic, as a victim in a trial of Berkut policemen who are charged with this massacre. She was turned into a Maidan “icon” after tweeting that she was dying shortly after she was filmed on the Maidan running to an ambulance with blood on her clothes. Numerous Ukrainian and Western media reported that she was wounded by the Berkut police or government snipers (CNN, 2014; Beaumont, 2014). This Maidan medic testified as a witness in the Maidan massacre trial in 2021 that she was wounded from direction of the Maidan-controlled Hotel Ukraina based on her reported entry and exit wounds locations in the neck (Sudova, 2021a).

However, she admitted in an interview with a Ukrainian journalist that she was not wounded. This Ukrainian journalist reported that a Maidan activist revealed that the wounding of this Maidan medic was staged by the Maidan Self-Defense leadership and that her surgery conducted shortly before the massacre was misrepresented as her exit wound. This Maidan activist reportedly revealed that there was an intention to stage a false-flag killing of a female protester in order to galvanize public support for the Maidan and blame the government forces. But because there was reluctance to kill a woman, the leadership of the Maidan Self-Defense decided to stage a fake wounding of the female Maidan medic by misrepresenting her neck surgery as her wounding (see Chapter 4).

However, a Maidan activist standing near her was killed in the same Maidan spot right after she was filmed running to the ambulance with blood on her clothes. Two protesters said that they saw that he was shot from the Main Post Office building, which was the Right Sector headquarters. A Polish reporter video showed a few apparent “snipers” on the roofs of Finbank and the adjacent Main Post Office, and a Maidan stage speaker and protesters then warned about “snipers” there (see Video, 2023a, 1:11:16).

5.1.6 Government Forces-Controlled Buildings and Areas Snipers

In contrast, the absolute majority of testimonies of wounded Maidan protesters about being shot by the Berkut police or snipers in government-controlled buildings or about snipers in these buildings are not corroborated by videos, forensic medical examinations, and other evidence (see Chapters 3, 4, 6, Video, 2023a). In the small minority of remaining cases, such evidence is either absent or contradictory. For instance, Kolesnikov reversed his testimony about being shot from the upper part of Hotel Ukraina and backed in his trial testimony prosecution charges that he was wounded by a Berkut policeman on the ground behind a Berkut barricade, in spite of the evidence described above. Moreover, a time-stamped video, which was used by the prosecution as evidence that Kolesnikov and other Maidan protesters were wounded and killed by one of the Berkut policemen being tried, showed that this policeman behind a Berkut barricade was not shooting at all at the time and around the time of the Kolesnikov’s wounding (Video, 2023g).

Many protesters, such as Yuri Kravchuk, who testified during the trial about being wounded from such Maidan-controlled locations, as Bank Arkada or Hotel Ukraina, still accused the Berkut police in shooting them. However, the government investigation, videos, eyewitness testimonies, and cell phone tracking showed that all Berkut policemen charged with the massacre of these protesters and other government units and snipers were in other locations during the massacre and not in these Maidan-controlled buildings.

Some wounded protesters testified that they were shot by snipers in the Cabinet of Ministers building, the Cabmin Club buildings, or the National Bank. However, the government investigation, synchronized videos of the massacre, security camera recordings, and testimonies of the commanders and snipers of Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Alfa, Internal Troops Omega, and UDO snipers units as prosecution witnesses showed that there were no government snipers during the massacre in the National Bank building and that SBU Alfa and Internal Troops Omega sniper units were deployed in these buildings around 11:00 after the overwhelming majority of Maidan protesters were killed and wounded.

For instance, Oleksandr Huch, the Volhynian company of the Maidan Self-Defense commander, stated that he thought based on his position that he was shot from the Cabinet of Ministers building. However, his position in a Norwegian TV video, which was not shown at the trial, the ricochet impact seen in this video, and his wound location and steep direction suggest that he was shot from a Muzeinyi Lane building on the left and somewhat in front of him. An on-site investigative experiment by the government forensic experts, including a ballistic expert, determined that Huch was shot from a sector of fire which included Muzeinyi Lane buildings (see Video, 2023a, 24:40).

