Whenever she can, Lyubov Galan tries to bridge the divide between anti-government protesters and security forces in Kiev, crossing the front line for a chat with young, sometimes frightened conscripts.
The smiley 19-year-old brunette is part of the "female unit" of Independence Square in central Kiev where demonstrators have set up camp for over two months, barricading themselves in to pressure President Viktor Yanukovych into stepping down.
"Hey there, how are you? You're not too cold today?" she asks two soldiers from the interior ministry's security department, perched on top of a truck.
Galan's unit of around 40 women aims to counter what it sees as a prevailing "macho" atmosphere on the square, believing that they can help keep the peace with motherly, female empathy as part of the "non-violent resistance" against the regime.
They also want to reach out to soldiers who have found themselves on the front line since protests broke out in November, when authorities rejected a key EU trade pact in favour of closer ties with Russia, stunning pro-Western parts of the population who rose up.
Most of the soldiers are young conscripts who have been ordered to face off with demonstrators, sometimes even getting sent in ahead of Ukraine's highly-trained and feared Berkut riot police.
In January when ferocious clashes broke out between security forces and protesters, they faced a hail of Molotov cocktails and stones.
The two soldiers respond to Galan morosely with a less-than-convincing "I'm ok".
But as she chats on, the soldiers start to smile and relax, talking first about the day's events and then about their ideological differences.
Curious, four other soldiers clamber onto the truck to listen to Galan, a charming history student from the western city of Lviv.
-'Maidan loves you'-
She knows some of the soldiers who are now guarding government headquarters by name, having made regular trips to their trucks on which she has painted: "We also want to go home. Maidan loves you."
Like others in the unit, Galan is keen to explain to these soldiers who witnessed violence first-hand that most of the anti-government protest movement rocking Ukraine is not aggressive.
"We shouldn't have done that," she concedes about the outburst of violence.
Other young students have also volunteered to go break the ice with soldiers guarding different government areas.
"Be natural, talk, ask them what they're called, where they come from, don't ask them questions that are too complicated, we're not in court," Galan explains to the new arrivals.
Nastia Arseniouk, a sociology student, has just started out in the unit.
"I like what Lyubov does, I think I will be useful for the Maidan (protest movement) if I do the same thing as her," she says, sitting next to a brazier on the square where the unit's headquarters are located.
It's not Arseniouk's first involvement in the mass demonstrations since they started in November.
She has also protested in front of parliament and courthouses.
"It forces the authorities to think twice and gets them agitated," she says.
Arseniouk does not approve of the violent actions of nationalist paramilitary group Pravy Sektor, members of which are at the heart of Independence Square and initiated the January clashes, although she understands the exasperation that fuelled them.
The clashes, which left several dead and hundreds injured, prompted a shocked Yanukovych to dismiss the government in a bid to appease protest leaders.
But the opposition is demanding far more -- the president's own resignation, the formation of a new pro-West government and a reduction in presidential powers in favour of parliament.
Kateryna Tchepoura, 27, a theatre director by trade, has taken the lead in the female unit, buoyed by the belief that protesters will always lose if they resort to violence.
"Feminine-style" resistance has a crucial place in the protest movement, she believes, nevertheless pointing out that peaceful resistance does not equate to passive resistance.
"If there had been several thousand women in evening dresses on January 19 on Grushevsky Street (where the clashes took place), they would have cleared the police cordons away in a tick," she says.
Whenever she can, Lyubov Galan tries to bridge the divide between anti-government protesters and security forces in Kiev, crossing the front line for a chat with young, sometimes frightened conscripts.
The smiley 19-year-old brunette is part of the “female unit” of Independence Square in central Kiev where demonstrators have set up camp for over two months, barricading themselves in to pressure President Viktor Yanukovych into stepping down.
“Hey there, how are you? You’re not too cold today?” she asks two soldiers from the interior ministry’s security department, perched on top of a truck.
Galan’s unit of around 40 women aims to counter what it sees as a prevailing “macho” atmosphere on the square, believing that they can help keep the peace with motherly, female empathy as part of the “non-violent resistance” against the regime.
They also want to reach out to soldiers who have found themselves on the front line since protests broke out in November, when authorities rejected a key EU trade pact in favour of closer ties with Russia, stunning pro-Western parts of the population who rose up.
Most of the soldiers are young conscripts who have been ordered to face off with demonstrators, sometimes even getting sent in ahead of Ukraine’s highly-trained and feared Berkut riot police.
In January when ferocious clashes broke out between security forces and protesters, they faced a hail of Molotov cocktails and stones.
The two soldiers respond to Galan morosely with a less-than-convincing “I’m ok”.
But as she chats on, the soldiers start to smile and relax, talking first about the day’s events and then about their ideological differences.
Curious, four other soldiers clamber onto the truck to listen to Galan, a charming history student from the western city of Lviv.
-‘Maidan loves you’-
She knows some of the soldiers who are now guarding government headquarters by name, having made regular trips to their trucks on which she has painted: “We also want to go home. Maidan loves you.”
Like others in the unit, Galan is keen to explain to these soldiers who witnessed violence first-hand that most of the anti-government protest movement rocking Ukraine is not aggressive.
“We shouldn’t have done that,” she concedes about the outburst of violence.
Other young students have also volunteered to go break the ice with soldiers guarding different government areas.
“Be natural, talk, ask them what they’re called, where they come from, don’t ask them questions that are too complicated, we’re not in court,” Galan explains to the new arrivals.
Nastia Arseniouk, a sociology student, has just started out in the unit.
“I like what Lyubov does, I think I will be useful for the Maidan (protest movement) if I do the same thing as her,” she says, sitting next to a brazier on the square where the unit’s headquarters are located.
It’s not Arseniouk’s first involvement in the mass demonstrations since they started in November.
She has also protested in front of parliament and courthouses.
“It forces the authorities to think twice and gets them agitated,” she says.
Arseniouk does not approve of the violent actions of nationalist paramilitary group Pravy Sektor, members of which are at the heart of Independence Square and initiated the January clashes, although she understands the exasperation that fuelled them.
The clashes, which left several dead and hundreds injured, prompted a shocked Yanukovych to dismiss the government in a bid to appease protest leaders.
But the opposition is demanding far more — the president’s own resignation, the formation of a new pro-West government and a reduction in presidential powers in favour of parliament.
Kateryna Tchepoura, 27, a theatre director by trade, has taken the lead in the female unit, buoyed by the belief that protesters will always lose if they resort to violence.
“Feminine-style” resistance has a crucial place in the protest movement, she believes, nevertheless pointing out that peaceful resistance does not equate to passive resistance.
“If there had been several thousand women in evening dresses on January 19 on Grushevsky Street (where the clashes took place), they would have cleared the police cordons away in a tick,” she says.
