The documentary, which has caused much outrage and debate in the past month, is now translated into English and available with subtitles on YouTube.

Usov has shared the link to the film's English version on various social networks and online media platforms, including his Facebook page [uk]. User Natalia Vorotchenko posted this comment [uk]:

[…] You've done a tremendous job… and the English translation allows even more people - those abroad - to see the truth! Step by step, blows are being dealt to the regime of the communists and the oligarchs, and I hope that it will soon vanish… And this will happen in large part thanks to your work, your stance and your heroism! […]

In the April 19 interview [ru] with Vecherniye Vesti newspaper, Usov talked about the steps being taken by the authorities since the film's release. According to him, the acting head of Lukyanivska has been forced to resign; the government has allotted 1.5 million hryvnias (approx. $185,000) for repairs inside the facility; the prosecutor's office is investigating all the violations mentioned in the film; the prison's authorities have confirmed that the walls of the cells are covered with harmful fungus.

Much of the footage in Usov's film comes from those Lukyanivska inmates who had agreed to take risks and help document their lives, using mobile phones smuggled inside the prison via bribe-taking prison employees, an illegal yet routine practice at this and other facilities. In the Vecherniye Vesti interview, Usov claimed that the “shadow” profits of Lukyanivska's staff involved in illegal transactions with the inmates and their contacts outside amounted to 1.5 million hryvnias a week. On Facebook, where Usov shared the link to the interview, user Juriy Prohorov wrote [ru]:

Every lawyer and anyone who's ever had to deal in some way with the Ukrainian legal system knows everything that [Usov] has told about in his film, and everyone from inmates to prison guards are fine with it… But [Usov] deserves credit for saying it all openly… […]

On April 21, Usov noted [uk] on Facebook that “for the first time in 20 years, Ukrainian prison officials have started addressing inmates [using the formal, respectful form of the ‘you' pronoun]:

[…] Yes, it may seem like no big deal to some. But in fact this is the breakthrough moment.

On his Ukrainska Pravda blog, journalist Artem Shevchenko, one of Usov's film crew members, shared his views [uk] on the film's significance:

[…] It appears that [the film is relevant now] because, due to the regime's politics, prison is gradually turning into a self-sufficient actor in [Ukraine's] social and political life. There is no doubt that prison is one of the factors of today's public politics. Prison [features in top news in the media]. Some are intimidating others with prison. Others are proud of [their prison experience]. [Inmate transportation vehicles] are the most popular cars of the 2010-2011-2012 season. […] By jailing his main political opponents, President [Victor Yanukovych] seems to be catering to the complexes of his youth, which he [acquired behind bars]. A young person's mentality, maimed by prison experience, cannot be any different. When such a person gains power, [he/she] subconsciously starts building a prison [outside the prison walls].

Blogger and activist Aleksandr Volodarskiy [ru] (aka shiitman) spent a month and a half at Lukyanivska prison in 2009. He was detained for “hooliganism” [en] after imitating a sexual intercourse outside the Ukrainian Parliament on Nov. 2, 2009, as part of a protest against censorship by the Ukrainian National Expert Commission for Protection of Public Morality [ru] (www.moral.gov.ua [uk]). In early April, he wrote two blog posts about Usov's documentary, explaining how the Ukrainian prison system works and why the film might do more harm than good to those kept in detention - and suggesting ways to improve the situation. Below are excerpts from these posts.

April 5, 2012 [ru]:

[…] The prison is indeed like this, only worse.

They didn't show the “boxes” where people who are being transferred to courts/police stations and back are kept for hours. Tiny boxes with no air to breathe and often no place to sit, at times packed with dozens of people. Also not reflected is, to my mind, the key issue: IMPOSSIBILITY of communicating legally. You can't call a lawyer unless you use a banned mobile phone. The lawyer has to take initiative and come to the inmate [him/herself]. A question arises: how will the lawyer learn about violation of the client's rights if the client has no right to get in touch with [the lawyer]? Similarly, inmates cannot get in touch with family in order to ask them to send some specific food or medicines. If a person gets sick, he should wait for his lawyer's visit, to share his complaints with him, and the lawyer would then share them with family members. One can die of pneumonia a few times during this period. If you want to survive, you'll have to use the phone - local doctors can at best offer aspirin. That is, this system initially includes corruption. […]

I'm afraid that the first result of Usov's investigation will be (or is already) a mass [search] and confiscation of phones from all cells. The cops' first reaction to any information leak is an attempt to deal with the source of this leak. They won't be solving problems by themselves - because they themselves are the problem. […]

April 7, 2012 [ru]:

[…] Many influential [inmates] don't really need things to be “in accordance with the law.” […] They need personal comfort. [Drugs and alcohol]. Things that no one will ever legalize in prison.