Similarly, Ivan Halamai claimed at the trial that he was wounded from a Berkut barricade. However, the locations and the direction of the bullet wounds, his position in the video at the time of his shooting, and the steep slope of the bullet in his x-ray in the upper left leg point to a gunshot from the top of Bank Arkada and not from the Berkut barricade on the similar ground level. The forensic medical examination found that he was shot in his right buttock area from back to front direction with the bullet ending in his right leg significantly lower, while the videos show that he was turned by his right side towards the Berkut barricade and by his back towards Bank Arkada (see Video, 2023a, 00:48:50).

5.2 Testimonies by Prosecution Witnesses and Relatives of Killed Maidan Activists Concerning Snipers in Maidan-Controlled Locations

The testimonies of the absolute majority of wounded Maidan protesters concerning snipers in Maidan-controlled locations were consistent with testimonies of several dozens of prosecution witnesses, relatives of killed Maidan protesters, and witnesses called by Maidan lawyers at the Maidan massacre trial and the investigation. These prosecution witnesses were supposed to provide testimonies supporting the prosecution charges that the Berkut policemen massacred the Maidan protesters and the denial of the existence of any snipers in the Maidan-controlled buildings and areas. However, they testified concerning snipers in the Maidan-controlled locations massacring the protesters and the police.

For example, Dmytro Holubnychyi testified at the trial that other Maidan protesters wondered during the massacre whether “ours [shoot] at ours” and told him that there were shooters on Hotel Ukraina (Video, 2023e, 01:42). He was filmed as a teenage protester in one of the most widely publicized videos of the Maidan massacre and in “Winter on Fire” Netflix documentary, which omitted evidence of Maidan snipers.

Volodymyr Pastushok testified that he and other three protesters from the Volhynian company were filmed by the BBC running away along with other protesters and the BBC TV crew after shouts about “a sniper” in Hotel Ukraina. Another protester told him then that this was “our sniper.” Pastushok saw someone opening a window in Hotel Ukraina on the 7–9 floor and waving at them not to shout about this sniper, aimed his rifle, raised it, and waved his hands giving a similar sign. He testified to the government investigation that Oleksandr Khrapachenko, who was then next to him, was shot from across the Instytutska Street, in particular, the left wing of Hotel Ukraina. Pastushok also stated that the protesters were shot at from Hotel Ukraina when they carried Khrapachenko. Another protester, who was next to Khrapachenko during his killing, testifies that he heard gunshots that came mostly from Instytutska Street, Hotel Ukraina, and Bank Arkada (Video, 2023e, 02:29, 08:32).

A Spilno TV reporter testified during the trial that when he streamed the massacre from a Hotel Ukraina room, armed Maidan activists entered that room, but the people who lived in this room told them and him to leave. This matches the Spilno TV video recording circa 9:35 am (see Video, 2023a). He stated that he saw these armed people twice, first in the hotel room that he was streaming from and then in a hotel corridor when they appeared via stairs. A Berkut lawyer said that in the Spilno TV video recordings, the Spilno reporter streamed that the two groups of the protesters from the Maidan Self-Defense were looking for shooting positions in Hotel Ukraina corridor on the 11th floor. The Spilno streamer testified at the trial that they were the same armed people whom he saw in the hotel room (Video, 2023e, 05:04).

His testimony confirms both that the hotel was controlled by the Maidan forces and that there were Maidan snipers in the hotel during the massacre. He streamed later that two snipers were captured in Hotel Ukraina. The Spilno streamer said that this armed group moved to another hotel wing and that they later told him about the capture of the two snipers. The timing and the location matches snipers, who were filmed by ICTV and BBC shooting at the protesters from Hotel Ukraina room few minutes after this armed group of the protesters moved to that wing of the hotel on the same floor. They also match the location of snipers who were reported by a Maidan stage speaker shooting at the protesters from the same floor about 25 minutes earlier (see Video 2023a) The government investigation revealed that this hotel room was occupied by a member of the parliament from the far-right Svoboda Party. The BBC journalist and the Maidan massacre trial verdict stated that this was a Maidan activist shooting at BBC journalists from this hotel room (see Chapters 3 and 8).

