Ukrainian translator on what is happening in his country:

[jv_coach]

I got this from the Facebook page of Gotquestions ministries and is an insiders view to the Ukraine Crisis  

A letter from our Ukrainian translator on what is happening in his country:

It is worthwhile to state at the outset that the current president, Viktor Yanukovych, has always been known as protege and close ally with Russia. According to journalists' investigations, he was a member of a gang and served in prison two times for robbery. Some went even further insisting on his close ties with organized crime in Ukraine. Back in 2004, he tried to win the presidential elections through falsifications, however, Ukrainians started the Orange revolution. Finally, he was able take over the president's office in 2010 when people became disappointed with ineffective politics of the 'Orange' leaders.

After becoming the president, he pushed through amendments to the Constitution - because of the weak opposition, he gained full control over the parliament - changing Ukraine from a parliamentary republic to a presidential, which meant that he was responsible for appointment of all positions in the governing structures countrywide. People close to him took all the key offices in the country, like the Ministries of Taxes, Customs, Internal Affairs, the National Bank etc. Rest of positions, according to journalists, were sold to oligarchs. By the way, one of the oligarchs and the richest person in Ukraine who supported Yanukovych, Rinat Akhmetov, doubled his wealth over the past few years in spite of continuous economic decline in the country. Yanukovych's two sons immediately became multimillionaires spreading their influence over different areas of the Ukrainian economics. Increased influence of the Russian business interests was also obvious.

Historically, Ukrainians are very patient and peaceful but corruption, lawlessness and injustice became more and more outrageous every year. Billions of Dollars of international aid, grants and investments were laundered and transferred to offshore accounts while Ukraine became the 2nd country by the death ratio because of poor medical services, low-quality food etc. Nevertheless, people still hoped that the government will keep their promises to move towards the European Union - people knew that corruption should have gone down under pressure of EU regulations.

The real problems began in November 2013 after the last-minute government's decision to stop negotiations and refused to sign an Association Agreement with EU, announcing plans to join a trade union with Russia instead. People - mostly from the Western Ukraine, which has always been pro-European and politically active - and from Kiev came out to Maidan (Kiev's Central Square) to protest against that and to demand resuming of talks with EU. This was absolutely peaceful protest. However, the president and the rest of the government did not take that seriously - as well as the rest of the country. However, on December 1, police used force hoping to break the protest. Since that time, tensions have been increasing while the president continued to ignore the people's demands and adopted new laws forbidding mass gatherings, allowing police to cut off opposition media etc. instead.

In spite of that and severe frosts, the amount of people in the Square was only increasing. In January, after another failed attempt of the opposition to persuade Yanukovych to make concessions, some radical protesters started to seize governmental buildings. Presumably, under pressure of Russia who was expected to provide a multibillion loan to Ukraine, the government allowed police and special forces to use guns, flash-bang grenades and water cannons (the temperature was around -4 Fahrenheit).

In addition to that, hundreds, even thousands, of young people with criminal background - from the Eastern and Southern regions loyal to the regime because of their historically close ties with Russia and anti-European propaganda - were sent to Kiev to make provocations and beat, and even shoot protesters - many ordinary citizens suffered from them as well.

At the same time, more and more people, previously indifferent, were joining the protests all over the country.

The culmination of confrontation happened three days ago when police started shooting protesters with sniper rifles and submachine guns. Entrances to Kiev were blocked with police while train connection between Kiev and the Western Ukraine was stopped the cut off the protesters. Overall, over 100 people died in Kiev on Tuesday and Wednesday, many journalists and medics were injured (several were killed) in spite of their special uniform.

On the one hand, that led to panic - people were buying out food and gas, withdrawing cash from banks, the local currency fell down against Dollar. On the other hand, that massacre united people all over the country irrespective of their language (de facto, half of Ukraine speaks Russian) and geographic location. People were going out to highways to stop buses bringing more troops to Kiev, the same with trains.

Police and military people in some regions as well as a number of politicians that previously supported the president announced their support to protesters.

That also forced Europe and US and some other countries - who were hesitant on introduction of sanctions against officials responsible for violence - to take more active steps.

Under pressure of these events and of the international fellowship, parliament, previously controlled by the president, ordered military forces to cease fire and leave Kiev last night. Earlier today, the parliament has also unanimously resolved to revert to original Constitution and also announced early president elections at the end of 2014.

The crisis is far from being over and tensions may start again if authorities will try to break their promises (some people in opposition believe the president should resign immediately and told they will continue protests otherwise). Police and emergency services are in fact defunct in many cities because radical groups seized local police departments so a wave of crime is possible so many volunteers patrol their neighborhoods. Nevertheless, to many of us, the fact that violence has stopped with no more fatalities is a sign of God's powerful hand and an answer to prayers.

In general, these tragic and shocking events led many people to turn to God in prayers for peace and safety. Different churches were volunteering to people in Maidan, providing food, medicines and blankets and also sharing the truth from the Bible that the real nation's stability and prosperity is possible with God only. Numerous prayer tents were installed all over Maidan (some were burned by police later on) where prayer meetings were held regularly. The local Bible Society distributed all the free Scriptures that were available in their stock.

Please keep praying for the Ukrainian nation and for God's wisdom to those who are responsible for taking decisions at this difficult time.