For that they are quite ready to tolerate beatings, anti-sanitary conditions, diseases, and the necessity to be humiliated by the cops and to pay them. […] The same type of logic works in the society as a whole. People don't want a revolution and radical changes, they are genuinely afraid of them. Because revolution inevitably causes the government's reaction that may affect not just the revolutionaries. And in general - who knows what happens after this revolution - while even though there's evil all around now, this evil is familiar. […]

Usov's mistake is that he decided to entertain the ordinary [viewers] with exotica. […] He has dealt a tremendous blow to the prison corruption infrastructure, which is not only feeding the cops, but is helping people to survive here and now. […] It's not right to sacrifice the people, not right to throw noncombatants into the line of fire.

[…]

The only way to make sure these people haven't suffered in vain is to raise two important questions:

1. Lifting the limitations on meetings, packages and correspondence for the inmates. These limitations don't contribute to finding the truth, they should be seen as a type of torture.
2. Legalization of phone connection (technically, it can be easily done by providing each cell with a couple of cell phones […])

This is something that has to be discussed at all levels now. Not the “corruption” and not even the “fungus.”

Having a legal connection with the outside world, the inmates will get a chance to talk about what's going on in prison.

If prison acquires a voice, everything will change.

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Online, there has been a great deal of speculation about the bombings. The timing of the tragedy is key to most of the popular theories, as Ukraine is going through a very eventful period right now. Below are the highlights:

• The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, which Ukraine is hosting together with Poland, is just six weeks away (Dnipropetrovsk is not one of the host cities, however);
• Ex-PM Yulia Tymoshenko, a native of Dnipropetrovsk, is serving a disputed jail sentence, and reports of her mistreatment - as well as photos of her bruises - have been drawing much attention and negative response both at home and abroad;
• The economic and social situation in the country is precarious, and the growing tensions aren't likely to be diffused anytime soon, as various political forces are busy preparing for the October 28 parliamentary elections;
• Just two weeks ago, on April 14 [uk], Dnipropetrovsk was in the spotlight domestically, when a well-known local businessman, Gennadiy Akselrod, was shot to death. The previous attempt on his life, in September 2010 [uk], was unsuccessful - back then, a bomb went off at a local restaurant, injuring Akselrod's business partner, Gennadiy Korban. (On a related note, in October 2009 [ru], another Dnipropetrovsk explosion took the life of one of Korban's business partners, Vyacheslav Braginskiy.)

Time will tell whether any of it has anything to do with the Dnipropetrovsk blasts, but right now it is proving hard to discuss the bombings without taking into account the points mentioned above, one way or another.

Journalist Vakhtang Kipiani wrote this [uk] on Facebook:

Tymoshenko's bruises and the blasts in Dnipropetrovsk are good enough arguments for those Europeans who haven't made up their minds yet on whether to come to Ukraine or not.

On his Ukrainska Pravda blog, Yevhen Ikhelzon wrote this [ru]:

[…] Ukraine has been living [in “terror”] for approximately a year now - there's no place for justice here, politics has drowned in lies and corruption […].

The bruises on Tymoshenko's body and the blasts in Dnipropetrovsk are just an external manifestation of this “terror” […]. For the first time we've found ourselves in a situation when the blasts were directed at random people - and this is terrorism. Regardless of whether the motives were political or criminal.

We are against terror, we want a peaceful life […]. Since we do have the elected authorities, our demands to them are simple - DO NOT TERRORIZE US. If they are unable to deliver, they should leave their posts of their own accord, before people with pitchforks [force them out].

I'm far from accusing the president or the government of being behind the terror attacks - there's no evidence to prove it whatsoever. But since everyone has been thinking in this direction all at once, there's only one answer - [the regime] has done a lot for this to happen.

[…]

If I were in Ukraine right now, I'd start organizing a rally “against terror.” And I'd recommend that the opposition took part in organizing it, instead of blaming the regime. [A rally] against the bruises and the blasts.

