:00:00. > :00:09.This programme includes footage of protesters being shot.
:00:10. > :00:17.Tonight, Panorama is on the front line. I think those are warning
:00:18. > :00:22.shots but we should keep back. Ahead trigger situation where one mistake
:00:23. > :00:31.could lead to war. -- hairtrigger situation. We are inside a Ukrainian
:00:32. > :00:44.military base as it is surrounded by Russian soldiers.
:00:45. > :00:51.It all began here, protesters in Kiev being fired at by special
:00:52. > :00:56.police. The Russian occupation that followed, threatens to reignite Cold
:00:57. > :00:59.War tensions. You just don't in the 21st century behave in a
:01:00. > :01:08.19th-century fashion by invading another country. But Russia says it
:01:09. > :01:15.is protesting its own interests protecting a Ukraine that is being
:01:16. > :01:20.taken over by extremists. It is a revolution that began on the streets
:01:21. > :01:28.of Kiev and has shaken the world. We just want to get some shots of this.
:01:29. > :01:52.Sir? We are already in a state of war.
:01:53. > :02:13.A square in central Kiev, the Maidan, where protesters were gunned
:02:14. > :02:21.down by police and snipers. They were ordinary people, students,
:02:22. > :02:25.office workers, pensioners, angry over their Government's rejection of
:02:26. > :02:36.a trade agreement with Europe. It ended in bloodshed. Never in the
:02:37. > :02:43.history of post-Soviet Ukraine did the police act with such brutality.
:02:44. > :02:48.There were many different demonstrations, big and small, and
:02:49. > :02:57.sometimes they were dispersed, but never with such bloody brutality.
:02:58. > :03:01.Two weeks before the shootings, the Ukrainian President, Viktor
:03:02. > :03:06.Yanukovych, had flown to Sochi for the opening of the Winter Olympics.
:03:07. > :03:10.Russia's President Putin and he had much to talk about. Yanukovych had
:03:11. > :03:15.chosen a multibillion-dollar deal with Russia instead of closer ties
:03:16. > :03:22.with Europe, and that had sparked the protests back home. Back in
:03:23. > :03:26.Kiev, when the police moved in to clear the Maidan, the protests were
:03:27. > :03:34.no longer just about Europe but about removing the Yanukovych
:03:35. > :03:36.Government. They forgot about the European association. They started
:03:37. > :03:42.to insist that this Government should resign and especially the
:03:43. > :03:50.Interior Minister under whose command the riot police were
:03:51. > :03:57.acting. Riot police were sent into the Maidan on the 18th of February.
:03:58. > :04:01.But the crackdown met with stiff resistance from ordinary citizens
:04:02. > :04:06.who sensed the moment for change was upon them. And from militia units
:04:07. > :04:12.fighting alongside them. The violence escalated. 18 people lost
:04:13. > :04:32.their lives, including seven police. There was no going back for either
:04:33. > :04:51.side. On the 20th of February, armed police were deployed.
:04:52. > :04:59.They took up positions on the roads leading to Independence Square, the
:05:00. > :05:07.Maidan. Snipers moved to rooftops looking onto the square.
:05:08. > :05:13.The new Ukrainian Government believes this is a recording of the
:05:14. > :05:22.snipers coordinating with the specialist police unit called the
:05:23. > :05:51.Berkut. The Berkut, wearing yellow armbands, began firing.
:05:52. > :05:56.These remarkable pictures show how the snipers opened fire as some
:05:57. > :06:05.protesters pushed up the road towards them. They tried to protect
:06:06. > :06:18.themselves with makeshift shields against a barrage of gunfire.
:06:19. > :06:22.The snipers picked them off, one by one, but still the protesters
:06:23. > :06:39.stayed. Some moved back and forth into the
:06:40. > :06:47.line of fire to help injured friends.
:06:48. > :06:55.This is Vitali Derekh, walking into the path of the snipers' bullets.
:06:56. > :07:00.Panorama tracked him down. He took me to the place where he crouched
:07:01. > :07:04.behind the wooden shields, unarmed. Snipers were shooting from that side
:07:05. > :07:09.and bullets came from the window. When I first heard the shots, I was
:07:10. > :07:13.stumbling and falling down. I started hiding behind trees. Then I
:07:14. > :07:19.ran to the next set of trees where there were wounded people being
:07:20. > :07:24.carried away. This man was there, too. He still does not want to show
:07:25. > :07:29.his face in case the old regime returns and tries to punish him. I
:07:30. > :07:34.had a shield just like this one. Did you think that the wooden shield
:07:35. > :07:50.would stop the bullets? I thought it would stop plastic bullets.