Another Maidan activist testified at the investigation that the gunshot that killed Poliansky was from Hotel Ukraina and that protesters shielded them from Hotel Ukraina when he and other protesters carried him. His wife testified at the trial that Vasyl Aksenyn before he passed away told another Maidan protester that he most likely was shot from Hotel Ukraina. Another Maidan protester testified as a prosecution witness that he heard gunshots mostly from Hotel Ukraina side when he was on the left side of Instytutska Street (see Video, 2023e).

Brother of Kotsiuba testified that circa 8:00 am he saw snipers on the 5th or 6th floor of Hotel Ukraina shooting at Maidan protesters, that he heard gunshots circa 8:00 am, and that protesters said that this was a sniper from Hotel Ukraina. The Maidan activists also warned that a sniper was on Hotel Ukraina and Zhovtnevyi Palace. They said that there were snipers in Hotel Ukraina on the 5th or 6th floor. Kotsiuba brother testified that he heard a gunshot and saw a person there when and a protester said that a sniper in Hotel Ukraina on these floors started to shoot at a protester. Then he saw a sniper on the balcony of Zhovtnevyi Palace shooting from a rifle into Maidan protesters direction, but he did not specify specific time (Video, 2023e, 16:43).

A Kalush TV reporter stated that a man asked her to zoom into Hotel Ukraina. After she zoomed, another man told her not to do that because a sniper can shoot her, and she stopped looking in this hotel. Her TV crew member gave a similar testimony that she was asked to zoom into Hotel Ukraina windows to see if there were snipers (Video, 2023e, 27:14).

Another Maidan protester testified that he saw a sniper shooting from the Main Post Office roof and killing a person behind the Maidan stage. This matches killing of Viktor Smolensky, who was shot there along with a female medic. This building was then the headquarters of the Right Sector. Berkut lawyers referred to testimonies of protesters to the investigation about armed people in this Right Sector headquarters building during the Maidan massacre (Video, 2023e, 16:00).

Oleh Ushnevych brother stated that eyewitnesses among the protesters told him that there was gunfire from the Berkut barricade and from a building on the left after Zhovtnevyi Palace (Video, 2023e, 20:27). This matches a Muzeinyi Lane building. A Maidan activist testified that he found a bullet behind the concrete wall near Bank Arkada and that this gunshot was not from the government forces positions in front of their group of Maidan protesters behind a wall but from the right or from the back (Video, 2023e, 19:57). This Maidan activist identified himself in the VRT TV video at the same place behind the wall and the same time of the killing of Ushnevych behind this wall. The Maidan massacre verdict stated that Ushnevych was killed from Hotel Ukraina direction (see Chapter 8).

Serhiy Asavalyuk, who was the coordinator of the special forces of the Internal Troops during the Maidan massacre, testified at the Maidan massacre trial that Maidan snipers started shooting first and that they massacred the Berkut police and Internal Troops on February 20 not on their own as a group but in a planned action by the Maidan leadership. Such his testimony for the investigation was omitted from protocols of his interrogations as a witness. He testified as a witness at the Maidan massacre trial on request of the Maidan lawyers. Asavalyuk was not charged with the Maidan massacre. But he and his special forces were falsely blamed by numerous Ukrainian media reports for killing the Maidan protesters (Video, 2023e, 28:14).

He testified at the trial that both Security Service of Ukraine and the Internal Troops intelligence on the Maidan reported that two vans with about 20 armed men in military-style fatigues arrived to the Music Conservatory right before shooting at the police started from there. The Internal Troops intelligence also reported that Maidan protesters guarding a barricade near the Conservatory were told to leave shortly before the massacre and that smoke from burning tires was used to cover snipers. He also testified about reports of the Maidan snipers in the Trade Union building, Hotel Ukraina, and Muzeinyi Lane building. He confirmed that during his joint press conference with the Omega commander at the end of February 2014 he reported that there were sniper groups in Hotel Ukraina. His special forces unit came under fire by snipers from the tall building under reconstruction in the Hrushevsky Street area [Muzeinyi Lane 2A] and later found evidence of sniper positions there. He stated that he along with the Crimean special forces unit and the Omega unit arrived to the presidential administration area with an order from the Internal Troops commander to neutralize the Maidan snipers in the Music Conservatory (Video, 2023e).

