Ukraine on Fire

''Ukraine on Fire'' is a documentary film directed by Igor Lopatonok and premiered at the 2016 Taormina Film Fest. It features Oliver Stone, the executive producer, interviewing figures surrounding the 2014 Ukrainian revolution such as Viktor Yanukovich and Vladimir Putin. The central thesis of the film is that the events that led to the flight of Yanukovych in February 2014 were a coup d'état led by the USA with the help of far-right Ukrainian factions.

Synopsis

The film starts with an historical overview, detailing events such as the Cossack Hetmanate, World War I and the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, the incorporation of Western Ukraine into the USSR, the Great Patriotic War, Ukrainian collaborationism in World War II, the events in Babi Yar, the Volyn massacre and the guerilla war of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army up to the mid 1950s. During the Cold War, the CIA maintained contact with Ukrainian nationalists in order to have possible channels for counterintelligence towards the USSR. The film presents Mykola Lebed, who was allowed to enter the USA, while Stepan Bandera was hiding as Stefan Popel in Munich, where he was assassinated in 1959 and thus became the symbol of Ukrainian nationalists, although he was not the most influential leader compared to Dmytro Dontsov, Andriy Melnyk and Roman Shukhevych. The film covers the development in Ukraine since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the "crazy 1990s", in which the free market and poorly regulated privatizations of state assets gave rise to oligarchs, while the standard of living declined among the general public. The documentary recounts the development of far-right politics in Ukraine. In 1991, Oleh Tyahnybok founded a radical national party Svoboda. Dmytro Yarosh founded another far-right organization Trysub (Trident) in 1994, which later merged into Right Sector. In 2004, the nonviolent Orange Revolution took place; in the film's depiction, it was a neck-and-neck race between presidential candidates Viktor Yanukovych (east-leaning) and Viktor Yushchenko (west-leaning). Yushchenko won the election after it had to be repeated due to massive electoral fraud, but disappointed during his term and was not re-elected in 2010; that year his former political opponent came to power.

The historical retrospective is followed by Oliver Stone's interviews with Viktor Yanukovych and Vladimir Putin, in which they explain the situation in 2013 regarding the trade agreement with the European Union and why negotiations were paused. Former Ukrainian Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko adds that there was information that protests were already prepared for 2015, which were brought forward by the opposition due to the current situation with the EU agreement. The initially peaceful protests were supported by non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Robert Parry claimed that there are NGOs funded by US government money that represent their interests, including the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The protest movement on the Maidan also received support from Mustafa Nayyem, a media veteran, notably through an appeal via Facebook on 21 November 2013. In those days, three TV channels were established that focused on Maidan coverage: SPILNO.TV, hromadske.tv and Espreso TV. In the early days, the protests were peaceful, although the documentary claims that radical elements were already appearing. On 24 November, the level of aggression began to rise with the storming of a government building by protesters. On 30 November a violent eviction of the Maidan was carried out by the police, presumably on the orders of Oleksandr Popov and Serhiy Lyovochkin (ostensibly to install the annual Christmas tree in the square). The film also claims that the side of the demonstrators, there were young men who were ready to use violence and provoked the riot police with stones and flares. Among them were Right Sector activists who, according to Richard Parry, were brought to Kiev on the Maidan to "muscle" the peaceful demonstrations, which became more violent.

From December 1 onwards, the film shows the Maidan protests - supported by TV coverage - gaining momentum. An armament took place on the side of the demonstrators: with baseball bats, metal pipes and also using construction vehicles. Yanukovych claims in an interview that these escalation techniques had been planned in advance. The film shows leaflets from other world regions that gave tips on how to prepare for a confrontation with the riot police. The symbol of the outstretched fist is presented as a common meme. Funding of the preparations through foundations such as George Soros' Renaissance Foundation is suspected, the appearance of US politicians ( Chris Murphy, John McCain) on the Maidan is shown. The US ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt