:00:07. > :00:22.This is the story of a peaceful nation's descent into armed
:00:23. > :00:28.conflict. They are going in through every
:00:29. > :00:34.window of this police station now. It is the story of how people turn
:00:35. > :00:39.from being law biding citizens into hooded gunmen.
:00:40. > :00:41.It is the story of how some men seize power overnight and others
:00:42. > :00:59.lose it in the most brutal of ways. TRANSLATION: I was quickly pushed
:01:00. > :01:04.into a car. It was over very fast. Tonight, on the eve of the
:01:05. > :01:09.elections, Panorama has rare access to the separatist's inner circle,
:01:10. > :01:15.through the lives of two ordinary men who would later become powerful
:01:16. > :01:20.players. Who is in the background co-ordinating is it people here or
:01:21. > :01:24.outside the country? TRANSLATION: It is being
:01:25. > :01:42.co-ordinated by the Queen of England.
:01:43. > :01:49.Panorama began filming in east Ukraine before a building was taken
:01:50. > :01:53.over or a shot fired. It is March and we're near the
:01:54. > :01:58.Russian border with former building contractor, Alexei Mozgovoi. He is
:01:59. > :02:03.trying to drum up support for anti-Kiev protests. The turnout is
:02:04. > :02:14.small, no sign of yet of the chaos to come.
:02:15. > :02:19.The spark for all of this is Ukraine's February revolution in
:02:20. > :02:25.Kiev. Here they say, it is imposed an illegal pro-European Government
:02:26. > :02:31.which doesn't serve them. TRANSLATION: I'm into the hungry for
:02:32. > :02:38.power. I don't want power. I want law and order and for the people to
:02:39. > :02:45.be heard. Down the road in don't dorntion sk, the crowd are already
:02:46. > :02:57.growing, parading to the National Anthem, disco-style.
:02:58. > :03:04.On the stage is local history teacher, Miroslav Rudenko, married
:03:05. > :03:20.with a new baby, he is ready to fight for his region, the Donbass.
:03:21. > :03:25.His message, the Kiev Revolution wasn't for him and wasn't for this
:03:26. > :03:29.region. He wants nothing of it. TRANSLATION: You need to remember
:03:30. > :03:33.this country has been in a mess for the past four months, a complete
:03:34. > :03:42.mess and if people want things to calm down.
:03:43. > :03:45.Alexei and Miroslav with Russian flags flying. It is provocative to
:03:46. > :03:52.those who support Kiev. This is what happens to another group elsewhere
:03:53. > :04:02.in the east, a flying hammer from a Ukrainian loyalist. The violence is
:04:03. > :04:06.just starting. Alexei is undeterred. This derelict armaments factory is
:04:07. > :04:12.part of why he wants closer links with Russia.
:04:13. > :04:17.TRANSLATION: We've given away everything from nuclear weapons to
:04:18. > :04:23.factories like this. Russia understands if you want peace,
:04:24. > :04:28.prepare for war. Then, Alexei hears there is something happening in his
:04:29. > :04:38.hometown in Lughansk. We arrive with him to find this. The first seizure
:04:39. > :04:41.of a building, the regional head quarters of the Security Services.
:04:42. > :04:44.Panorama is the only team filming. There are weapons stored here. Now,
:04:45. > :04:52.they are in the hands of the protesters. At this point, Alexei
:04:53. > :04:56.doesn't approve. TRANSLATION: These are radicals.
:04:57. > :05:00.They are just interested in seizing a building. They have seized a
:05:01. > :05:08.building, but where does this take us now?
:05:09. > :05:16.Buildings are falling elsewhere too. It is the first sign that things are
:05:17. > :05:25.being co-ordinated. The West thinks by President Putin's Russia. In
:05:26. > :05:40.Donetsk, our history teacher, Miroslav helps seize the Town Hall.