Anatolii Strelchenko, the commander of the special forces Omega unit of the Internal Troops, testified at the trial that his unit of snipers was in its base near Kyiv when circa 9:30 am he received an order to deploy because the Maidan side used weapons on the Maidan and there were killed policemen and protesters. When the Omega snipers opened windows on the third floor of Cabmin Club, they were shot at, and bullet hit a window frame and walls. The Omega commander said that based on the bullet holes in Cabmin Club the shooting at the Omega snipers was likely from the 5 to 7th floors of Hotel Ukraina. He stated that there were 5 or 6 gunshots at the Omega snipers during the Maidan massacre on February 20. They hit walls near the windows in Cabmin Club (Video, 2023e, 35:07).

The Omega commander also testified that the Omega snipers saw gunshot flashes from the 5–7th floors of Hotel Ukraina. They reported gunfire from the 5–7th floors of the hotel and the attic windows of Zhovtnevyi Palace after it was occupied by Maidan protesters. The shooting was done professionally from the inside of the buildings. He said that in the Ukraina TV video an Omega sniper was filmed taking his position near a street corner and this sniper reported that he saw a broken window on a Hotel Ukraina balcony from which shooting was probably carried out.

Strelchenko said that locations of the shooters at the police included the Music Conservatory, Hotel Ukraina, and attic windows of Zhovtnevyi Palace after it was occupied by Maidan protesters. He was told by other law enforcement participants that government units retreated from the Maidan area because of shooting at them from the Music Conservatory.

The Omega commander also stated that snipers of his unit reported about movement in a construction zone near the Dnipro Hotel and a building there with construction nets, and that there was possible shooting from there. The Alfa unit of the Security Service of Ukraine and his Omega unit of the Internal Troops were ready to neutralize the shooters but the Maidan leadership refused to allow their passage to the Conservatory and another building. This seemingly irrational refusal by the Maidan leadership makes rational sense if the snipers in these Maidan-controlled buildings were from the Maidan forces (Video, 2023e, 38:38).

An Omega sniper testified at the trial that there was shooting from Hotel Ukraina direction when he was observing this hotel. Based on his experience of participation in the war in Donbas on the Maidan-led government forces side, he said many opened windows that he observed in Hotel Ukraina suggested that there could had been snipers there and that the shooters there were professionals because this made it difficult to detect specific shooters who shot from inside of the rooms. It was possible for snipers in Hotel Ukraina to shoot undetected from behind curtains (Video, 2023e, 42:14).

The Omega machine-gunner testified at the trial that after he retreated from Zhovtnevyi Palace to the Berkut barricade, there were two gunshots at them. The sound was of a rifle, and the gunshot trajectory was from Hotel Ukraina (Video, 2023e, 43:49).

The commander of the SBU Alfa snipers testified that his unit was deployed from an SBU base circa 10:00 am because of information that sniper weapons were used on the Maidan and that there were both police and protesters killed. He and other members of his unit stated at the trial that their order was to act as counter-snipers and that they observed Hotel Ukraina and roofs of buildings. They testified that during their deployment to the Cabinet of Ministers around 10:30 am–11:00 am they came under fire from a Maidan direction (Video, 2023e, 52:45).

A sniper from the Alfa unit of the Security Service of Ukraine stated at the trial that he was ordered by his commander circa 9:00 am to deploy with his unit because of information about law enforcement victims and to locate who shot them. He testified that the Alfa snipers unit took positions in Cabmin circa 10:45–11:15 am, and that there was gunfire in their direction during their deployment. He saw a person with a firearms case on the Ukrainian House roof (Video, 2023e, 44:33). This sniper, like many others, continued to serve in the Alfa unit after the Maidan. He was killed in the war in Donbas and was given the Hero of Ukraine title by President Zelensky.

Another SBU Alfa sniper testified at the trial that they observed Hotel Ukraina and roofs of buildings to locate probable snipers there from circa 10:30 am till 1:00 pm and that their snipers unit came under fire from a Maidan direction. (47:20).

