Politics

BBC airs Maidan fighter admitting he fired on police before Kiev massacre

BBC airs Maidan fighter admitting he fired on police before Kiev massacre

Published time: February 12, 2015 16:25

Protesters walk through the rubble after violence erupted in the Independence Square in Kiev February 20, 2014.(Reuters / Konstantin Chernichkin)
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Nearly a year after the massacre on Kiev’s Maidan left over 50 dead, the BBC has aired footage of an opposition fighter who says he fired at police in the early morning that day, bringing into question the popular narrative that riot police fired first.

READ MORE: Reuters investigation exposes ‘serious flaws’ in Maidan massacre probe

“I was shooting downward at their feet,” says a man the broadcaster decided to identify as Sergei.

“Of course, I could have hit them in the arm or anywhere. But I didn’t shoot to kill.”

According to Sergei, he took up a position in the Kiev Conservatory, a music academy located on the southwest corner of Kiev’s Independence Square, on February 20.

One day prior, he had met up with a man who offered him two guns. The first was a 12-gauge shotgun, while the other was a hunting rifle – a Saiga that fired high-velocity rounds.

He chose the Saiga and hid it at a post office that, along with the conservatory, was under the protesters’ control. Sergei told the BBC he was later escorted to the Conservatory, where, with a second gunman, he spent 20 minutes before 7:00 am firing on police.

Other witness testimony has corroborated his account.

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