:05:41. > :06:04.Inside, local council officials are replaced with masked separatists. 11
:06:05. > :06:10.floors up, above the gunmen and the monotov a committee is formed. This
:06:11. > :06:13.is one of the first meetings of what they are calling the people's
:06:14. > :06:18.Republic of Donetsk. Outside they have the tyres and the barricades,
:06:19. > :06:25.but there doesn't seem to be a lot of local opposition to this taking
:06:26. > :06:33.place. They are electing the Republic's three-man Government.
:06:34. > :06:50.Miroslav is voted in. For him, there is no turning back.
:06:51. > :06:58.Then, in a single day, more buildings fall in towns running
:06:59. > :07:03.parallel with the Russian border. This too, has all the signs of being
:07:04. > :07:11.co-ordinated. As we approach, Slavyansk, we pass the Ukrainian
:07:12. > :07:22.Army already in retreat. The town is surrounded by road blocks. Here,
:07:23. > :07:33.there is no way through. We try another route, but we're met with
:07:34. > :07:37.hostility. Finally, we enter Slavyansk from another direction and
:07:38. > :07:45.find a town cut off from the rest of the country. Everyone we speak to is
:07:46. > :07:52.opposed to the rule of Kiev. TRANSLATION:
:07:53. > :08:05.How many people here want to be part of the People's Republic of Donetsk?
:08:06. > :08:10.Here, it is not just angry crowds. Paramilitaries with weapons have
:08:11. > :08:13.taken over the Town Hall. This is significantly different from other
:08:14. > :08:17.towns that we've filmed in because they don't just control the police
:08:18. > :08:22.head quarters for a Government building, here they control the
:08:23. > :08:26.town. Nearby, the elected Mayor of Slavyansk, Nelly Shtepa, is on the
:08:27. > :08:38.streets. She is sympathetic to their aims, but not their methods.
:08:39. > :08:43.Recriminations are already starting. The mayor tries to prevent a man
:08:44. > :08:44.being snatched on the street. Later, she herself goes missing and a new
:08:45. > :09:05.mayor suddenly takes over. Inside, the seized Town Hall, the
:09:06. > :09:08.new mayor, Vyacheslav Ponomaryev, seems to have acquired his own army
:09:09. > :09:27.overnight and he is taking hostages. The former mayor's mother, wants to
:09:28. > :09:34.ask him, what has happened to her daughter.
:09:35. > :09:37.TRANSLATION: He was there giving a speech. I ran forward and I asked
:09:38. > :09:41.for the microphone. I asked to see her as her mother. I asked where my
:09:42. > :09:47.daughter was and asked them to let me in. He started pushing me away.
:09:48. > :09:52.Then a tall woman pulled me aside and told me nelly had heart problems
:09:53. > :09:59.and had been taken to the Lennon Hospital.
:10:00. > :10:07.Th wasn't true and others are going missing too. This man, Vladymir
:10:08. > :10:12.Ryback, head of a local pro-European party, his crime simply attempting
:10:13. > :10:17.to fly the Ukrainian flag. TRANSLATION: It shows in the video,
:10:18. > :10:22.it was hard to stop him. He was TRANSLATION: It shows in the video,
:10:23. > :10:26.a strong man. Stubborn too. There was a struggle, he resisted. He was
:10:27. > :10:34.quickly pushed into a car. It was over very fast. It would be five
:10:35. > :10:44.days before his wife learned what happened to him.
:10:45. > :10:52.The next time we meet Alexei he is just back from meetings in Moscow.
:10:53. > :10:54.He and his followers are in newly acquired uniforms. Now, all they
:10:55. > :11:12.need is weapons. What kind of help did Moscow offer?
:11:13. > :11:17.TRANSLATION: Why are you only interested in asking about my trip
:11:18. > :11:23.to Moscow? We're one people. Who am I to go to? Who should I ask advice
:11:24. > :11:26.for if not my relatives? Who is in the background co-ordinating? Is it
:11:27. > :11:27.people in Ukraine or people outside the country?
:11:28. > :11:32.LAUGHTER I get the hint. It is being
:11:33. > :11:42.co-ordinated by the Queen of England.