LJ user urobor posted his ideas [ru] on how the situation in Dnipropetrovsk could have been useful to the Ukrainian regime:

[…] It's all coming together too smoothly. As soon as [ex-ombudsperson Nina Karpachova] has [made public the photos] confirming the beating of Tymoshenko (around 11 am), as soon as the protesters visited [the Presidential Administration in Kyiv] (11 am-noon) - suddenly there are the explosions, the injured, the announcement of a “terrorist threat,” mobile connection is shut off, [armored personnel vehicles and snipers are in]…

[…]

All this seems like a good practice [rehearsal].

Let's assume that the situation for the regime has become really bad and mass protests start in Kyiv… Suddenly, a few garbage bins explode on Khreshchatyk [Kyiv's main street], one after another. The city's center is immediately blocked, mobile connection and internet are turned off, armed troops enter the city […]. Even if [the Parliament] is blocked [by the opposition] at his moment, an extraordinary session is summoned and state of emergency is declared… […]

LJ user nogitsunee commented on LJ user urobor's conspiracy theory:

In Belarus, a similar story took place in April last year [the Minsk metro bombing of April 11, 2011]

LJ user urobor replied:

Yes, I do remember it. It was at that very time that the sudden economic decline began, causing discontent. And suddenly - boom! - maybe it was also a coincidence…

On Facebook, Alex Zakletsky posted this assessment [uk] of potential “suspects”:

[…] 1. Separatists. We have a few of them in the Crimea and Transcarpathia. In my opinion, neither group is capable of anything like this.
2. Religious fanatics. Unlikely.
3. Business-related criminal confrontation. Doesn't look like it. During such confrontations, specific cars with specific persons get blown up, not everyone around. […]
4. A lonely maniac like Breivik. Unlikely - even the authorities admit that this was done by a group of people.
5. The opposition did it to ruin the regime's image. Absolutely illogical. The opposition doesn't have to do anything, the regime is very professional at discrediting itself.
6. A “proxy” oppositional organization's job aimed at tarnishing the image of the national opposition movement.
7. A foreign connection. The work of special services of the northern neighbor [Russia] in order to destabilize [President Victor Yanukovych's regime] even more. A possibility. […]
8. A xenophobic terrorist group's job. Unreal, I think. People of absolutely different ethnicities have been hurt.
9. A special group did this on the orders from the regime. […] a distraction manoeuvre that has allowed to appoint a new ombudsperson. Et cetera. […]

Dnipropetrovsk was trending worldwide on Twitter shortly after the explosions. Serhiy Pishkovtsiy (@blogoreader) of Watcher.com.ua posted a screenshot [uk] of Twitter's Worldwide Trends page - and tweeted this thought [uk]:

The bombs weren't big, looks like they didn't want to kill anyone, but [the goal was] to distract the people and to intimidate them […]

Dnipropetrovsk-based LJ user anchiktigra shared her thoughts and excerpts from the media and local discussion forums in this blog post [ru], both emotional and informative:

[…] Mama called from work today and said, “Anya, there were some explosions in Dnipropetrovsk, [my clients] are running late for [their appointments], check what happened on the internet. Mobile phones aren't working, streets are blocked, the police aren't allowing people to go outside.” I went online and was shocked […]. […] Ten blasts in a row. All of a sudden… […]

How are we supposed to get home from work? Everyone is sitting in their offices, inside, afraid to venture into the street. No one knows what will happen and what to expect. Everything is happening very quickly. That is, it was happening quickly, and now there's just silence and tension…

What's happening is absurd. They killed Akselrod recently, and now this. All in broad daylight. They used to assassinate only the chosen ones, and now they are hitting the masses. The bombs went off as people were getting out of the trams. Horrible.

The total of four explosions, even though they're writing about ten everywhere.

[…]

[End-of-the-day summary]

[…] 2. The exact number of blasts - more than four. This information comes from the Mechnikov Hospital staff, based on the number of patients that they are receiving.