Similarly, a deputy commander of the SBU Alfa sniper unit testified that when they moved to Cabmin, there was gunfire, apparently in their direction. He also confirmed that they had an order to locate snipers on the roofs and upper floors of buildings. This sniper said that he saw persons with apparent weapons covers to the right of Hotel Ukraina in the European Square area and reported this by radio. He stated that another Alfa sniper saw a sniper on the roof of the Ukrainian House on the European Square. But after this was reported in a radio communication of the Alfa snipers, that sniper moved away right away. He said that in the intercepted Alfa snipers radio communication, he reported people on the roof of a building to the left of Hotel Ukraina. This matches the location of Maidan snipers on a Horodetsky Street building (Video, 2023e, 47:44).

Similarly, several UDO snipers testified at the trial that they received an order circa 10:00 am to locate a sniper in Hotel Ukraina because there was information that a sniper in the hotel was shooting at the police and that they were deployed to Cabinet of Ministers building around noon. The commander of the UDO counter-sniper unit testifies that he was told by his commander that there was shooting from Hotel Ukraina and received his order to take three snipers, go to Cabmin, and determine from which hotel window there was shooting. His understanding was that someone was shooting at both sides, i.e., the government forces and the Maidan protesters (see Video 2023e).

His commander told him to determine from which window there was shooting from Hotel Ukraina and that this information would be reported to the SBU leadership, which would use its Alfa special unit to neutralize the shooter. Another UDO counter-sniper stated that he was ordered by his commander to check along with four other UDO counter-snipers and Omega who was shooting from Hotel Ukraina (Video, 2023e). This is corroborated by the Omega snipers commander, who testified that the Alfa unit of the Security Service of Ukraine and his Omega unit of the Internal Troops were ready to “clear out” the shooters but their passage to the Music Conservatory and another building was refused by the Maidan leadership.

Another UDO counter-sniper testified that circa 9:30 am he was summoned by his commander and was told that a person with a firearm on the Maidan was shooting the police.

He received an order to deploy to Cabmin and to locate the shooters. He stated during his interrogation in March 2014 that his commander informed him about a report by the Minister of Internal Affairs about a sniper shooting at the police from Hotel Ukraina (Video, 2023e, 58:28).

The head of Cabinet of Ministers UDO guards testified at the Maidan massacre trial that in the evening of February 20, 2014, or possibly February 21 he saw a truck arriving to Cabmin with about 15 people armed with Kalashnikov-type weapons. One of these people took such firearm with an optic scope and pointed at him and demanded to enter the Cabinet of Ministers building (Cabmin). They were Maidan activists. (Video, 2023e, 1:01:09).

A police commander suggested that the policemen were shot probably from the Trade Union and Music Conservatory buildings or the Main Post Office area buildings.

A guard of the National Bank of Ukraine, which was located near the Berkut truck barricade, testified to the investigation that another guard on the Instytutska Street was told by a policeman that they were being fired upon (Video, 2023e, 59:55, 01:00:42).

An Ukraina TV correspondent testified that one of policemen behind a truck Berkut barricade said that there was shooting at them. Policemen there said that they noticed shooting from Hotel Ukraina to the police [Berkut] barricade direction. He testified that [Omega] snipers later arrived in a bus to check whether there was shooting from this hotel. They started to check the hotel windows via the scope.This journalist heard an apparent sound of bullet hitting a green electric pole near a press kiosk and then an apparent sound of bullet hitting pavement (see Video, 2023e, 21:25).

His video operator testified at the trial that he filmed a government [Omega] sniper targeting a window in Hotel Ukraina on the 6th or 7th floor. This video operator also testified during the interrogation that the police warned them about shooting from Hotel Ukraina. (Video, 2023e) Their Ukraina TV video, which was posted on YouTube, misrepresented these Omega snipers as a “death squad” which killed the Maidan protesters, and it was broadcast by many TV channels in Ukraine and other countries as evidence that they massacred the protesters (see Video 2023a).

A Maidan activist stated that he saw another Maidan activist with a Kalashnikov assault rifle on Independence Square (Maidan). He identified him in a video of a protester giving another protester an AK-type weapon. He testified that this protester with a Kalashnikov was walking from the Music Conservatory direction to the Founders of Kyiv monument (Video, 2023e, 26:08). His testimony matches the CNN and Ukrainian TV videos of members of the far-linked group of Maidan snipers (see Video, 2023a).