:11:43. > :11:53.A few hundred yards away, life continues as normal. 23 today, Sonia
:11:54. > :11:59.and her friends are in a minority, pro-European professionals and they
:12:00. > :12:04.are all bewildered by this. It don't believe there is people who would
:12:05. > :12:08.say they want to be, you know, the Soviet Union. Come on, really
:12:09. > :12:17.people? I was born in Ukraine. I don't want to be Soviet Union
:12:18. > :12:24.anymore. No way. We can do nothing here. Everything is going to be OK.
:12:25. > :12:25.I hope they will never get what they want and they will be tired and go
:12:26. > :12:43.back home. Without the Ukrainian Army, these
:12:44. > :12:50.are the people taking on the pro-Russians. They are far-right
:12:51. > :12:53.activists known as the Right Sector. Ukrainian nationalists wanting
:12:54. > :12:55.closer links with Europe and they're on their way to one of their biggest
:12:56. > :13:10.rallies. What do you think when you see
:13:11. > :13:13.pictures of key Government buildings in East Ukraine collapsing, falling
:13:14. > :13:34.into the hands of the pro-Russians? At the rally a pro-European mob of
:13:35. > :13:40.right-wingers is gathered. It feels like a football crowd, but many are
:13:41. > :13:44.carrying weapons. Mingling with families and children, these men are
:13:45. > :13:55.welcomed as their protectors as they sing the National Anthem. We want
:13:56. > :14:02.freedom. We don't need some crowd from Russia, from Europe, we want
:14:03. > :14:09.freedom. We have been told that all the football hooligan groups around
:14:10. > :14:16.the country have called a truce so they can fight a common enemy
:14:17. > :14:20.together. But there are no pro-Russians to fight until later
:14:21. > :14:35.when they emerge to take on the stragglers. Even the injured aren't
:14:36. > :14:41.spared. Watch the elderly pro-Russian woman. But elsewhere,
:14:42. > :14:46.other pro-Ukraine forces are gathering and this time, they're
:14:47. > :14:55.armed. We've been invited to meet them at a secret cam nap remote farm
:14:56. > :15:00.buildings. But when we arrive, the camps been surrounded by a hostile,
:15:01. > :15:05.pro-Russian crowd. They believe the paramilitaries have taken local
:15:06. > :15:18.youths hostage. Let's see if we can go across to the
:15:19. > :15:25.other side. They seem to have a sort of camp.
:15:26. > :15:33.These paramilitaries support the Kiev government and the West. Back
:15:34. > :15:38.on the other side of the fence, a man, claiming they did this to him,
:15:39. > :15:45.shot him with a rubber bullet as punishment. Then, evidence of how
:15:46. > :15:47.close this private army is to the Ukrainian Army, they summon air
:15:48. > :15:58.support. What it's doing is flying in low to
:15:59. > :16:01.try and give a warning to all these crowds that are gathering outside
:16:02. > :16:07.this, what appears to be some kind of paramilitary base. I am very
:16:08. > :16:11.scared. But they're here to protect you, aren't they? We protect our
:16:12. > :16:30.country. It prompts the crowd to set off on a
:16:31. > :16:38.new mission in convoy and into town, with the helicopter in pursuit. They
:16:39. > :16:45.want local police to intervene and get their boys back. We've just
:16:46. > :16:50.arrived at the police station, and the crowd who are out there where
:16:51. > :16:51.the helicopter came and now decided to take it over, by the looks of
:16:52. > :17:32.things. It's just starting. They're going in through every
:17:33. > :17:37.window of this police station now. Men are just running in there with
:17:38. > :17:51.ball dlauf yaz and baseball -- balaclavas and baseball bats.
:17:52. > :17:54.You can see they've successfully taken over this police station in a
:17:55. > :18:12.matter of about ten minutes. In Donetsk, the self-proclaimed
:18:13. > :18:20.People's Republic is making plans for the whole region to break away.