:07:51. > :07:56.I had no helmet and no shield. I told the rest of the guys to throw
:07:57. > :08:06.away their shields because most of the people getting shot had helmets
:08:07. > :08:11.and shields. By the end of the 20th of February, 98 people were dead in
:08:12. > :08:22.two days of violence. Among them, at least 12 police. A small number of
:08:23. > :08:30.protesters did have weapons, hunting rifles and pistols, but the vast
:08:31. > :08:36.majority were unarmed. Investigators are now collecting evidence of a
:08:37. > :08:41.possible -- for possible criminal prosecutions. There are several
:08:42. > :08:45.unanswered questions. It is reported some snipers were shooting both at
:08:46. > :08:50.protesters and police, raising suspicions there was a third force
:08:51. > :08:53.at work. Some in the new administration are pointing at
:08:54. > :08:57.Russia. Some in Russia are pointing at the new regime. As for
:08:58. > :09:04.Yanukovych, he is denying he gave the orders to shoot. This criminal
:09:05. > :09:08.investigation is in its early days yet high-ranking members of the
:09:09. > :09:16.former Government led by Yanukovych have already been placed on a wanted
:09:17. > :09:22.list. After the shooting, hundreds of Government officials and their
:09:23. > :09:26.families fled through this airport. The former regime was melting away.
:09:27. > :09:33.President Yanukovych himself went missing. His residency, once highly
:09:34. > :09:47.secure, was left abandoned. Look at this! Yanukovych had amassed
:09:48. > :09:50.a fortune. Paperwork found in his home is now being examined to
:09:51. > :09:58.discover the extent of his corruption.
:09:59. > :10:05.You know, you can see why people in Ukraine, now some of these images
:10:06. > :10:10.have come to light, are looking at how their leader has been living,
:10:11. > :10:16.and you can understand why there was such enormous resentment by the end.
:10:17. > :10:19.Goodness me. Panorama spoke to the President's former head of
:10:20. > :10:23.security. He believes Yanukovych planned his escape during the
:10:24. > :10:29.shootings, meaning that the peace deal afterwards just bought him
:10:30. > :10:34.time. Was there an escape plan in place when you were his head of
:10:35. > :10:40.security? Of course. There were plans in place for an evacuation.
:10:41. > :10:51.How quickly could your team get him out of the house? And into a
:10:52. > :10:57.helicopter? Four minutes. This is the CCTV footage of Yanukovych
:10:58. > :11:05.fleeing in his private helicopter. The camera captures his pet dog and
:11:06. > :11:08.his live-in girlfriend, but his former head of security believes
:11:09. > :11:17.this escape at all the hallmarks of longer term planning. I am sure the
:11:18. > :11:21.evacuation plan was developed three days in advance. He would have put
:11:22. > :11:23.everything he wanted to take in a small case which would have been
:11:24. > :11:26.brought beforehand to the luggage area. All the rest could have been
:11:27. > :11:41.transported on the ground. Moscow says the overthrow of
:11:42. > :11:41.Yanukovych was an illegal act. It blames nationalists and right-wing
:11:42. > :12:13.extremists. These are the sort of right-wing
:12:14. > :12:18.militia Putin blames in Kiev. They did fight police in the Maidan, for
:12:19. > :12:22.which they have been rewarded with three Cabinet posts, but the numbers
:12:23. > :12:29.of far right are still relatively small. The revolution certainly
:12:30. > :12:33.occurred as a result of the actions of ordinary Ukrainians, not because
:12:34. > :12:38.of hundreds of thousands of right-wing supporters. In reality,
:12:39. > :12:42.it happened because both in Kiev and elsewhere ordinary people are
:12:43. > :12:47.unhappy with what was going on took to the streets. We took a stand for
:12:48. > :12:52.two or three days. During the clashes, we helped. Moscow,
:12:53. > :12:58.monitoring events in Ukraine closely, also had concerns about the
:12:59. > :13:09.protests, seeing them as a threat to their wide interests. Russia was
:13:10. > :13:12.against the violent coup which was masterminded mostly by Americans,
:13:13. > :13:15.whose goal is to bring Ukraine into NATO, and that is the endgame. For
:13:16. > :13:20.Russia it is a red line. Russia regards this as an existential
:13:21. > :13:25.threat and will do what it takes. And nowhere is more sensitive than
:13:26. > :13:30.Crimea, the region of Ukraine closest politically to Russia.