[…]

5. If there were more than four explosions, then it is an emergency situation - what Euro-2012 are you talking about then. No, this won't do. [Let's make it look humble.] And who cares that people have been hurt…

[…]

7. I am shocked, of course. So much happened, we've been through so much during this day… And… nothing? No one needs us. Neither in this city, nor in this country. The big guys are solving their problems, playing. And we are the little mice. We've been told there were four blasts, so this is what it was, four. We've been told that this happened because of this and that… Ok, good. But how can one live peacefully if you get out of the tram - and BOOM. Just because… For no reason. […]

Odessablogger wrote this [en]:

[…] Let’s see if anyone is caught for these crimes and what they have to say – although would you believe what they have to say having been in SBU [Security Service of Ukraine] custody?

Yet another unnamed victim in all this will be trust. Trust gets a kicking in Ukraine on a daily basis. It simply no longer exists in any meaningful way between the political class (of any party) and society. It may be that the EU policy of engagement with Ukrainian civil society and not the political classes will prove to be a very smart policy move indeed.

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The film, which is available on YouTube, includes mobile phone footage made surreptitiously by a number of inmates over the past few months at the journalist's request.

Many of those who have already watched Usov's documentary were shocked by what they saw, to say the least.

LEvko of the English-language Foreign Notes blog wrote this in a post entitled, “The hell-hole that is Lukyaniv prison”:

The brave investigative journalist Konstyantyn Usov from TVi recently managed to smuggle several mobile phones into the notorious Lukyaniv investigative isolation unit where [ex-PM Yulia Tymoshenko] was detained, and where [ex-minister of internal affairs Yuriy Lutsenko] is still being held. His nightmarish television documentary can be seen here….

The conditions in some of the cells are unimaginably bad…diabolical…don't watch it before going to bed…

Remember, the inmates shown have not been tried or sentenced - many may be innocent but may nevertheless be detained there for years….

It is difficult to accept that human beings can be so maltreated in a state institution in the capital city of a European democracy in the 21st century.. utterly and absolutely shameful. […]

Lukyanivska prison gained some international exposure last year, when ex-PM Yulia Tymoshenko was placed there during her trial. The Guardian's Miriam Elder described the detention facility on October 16, 2011:

[…] Tymoshenko remains inside Lukyanivska, which functions mainly as a pre-trial detention centre. She shares a 15 sq m space with two other women, both awaiting charges on economic crimes.

There is a small window, covered with three sets of bars. There is no hot water and the thick walls of the 19th-century prison keep its interior cold and damp. Tymoshenko spends her days reading. […]

In December 2011, a leaked video showing Tymoshenko at the medical wing of Lukyanivska prison was aired on TV and shared on social networks in Ukraine. Reuters reported on December 15:

[…] The video clip was one of two aired on TV with the apparent aim of showing Tymoshenko was being well treated and living in conditions akin to those of a good hotel.

[…]

In the video, prison guards are actively helping the cameraman to shoot the film, even holding back a keyhole cover into the room for him.

The 51-year-old Tymoshenko, who was mostly covered by bed-clothes, was clearly unhappy at being filmed, though her words were not audible.

In another part of the footage, which showed a well-furnished room with a refrigerator, Tymoshenko can be heard saying: “I was being kept before in unacceptable conditions and I don't want you to show this false picture now.” […]

In his documentary, Kostiantyn Usov shows the Lukyanivska prison the way it really is, as a place where thousands of Ukrainians with no access to domestic or international media spend years living in overcrowded, subhuman conditions as they await their verdicts. He wrote this [uk] about the making of the film on his blog at Ukrainska Pravda:

Lukyanivsky SIZO. A place where people are kept as animals.

Lukyanivska prison is a facility of preliminary detention. To be staying in its dark cells isn't a punishment, but a preventive measure. That is, any suspect can be locked up here, and in contemporary Ukraine it absolutely does not mean that one has to be a real criminal.

[Lukyanivska prison] occupies the first place in the number of reports of cruelty, torture, inhuman living conditions and mysterious deaths in prison cells, and […] this is where the regime of [President Victor Yanukovych] has been [placing] its enemies - and this is why we have made it our goal to find a way to show people the real Lukyanivka. The real one, and not what they show to the select media.

We created our own network of agents inside the prison, in order to have our own people in every building, on every floor of the SIZO in a minimal period of time. From the [free outside], we [smuggled] mobile phones equipped with video cameras to each of our agents, and the inmates were sending us glimpses into their lives, little by little, 10 to 15 seconds at a time, for six months. […]

Usov has been receiving feedback on his film on his Ukrainska Pravda blog, as well as on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and elsewhere.