:18:21. > :18:23.A former hit -- our former history teacher, Miroslav, part of the
:18:24. > :18:27.three-man leadership, is trying to organise a referendum. But he lives
:18:28. > :18:31.under the constant threat that Kiev will send in forces before he can
:18:32. > :18:35.sort out a vote. When all this started, you didn't
:18:36. > :18:40.want to take over the building, did you? You wanted to do it through the
:18:41. > :18:43.democratic process. TRANSLATION: Yes, it's the
:18:44. > :18:50.referendum, and for too long the authorities have ignored us. Inside
:18:51. > :18:54.his seized building, these are rare shots from one of the operations
:18:55. > :19:02.floors. Men and women, guarding the rooms where Miroslav works. We're
:19:03. > :19:05.right in the heart of the seized administration building in Donetsk
:19:06. > :19:10.and we're here at a tense moment, because the government in Kiev has
:19:11. > :19:15.launched what it calls its antiterrorism operation to take back
:19:16. > :19:17.buildings like this one. In Miroslav's office they're on the
:19:18. > :19:25.look out for snipers. TRANSLATION: Essentially this is the
:19:26. > :19:29.start of a civil conflict, the outbreak of Civil War. We're on our
:19:30. > :19:33.land. Unfortunately, the so-called Kiev government is unaware. They
:19:34. > :19:41.intend to resolve this by resorting to violence.
:19:42. > :19:46.Around the country, it's becoming increasingly dangerous. On the road
:19:47. > :19:54.to Slavyansk, journalists are being hooded at checkpoints and beaten.
:19:55. > :19:59.And a group of Ukrainian Special Forces have been captured.
:20:00. > :20:07.The man showing them to the press is the mayor's military chief, Igor
:20:08. > :20:14.Strelkov. He's from Moscow and says many of his men are from Russia and
:20:15. > :20:19.Crimea. We head for the Town Hall, where the
:20:20. > :20:20.new mayor is being questioned about the international monitors he's
:20:21. > :20:39.holding. But then, intercepted phone calls
:20:40. > :20:42.emerge, evidence of what has happened to the missing politician,
:20:43. > :21:05.pro-European, Vladymir Ryback. Soon after, a grim discovery in a
:21:06. > :21:14.river just outside Slavyansk. Two bodies showing signs of torture.
:21:15. > :21:23.At the mortuary, Vladymir Ryback's wife arrives.
:21:24. > :21:29.TRANSLATION: His skull was fractured. There were signs of
:21:30. > :21:33.torture. His jaw was broken, no teeth, you understand? It sounds as
:21:34. > :21:36.though on the day, your husband was abducted and killed for trying to
:21:37. > :21:39.raise the Ukrainian flag? TRANSLATION: He wasn't abducted so
:21:40. > :21:43.much because of the flag, but because he was for a united Ukraine,
:21:44. > :21:51.against the Russian occupation. The flag was just an excuse.
:21:52. > :21:57.Another call about a disappearance, this time, the voice is that of the
:21:58. > :22:00.mayor of Slavyansk himself. Vyacheslav Ponomaryev is speaking to
:22:01. > :22:31.his chief military officer, Igor Strelkov, the man from Moscow.
:22:32. > :22:38.Despite allegations of brutality, and the hostages, the mayor of
:22:39. > :22:42.Slavyansk remains a popular figure amongst pro-Russians. Are you a
:22:43. > :22:46.supporter of the methods of the mayor of Slavyansk?
:22:47. > :22:54.TRANSLATION: Absolutely and the day after tomorrow I'm meeting him.
:22:55. > :22:59.APPLAUSE And the mayor had agreed to meet
:23:00. > :23:09.with Panorama too. But on the way to Slavyansk to see him this... GUNFIRE
:23:10. > :23:15.The Ukrainian military, advancing towards town.
:23:16. > :23:17.The Ukrainian helicopter circles nearby.