:13:31. > :13:35.Nearly 60% of its population are ethnic Russians, and the Russians
:13:36. > :13:37.still lease part of the Crimean coast at Sevastopol for their
:13:38. > :13:45.strategically crucial Black Sea fleet. We arrive in the Crimean
:13:46. > :13:52.capital of Simferopol, and the outskirts are quiet. But in the
:13:53. > :13:58.centre, everything we saw in Kiev is flipped on its head. The Crimean and
:13:59. > :14:06.Russian flags flying side-by-side. Demonstrators chanting pro-Russian
:14:07. > :14:11.slogans. And they support the Berkut, the special police who in
:14:12. > :14:20.Kiev are blamed by most for the massacre. Taking their lead from
:14:21. > :14:26.Russian television, these people see the Kiev protesters as extremists.
:14:27. > :14:35.Men form brigades on the streets, orange and black ribbons signalling
:14:36. > :14:44.support for the Russian military. Against other Ukrainians? No.
:14:45. > :14:51.Against two? Against extremists. But in Kiev they think you are
:14:52. > :14:59.extremists. That is not true. You can see our city, not flaming, not
:15:00. > :15:05.extremist. Our police, many from Crimea, were killed by peaceful
:15:06. > :15:10.protesters. Crimea's Parliament building is surrounded by masked men
:15:11. > :15:14.with guns. They have no insignia, nothing to identify where they are
:15:15. > :15:21.from. Protecting them, a line of locals, who say the armed men are
:15:22. > :15:26.here to protect them. Is it located do some filming? We have to meet
:15:27. > :15:34.somebody. No. Let me explain. We just need to meet somebody. OK, OK.
:15:35. > :15:40.Why are you protecting Russian soldiers who seem to be occupying
:15:41. > :16:05.gradually your country? And the presence of Russian soldiers
:16:06. > :16:10.outside their bases on you crape anyian soil is still -- on Ukrainian
:16:11. > :16:15.soil is still denied by Russia. When we try and film a convoy of military
:16:16. > :16:21.vehicles with Russian registration plates, a local defence force
:16:22. > :16:29.volunteer intervenes. We want to get some shots of this. Sir, Sir, no! At
:16:30. > :16:36.a major air base, Russian soldiers have seized control.
:16:37. > :16:43.They have forced the Ukrainians back into their barracks.
:16:44. > :16:50.One of the you crape anyian officers a-- of one of the Ukrainian officers
:16:51. > :16:54.talks us to the positions. Sergei is not happy. How does it make you feel
:16:55. > :16:57.to have these Russian soldiers standing behind you, occupying your
:16:58. > :17:18.air base? Remarkably Sergei decides to
:17:19. > :18:09.challenge his Russian adversary. Who are you? Go home.
:18:10. > :18:14.Go home. Please, go on. We should go on. It is a tense situation. You can
:18:15. > :18:19.see this is a Russian-controlled area now. You know, this is right on
:18:20. > :18:24.the front. You can see how fractured this is and how these people are
:18:25. > :18:32.absolutely determined not to give into this Russian occupation.
:18:33. > :18:38.Moscow says the ousted Ukraine President requested Russian military
:18:39. > :18:43.help to restore order. We would have had a blood bath in
:18:44. > :18:46.Crimea if the troops didn't stop it - Russian troops, plus the
:18:47. > :18:54.volunteers. Now, at the moment, we did not have a single dead person in
:18:55. > :19:01.Crimea. The local population is very happy. This is not an invasion. Then
:19:02. > :19:09.come rumours of an ultimatum from Russia to Ukraine. Your forces must
:19:10. > :19:13.surrender by 5am or face attack. Well, the light is starting to go
:19:14. > :19:19.here now. All the soldiers behind me are very much aware that when night
:19:20. > :19:24.fall, that is when the Russians are most likely to do something. One of
:19:25. > :19:29.them came over to me and said, "Please, don't leave us."
:19:30. > :19:36.At the barracks, the men begin to prepare for a Russian assault.
:19:37. > :19:43.Can you show us around? Shall we walk? So, these men are sitting in
:19:44. > :19:48.the dark, down here, with guns all ready? Yes.
:19:49. > :19:52.They have positioned themselves in small groups around the perimeter
:19:53. > :19:58.fence. They know the Russians surrounding them have high-velocity
:19:59. > :20:06.rifles and rocket launchers. Do you have your weapons here?
:20:07. > :20:17.OK, what is up here? Is it OK to approach them? At another position,
:20:18. > :20:23.young men, without body armour or helmets. They are airmen, not
:20:24. > :20:28.trained infantry. What are you preparing for?
:20:29. > :20:37.Are you scared about what might happen tonight?