Many people praise Usov for his courage. On YouTube, user slafkorood wrote [uk]:

I can imagine what it took Usov and his team [to make this film], his work will never be in vain, he is a brave person, if only there were more people like him.

Many are concerned for the journalist's safety. On Facebook, Roman Plechun wrote [uk]:

Kostiantyn, aren't you afraid that “the regime” will come after you? I'd just like to understand how you found courage for this!?

YouTube user BenderZT wrote this [ru] about the main implication of the film:

A good phrase as [the film's] conclusion, that [Lukyanivska prison] is a micro-model of the country. Very sad to realize this…

Facebook user Yevgeny Titorchuk wrote [ru]:

[…] Hard to watch it and see all the horror and meaninglessness of the system that is indifferent to the human being. And the most terrible thing is that this system has been created by human beings and is being maintained by human beings too.

On Usov's Ukrainska Pravda blog, Facebook user Lyubomyr Drozdovskyy offered this explanation [uk] for the shocking cruelty of life at Lukyanivska shown in the film:

Actually, financial gain [of the prison staff] isn't the only reason for such horrible conditions at the SIZO. The other goal of the SIZO is to create conditions so unbearable that a person would be basically begging to be transferred to [the real prison], where the conditions are somewhat better after all. Say, there is someone whose case lacks any evidence needed to prove guilt, but [the authorities need to convict this person for their own benefit, to improve the statistics of solved cases, for example]. So they put this person into the SIZO, and after a few months of what in fact is torture, [he or she] is ready to testify against [him/herself], submit a self-incriminating statement, admit guilt completely - just to have a chance to get out of the SIZO, even if it means getting out to [prison].

In another comment on Usov's Ukrainska Pravda blog, user skilachi wrote this [uk]:

Almost everything is the way it was eight years ago. I still remember each of the 254 days [that I spent there]. […] Upon my release I wished for this: that every future employee of the [Ministry of Internal Affairs], prosecutor's office, court or any other entity that locks people up, had an “internship” for at least a few months at this facility prior to [assuming their positions in law enforcements and the judiciary]. Maybe then they'd view the use of preventive measures towards suspects and the accused differently. But this is just [wishful thinking]. To those who have been through this hell, my best wishes of health. To those who fail to avoid this, remember to always remain human beings.

There seems to have been no reaction from the authorities to Usov's film yet. The State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine, however, issued a statement [uk] through its press service on April 2, which reads like a “preemptive strike” type of message to journalists like Usov:

Kyiv SIZO - the most interesting facility for the mass media

Recently, there have been more and more information, commentaries and random stories appearing in the mass media about the work of the [Penitentiary Service] facilities. The majority of these stories comment on the conditions in which the arrested and convicted persons are being kept, as well as on the actions by the penitentiary facilities' staff.

The analysis of the publications and [films] shows lack of competence and objectivity, and sometimes outright unhidden bias of the journalists […]. Due to this, [penitentiary service representatives] systematically refute the published information or provide additional commentary on it. […]

As for Lukyanivska prison's most recent international exposure, LEvko of Foreign Notes links to this Kyiv Post item on the April 3 meeting of Freedom House representatives with one of the SIZO's highest-ranking current inmates, ex-minister of internal affairs Yuri Lutsenko. LEvko writes:

[…] The Freedom House guys who visited Yuriy Lutsenko at the prison on Tuesday should check out [Usov's] video….After their visit: “The [Ukrainian] State Penitentiary Service stressed that the visitors noted that Ukraine took measures to bring conditions for detention and medical treatment for detainees in line with international standards.”

You f***ing liars…

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Ex.ua was one of the most popular websites in the country and accounted for 15-25% [uk] of Ukraine’s in-country traffic. It required no paid subscription and attracted millions of users who freely shared pirated video and audio files, games and software.

The news of the site's shutdown caused quite a stir online, with many netizens criticizing the government for going after Ex.ua and calling for its restoration.

Christina Vinovska (@chris_vinovska) tweeted a common appeal:

return #exua immediately!

People are protesting against the shutdown of Ex.ua outside the Interior Ministry in Kyiv. Photo by Sergei Svetlitsky, copyright © Demotix (1/02/12).

While many echoed her plea, others decided to take action both offline (photos of the Feb. 1 protest in Kyiv are here) and online.