:23:18. > :23:34.It's shot down. In town, a pilot's caught and taken
:23:35. > :23:38.away. The Ukrainian army advance stops
:23:39. > :23:42.here on the bridge in front of us. We arrive just as locals surround
:23:43. > :23:54.the armoured vehicles. Look at the anger. There's a lot of
:23:55. > :23:56.anger here. There are people screaming at the Ukrainian military
:23:57. > :24:09.and they seem to be reversing. The army says they're here for the
:24:10. > :24:11.people, to protect them against the mayor and his men, but many of these
:24:12. > :24:26.people sup port the mayor. The Ukrainian military has
:24:27. > :24:32.successfully blocked the road into town, cutting off Slavyansk,
:24:33. > :24:37.trapping the mayor. We can't get to our interview. Over
:24:38. > :24:47.the next few days, the violence spreads.
:24:48. > :24:55.More than 40 dead in a fire in Odessa. Attempted assassinations.
:24:56. > :25:01.Policemen shot on t street. And in the middle of the chaos, a
:25:02. > :25:04.referendum, organised by Miroslav's separatist government.
:25:05. > :25:10.TRANSLATION: This is the start of new Russia. It will clear our land
:25:11. > :25:15.of Nazis. Alexei turns up to vote with his new
:25:16. > :25:20.body guards toe. The result -- tow, the result, an overwhelming vote for
:25:21. > :25:24.east Ukraine to break away. Only Putin's Moscow takes it seriously,
:25:25. > :25:26.but doesn't respond to their formal request to join the Russian
:25:27. > :25:33.Federation. Even though, that seems to be increasingly what pro-Russian
:25:34. > :25:37.leaders here are looking for. Under siege in Slavyansk, the mayor
:25:38. > :25:41.agrees to be interviewed down-the-line, with a local film
:25:42. > :25:44.crew in his office. I asked what had happened to his predecessor, Nelly
:25:45. > :25:54.Shtepa. Where's Nelly now? She's under your guard, in the
:25:55. > :26:12.cellars of the Town Hall, is she there?
:26:13. > :26:15.How much hostages -- how many hostages have you got in your
:26:16. > :26:23.cellars at the moment? What about his intercepted phone
:26:24. > :26:53.call? Now he says his besieged town will
:26:54. > :27:13.never return to Kiev's control. Five days ago, we met up with Alexei
:27:14. > :27:20.and his men, in a secret location near the Russian border. By now,
:27:21. > :27:24.they're armed. He won't say by whom. He blames the conflict on foreign
:27:25. > :27:30.interference - America and Europe's support of what he calls the illegal
:27:31. > :27:35.government in Kiev. TRANSLATION: It's already a state of
:27:36. > :27:39.Civil War. The Civil War began after the first shots in Slavyansk. Now
:27:40. > :27:41.it's in full swing. The east of Ukraine is moving steadily towards
:27:42. > :27:56.Russia and that's a fact. Yelena Ryback has fled her town,
:27:57. > :28:04.fearing the same fate as her murdered husband.
:28:05. > :28:11.TRANSLATION: Those who share his beliefs and those who don't should
:28:12. > :28:16.fight for democracy, so we can solve everything through diplomacy and not
:28:17. > :28:21.through banditry, so we can be like a civilised nation.
:28:22. > :28:27.Later this week, national elections are planned for Ukraine. Whoever
:28:28. > :28:32.wins will inherit a divided country with entire towns out of Kiev's
:28:33. > :28:37.control. It's now clear many of their citizens are ready to fight
:28:38. > :28:38.for a future in the Russian Federation, whether the West likes
:28:39. > :29:08.it or not. The consultation on closure
:29:09. > :29:13.is supposed to last for 45 days. 11 Yorkshire children have all been
:29:14. > :29:17.honoured for their courage... The hospital's own report
:29:18. > :29:20.identified systemic failures... The South East was
:29:21. > :29:23.battered by hurricane-force winds... ..but I do not want to see
:29:24. > :29:26.inappropriate solar developments 'However you see the world, find
:29:27. > :29:31.the stories that matter to you.' It's time to join the BBC's
:29:32. > :29:35.news teams where you are.