:20:38. > :20:58.Outside the base, the soldiers' wives are acting as human shields,
:20:59. > :21:01.anxiously waiting for the deadline. Aren't you scared standing here
:21:02. > :21:21.tonight? The vigil went on all night. At 5am
:21:22. > :21:27.there was no attack. The women had stood by their men and their men
:21:28. > :21:33.were still guarding the barracks. How close is your country to war
:21:34. > :21:38.with Russia? TRANSLATION: According to the laws
:21:39. > :21:43.which govern military operations, technically we are not at war with
:21:44. > :21:48.Russia. However, considering their military forces have been deployed
:21:49. > :21:54.in Ukrainian territory, clearly we consider that we are already in a
:21:55. > :21:59.state of war. Tired men had come through the night
:22:00. > :22:04.unscathed, but national pride had been wounded. They had lost their
:22:05. > :22:17.airfield without a fight and lost it to the Russians - recent allies.
:22:18. > :22:22.I wouldn't want this to reach the level of a confron trags, that
:22:23. > :22:29.innocent people die for political interests. One has to solve this
:22:30. > :22:33.around the table, diplomatically. Instead of waiting for Russians to
:22:34. > :22:39.attack, they decide to meet them head-on. They march on, unarmed,
:22:40. > :22:42.carrying the flag alongside an old Soviet army flag. An appeal for
:22:43. > :23:20.comradeship among fellow soldiers. The Russians have obviously seen
:23:21. > :23:24.these Ukrainian soldiers on the move and they have positioned themselves
:23:25. > :23:37.in armoured vehicles just over the brow of the hill.
:23:38. > :24:26.It is quite tense here. You can tell, what they were doing then was
:24:27. > :24:45.asking for somebody to come and negotiate with them.
:24:46. > :24:53.The Russians agreed to allow a small group of Ukrainians back into their
:24:54. > :24:58.base, but they were now firmly in control. Next Sunday, Russia's
:24:59. > :25:02.allies here plan a referendum, asking whether Crimea should leave
:25:03. > :25:07.Ukraine all together and rejoin Russia.
:25:08. > :25:11.We will not surrender Crimea, it is part of the Ukraine and is
:25:12. > :25:16.recognised as such by all the countries in the world. Crimea still
:25:17. > :25:20.is and will remain the territory of Ukraine W the help of the
:25:21. > :25:25.international community, we will manage to force Putin to withdraw
:25:26. > :25:29.his troops. Russia is already in clear breach of an agreement to
:25:30. > :25:33.respect Ukraine's borders. The West has been able to do very little
:25:34. > :25:36.about it. Threats of economic sanctions do not impress the
:25:37. > :25:41.Russians. If there are sanction, there'll be
:25:42. > :25:48.counter sanctions. We are living in a very united world. I would not
:25:49. > :25:53.really recommend anyone to try sanctions on the Russian Federation,
:25:54. > :25:57.because the consequences may be bad, not just for Russia, but for
:25:58. > :26:04.everyone. It is not just Crimea where Kiev is losing its grip. In
:26:05. > :26:08.Donetsk, in Eastern Ukraine, we found evidence of more worrying
:26:09. > :26:13.divisions. Russian speakers are in the majority here. Many feel the new
:26:14. > :26:16.Government is treating them as second-class citizens, even
:26:17. > :26:21.attempting to remove Russian as an official language. We feel like
:26:22. > :26:27.Russians. And living in the Ukraine, we feel like we are not in our place
:26:28. > :26:29.because the official language is Ukraine. We all claim to be
:26:30. > :26:53.Ukrainians, but we are really not. Many now want to be ruled by Russia
:26:54. > :26:55.and there have been violent demonstrations against the new
:26:56. > :27:08.Ukrainian Government. Some have said that your Government
:27:09. > :27:13.was quite provocative by reducing the status of the Russian language
:27:14. > :27:17.in the east. Is that one of the causes of this? No. The problem is
:27:18. > :27:21.different. Russia has not accepted that Ukraine became an independent
:27:22. > :27:25.country. They have a manic desire to restore the empire and believe it
:27:26. > :27:29.cannot happen without Ukraine. It is only an excuse in order to return
:27:30. > :27:33.Ukraine to the full influence of the Russian Federation.
:27:34. > :27:37.Creating a new empire, which is Vladimir Putin's dream.
:27:38. > :28:02.The Kremlin sees it differently. Many Ukrainians dream of a better
:28:03. > :28:05.future, with closer links to the West. Some gave their lives for it
:28:06. > :28:15.in the Kiev protests. The patriotic spirit is very high
:28:16. > :28:20.among Ukrainians. We have seen this at Maidan and in the military bases
:28:21. > :28:24.at Crimea. Therefore, the Russian Federation hasn't got a hope of
:28:25. > :28:28.victory. But brave deeds and words may not be
:28:29. > :28:32.enough. Ukraine finds itself in the middle
:28:33. > :28:38.of a new balancing act, involving the world's great powers and it is
:28:39. > :28:45.the people of Ukraine who may well end up the losers.