Skip to content
Search
Human content, AI powered search.

Latest Stories

News

Ukraine's 2014 Maidan Revolution in Black and White

Alex Kliment
By Alex KlimentFebruary 21, 2019
Alex Kliment
Alex wears a few different caps and tips them all regularly. He writes for the GZERO Daily, works as a field correspondent for GZERO's nationally syndicated TV show GZERO WORLD WITH IAN BREMMER, and writes/directs/voices GZERO's award-winning puppet satire show PUPPET REGIME. Prior to joining GZERO, Alex worked as an analyst covering Russia and broader Emerging Markets for Eurasia Group. He has also written for the Financial Times from Washington, DC, and Sao Paulo Brazil. In his spare time, he makes short films and composes scores for long ones. He studied history and Slavic literature at Columbia and has a Master's from Johns Hopkins SAIS. He's a native New Yorker, a long-suffering Mets fan, and owns too many bicycles.
See Full Bio

I arrived in Kiev in late February 2014. Moscow's man Viktor Yanukovych had fled the country, but the new Western-backed government hadn't yet been installed. The worst of the violence was over, but there were still bloodstains and trails of flowers on the Maidan. News had arrived that masked gunmen were seizing control of Crimea, but Moscow hadn't formally annexed the peninsula yet, and it would be several months before the Kremlin-backed insurgency in Eastern Ukraine flared up in full. Here are a few scenes from those days between the climax of the revolution and the tenuous new order that followed.

At the height of the violence, pro-government snipers and police killed more than a hundred protesters. Some of the regime's marksmen allegedly shot from the windows of the Hotel Ukraina, which overlooks the Maidan in the distance. In a potent fusion of Orthodox ritual and Ukrainian nationalism, Maidan activists and supporters spontaneously hailed the dead as martyrs, honoring "The Heavenly Hundred" with impromptu shrines of flowers and candles.

Latest Videos

Greenland, tariffs, and the transatlantic relationshipplay icon
GZERO Europe

Greenland, tariffs, and the transatlantic relationship

Trump, Canada, and the future of the free world
ask ian

Trump, Canada, and the future of the free world

The world economy is resilient, despite tariffs
GZERO World Clips

The world economy is resilient, despite tariffs

ICE in Minneapolis
Quick Take

ICE in Minneapolis

Stubb: Russia is losing in Ukraine
GZERO World Clips

Stubb: Russia is losing in Ukraine

Can Europe stay united?
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer

Can Europe stay united?

More For You

Graphic Truth: Costa Rica’s severe murder rate

Graphic Truth: Costa Rica’s severe murder rate
Eileen Zhang
Costa Rica was once known as one of the most tranquil and stable countries in Latin America. A dollarized, tourism-oriented democracy so peaceful and picturesque that it didn’t even have an army. That idyll has been blown apart in recent years as murder rates – particularly among young men – have shot up to new highs. The culprit? Drug cartels. [...]

Hard numbers: Widespread flooding in southern Africa, White House and Senate appear to strike funding deal, Ukraine’s nuclear reactors at risk, Venezuela to open up oil reserves

​A flood victim stands at her flooded home after weeks of heavy rainfall in Boane District, Maputo, Mozambique, January 19, 2026.

A flood victim stands at her flooded home after weeks of heavy rainfall in Boane District, Maputo, Mozambique, January 19, 2026.

REUTERS/Amilton Neves/File Photo
392,000: The estimated number of people displaced across Mozambique by recent rain-induced floods. Severe flooding in the southern African nation, as well as in South Africa and Zimbabwe, has killed over 100 people. Experts say climate change has exacerbated the rainfall and flooding. [...]

What We’re Watching: US weighs Iran hit, Trump nominates Powell’s successor, Chinese firm can’t operate Panama Canal

​Protesters call for US military intervention in Iran.

Protesters call for US military intervention in Iran.

ZUMA Press Wire
Are US strikes on Iran imminent?US President Donald Trump continued to threaten strikes on Iran, saying Thursday they must do “two things” to avoid a strike: end their nuclear ambitions and stop killing protesters. His message comes as the US is building up its military presence in the Gulf (he made a similar move in the Caribbean ahead of the [...]

Costa Rica’s crime-time election

Costa Rica presidential candidate Laura Fernandez in Heredia, Costa Rica, January 29, 2026.​

Costa Rica presidential candidate Laura Fernandez of the Sovereign People's Party (PPSO) addresses supporters during her closing campaign rally, ahead of the February 1 general election, in Heredia, Costa Rica, January 29, 2026.

REUTERS/Mayela Lopez
In yet another Latin American election shaped by concerns about security and violence, Costa Ricans will vote for president this Sunday.Leading the polls with roughly 40% support is conservative candidate Laura Fernández, the preferred successor and former chief of staff of current leader Rodrigo Chaves, who is popular but cannot run again due to [...]