The testimonies of the commanders and snipers of Alfa, Omega, and UDO sniper units and other prosecution witnesses show that snipers in Hotel Ukraina and other Maidan-controlled buildings shot not only at the protesters but also at the police and government snipers, that the government units of snipers were deployed to their positions only after the massacre was long underway, that they had orders to locate snipers who shot the police and the protesters, and that snipers were located in the Maidan-controlled buildings, such as Hotel Ukraina, the Music Conservatory, and Zhovtnevyi Palace.

5.3 Testimonies of Defense Witnesses Concerning Maidan Snipers

Stanyslav Shuliak, the commander of the Internal Troops during the Maidan, in his video-link testimony at the Maidan massacre trial said that his observers reported that snipers were shooting at the protesters and the police, including the Internal Troops, from top floors of Hotel Ukraina and other Maidan-controlled locations, such as the Music Conservatory. He also stated that the SBU Alfa negotiated with Andrii Parubii, then the head of the Maidan Self-Defense, to search for these snipers at Hotel Ukraina but that Parubii refused to allow this (Sudova, 2016a).

Ex-president Viktor Yanukovych during his video-link testimony as a witness in the Maidan massacre trial also stated that he received reports about snipers shooting from the top floors of buildings whose entrances were guarded by the Maidan forces (Sudova, 2016b). Many Berkut policemen testified at the trial that they or other Berkut servicemen were shot from the Music Conservatory in the early morning of February 20.

Three of self-admitted Maidan snipers from Georgia testified before the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the Prosecutor General Office of Belarus on a request of the Prosecutor General Office of Ukraine following an appeal of Berkut lawyers in the case of the killings and wounding of the police during the Maidan massacre. The Maidan massacre trial in November 2021 admitted and showed as evidence a testimony of one of these Georgians who confessed of being a member of a group of Maidan snipers (Sudova, 2021b). The Ukrainian border guards confirmed his identity and that he visited Kyiv shortly before the start of the Euromaidan. Three self-admitted Georgian snipers also gave written depositions for the trial and offered to testify via a video link. Armenian, Belarusian, and, as noted, Ukrainian authorities all confirmed the identities of these Georgians. Two provided notarized letters to the Ukrainian courts and offered to testify via a video link from Belarus.

In interviews for the American, Italian, Israeli, Macedonian, and Russian media, seven Georgian self-admitted members of Maidan sniper groups testified that they and other sniper groups from Georgia and the Baltic States and the far-right-linked sniper group from Ukraine received orders, weapons, and payments from specific members of the Maidan leadership and former Georgian government leaders to shoot at both protesters and police in order to prevent a peace agreement from being signed by Yanukovych and Maidan leaders. They stated that the Maidan snipers shot the police and protesters from the Music Conservatory and Hotel Ukraina. They stated that they also received shooting instructions from a far-right-linked ex-US Army sniper. These ex-Georgian military members testified that they saw Georgian, Baltic States, and specific far-right Right Sector-linked Ukrainian snipers shooting from the Music Conservatory and Hotel Ukraina, in particular, before 8:00 am on February 20 (see Chapter 4).

They said that there were four groups of Georgian snipers on the Maidan with total of 40 members, including themselves. One of them stated without revealing his identity in a US documentary that he shot the protesters from Hotel Ukraina. Another said that the plan involved assassination of Viktor Yanukovych. Most of these Georgians revealed their names, passport numbers and border stamps, copies of plane tickets, videos and photos in Ukraine or Georgian military, and other evidence in support of their testimonies (see Chapter 4).

The Prosecutor General Office of Ukraine, Maidan victims’ lawyers, self-styled “fact-checking” websites, and, with rare exceptions, the Ukrainian media claimed that the self-admitted Georgian snipers were fakes or actors (Myth, 2018). They based such claims on a spelling error in English-language text of an ID of one these Georgians, the mistaken identification of himself in a video by another Georgian, and report that he was in prison in Georgia during the Maidan massacre.

The Georgian Legion commander in Ukraine and an ex-associate of Saakashvili stated at the Maidan massacre trial that Georgian snipers are “actors,” have no military experience, did not live in Georgia and he did not know them. He claimed that Italian, Israeli and US documentaries were filmed on orders of Russian FSB which is the same as the Georgian government. But in earlier media interview, he confirmed that one of the self-admitted Georgian snipers worked at Georgian Defense Ministry’s Council of Advisors. Prosecution, media and factcheckers used spelling mistake in English-language text of his Defense Ministry ID to claim that he and his id were fake (Myth, 2018).

To corroborate their testimonies, most of these Georgians provided their names, passport numbers and border stamps, copies of plane tickets, photos from the Georgian military, and a video of one of them in the Trade Union building during the Odesa massacre. They stated that they had entered Ukraine during the “Euromaidan” with forged passports, using false names and were not stopped at the border.

The ex-commander of the special armed Maidan Self-Defense Company, who was named along with his father as snipers by these Georgian ex-military, and two members of his company admitted in Ukrainian media interviews and one in a BBC interview that they shot the police from the Music Conservatory and the Maidan barricades in the morning of February 20 (Gordon, 2020). The GPU investigation confirmed these public admissions. One of the members of the special armed Maidan Self-Defense Company, who stated in a Ukrainian media interview that he killed two policemen on the Maidan, was afterward charged with murders of two policemen (see Chapter 4).

Another member of this Maidan company confessed in a leaked video of his interrogation of providing a hunting version of a Kalashnikov assault rifle to members of this company to massacre the police and witnessing such shooting. He also testified that snipers in Hotel Ukraina massacred the Maidan protesters (Sharij, 2019). A Pechersk District court decision, which approved in 2020 his arrest in absentia on charges of killings and attempted killings of policemen during the Maidan massacre, cited the official investigation findings that the Maidan massacre on February 20 was started with killings and wounding of policemen by Maidan snipers in the Music Conservatory (Ukhvala, 2020).

Kyiv’s Pechersk district court decisions revealed that the Prosecutor General Office of Ukraine investigated leaders and members of the far-right Right Sector, neo-Nazi “Warriors of Narnia,” Sokil, a youth affiliate of far-right Svoboda Party, far-right Bratstvo, and other unidentified Maidan activists for their suspected involvement in the killing and wounding of the Interior Troops servicemen and the Berkut police on February 18–20, 2020 (see Katchanovski, 2020; Ukhvala, 2016). The Prosecutor General Office investigation revealed in October 2016 that one of the leaders of far-right Svoboda and its member of the parliament occupied a Hotel Ukraina room from which a sniper in reported Maidan-style green helmet was filmed shooting by BBC in the direction of the Maidan protesters and the BBC journalists (see Video, 2023c, 2023f).

The testimonies of the absolute majority of the wounded Maidan protesters, several dozen of the prosecution witnesses, and dozens of defense witnesses concerning snipers in the Maidan-controlled buildings and areas are consistent with synchronized videos of the massacre (Video, 2023a, 2023c, 2023g). The wounded Maidan activists, who provided such testimonies, have no rational incentive to lie about witnessing snipers in the Maidan-controlled locations or being shot by such snipers since such testimonies imply the false-flag massacre by the Maidan opposition.

In contrast, there were no such testimonies admitting involvement in the massacre of the Maidan protesters, witnessing such involvement, or getting such specific information from others by the Berkut policemen, ex-police and SBU commanders, and ex-Yanukovych government officials. This includes both those charged with the massacre in Ukraine or in absentia and those who were not charged and continued to serve under the new Maidan governments. All Berkut policemen, two Omega servicemen, and Kyiv SBU head, who were arrested and charged with the massacre, denied that they massacred the Maidan protesters.

Nor did the government investigations and subsequent trials reveal any testimonies or other evidence of an order to shoot at the Maidan protesters by then President Yanukovych, his ministers, or the commanders of Internal Affairs troops, police, or the Security Service of Ukraine. The same concerns “titushki” hired by the Yanukovych government or any “third force.” The Prosecutor General of Ukraine stated that their investigation determined that there was no participation of Russian snipers in the Maidan massacre (Verbianyi, 2024). This was also confirmed by the Maidan massacre trial verdict (see Chapter 8; Maidan, 2023; Vyrok, 2023).

The Maidan massacre trial and investigation testimonies of wounded Maidan activists and witnesses are summarized in Table 5.1.

Table 5.1 Summary of trial and investigation testimonies of wounded Maidan activists and witnesses