Thus, following the release of the online statement about Ex.ua's shutdown by the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry's website went down and remained periodically inaccessible due to “an increased number of visitors and possible DDoS attacks” [uk].

By that time many Twitter, Vkontakte and Facebook users were actively sharing detailed instructions [ru] on how to overload the servers of selected websites. The target list included websites of Ukraine’s President Victor Yanukovych, the pro-presidential Party of Regions, the Cabinet of Ministers, the Parliament, and others.

What seemed to begin as a number of decentralized attempts, quickly turned into a mass organized effort, with Ex.ua supporters forming a “Free Ex.Ua” [ru] group on a popular social network Vkontakte [ru], which gathered over 6,000 members during the first hours of its existence (currently, there are over 41,000 members).

By February 1, the Presidential website was completely down [uk] and the Ministry of the Interior had to announce [uk] that it was going to use its two Facebook accounts until its official website was restored. By mid-day of February 1, Ex.ua had to appeal [ru] to users to stop the attack that succeeded in disrupting the work of nearly all major governmental websites:

Dear users,

Administrators of Ex.ua call on you to stop all illegal activity against governmental websites. […]

At the same time, a heated discussion of Ex.ua’s supposed illegal activity was taking place online.

Facebook user Sergei Sidorenko wrote [ru]:

In response to the mass mourning of the Ex.ua’s untimely death, I would tell you something different from what half of the Internet has been yelling about:

I do not have a single piece of licensed non-free software on my computer
I watch only pirated films
I jailbroke my Apple iPod soon after the purchase
Even the licensed Windows installed on my laptop I soon [removed] and installed a pirated one, because it was more convenient for me

But I have to admit that shutting down Ex.ua was the RIGHT THING. And I don’t understand those who now yell, “Yes, they were pirates, but was that a reason to close them?” […]

Guys, if we want to live a civilized [life], let’s at least not condemn the obvious attempts to establish legality.

In defense of Ex.ua, Yaroslav Fedorak of Blogosphere.com.ua wrote [uk]:

Yes, I really do believe that according to today’s legal framework, file-sharing website Ex.ua was conducting an illegal activity and sooner or later would have been closed. But don’t be too quick to throw stones at me! The problem here lies in the legal framework itself, which is hopelessly outdated and no longer meets the needs of the current super-dynamic and hyper-volatile environment.

Amidst such discussions, it was not long before Ukrainian Internet users began to question whether the authorities themselves were following the letter of the law. Giving in to increased media attention, the Ministry of the Interior had to admit [uk] that it was also using pirated software, while holding negotiations with Microsoft to end this practice. Netizens were outraged.

Yurko Chervony (@skinik) tweeted [uk]:

They should first shut themselves down, and not #ex.ua “[The Ministry of the Interior] admitted that half of the software [they're using] is illegal” tinyurl.com/7tjq7c8

Many netizens shared an online comment [uk] by Oleksandr Severyn of Maidan.org.ua:

When marauders fight with pirates, pirates become national heroes

Other netizens, however, believed that the government's action against Ex.ua was motivated not so much by the copyright violations, but by the website hosting [ru] an extremely popular parody video [uk] mocking the Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych.

Pavlo Rizanenko (@rizanenko) tweeted [uk]:

Our authorities closed #exua because they did not want to have an uncontrollable information resource on #UaNet [Ukrainian Internet – GV]. Piracy was just an excuse rizanenko.livejournal.com/983.html

Whatever the actual causes of its shutdown, following the unexpected mass reaction of Ukrainian netizens, Ex.ua was back online [ru] as early as February 3, when the investigators concluded [ru] that piracy allegations did not have to result in blocking of the site's domain name.

Many netisens viewed it as a positive case of online consolidation and organization of Ukrainians.

Serge Lavrinchuck (@Lavrinchuck) tweeted [uk]:

The #EXua story, of course, has its positive sides. When else the Ukrainian people would have united like this to attack government websites?

Numerous observers referred to the attacks as the “online revolution” [ru]. Maksym Savanevsky, editor of the Internet business and SMM website Watcher.com.ua, wrote [uk]:

What has changed in the society in the past 60 hours.

Most important: the citizens have had a taste of their victory. They have felt that “together they are many, and they cannot be defeated”. It is difficult to recall similar events since 2004 [Orange Revolution – GV].

Yes, the scope was not the same. Yes, everything happened online, inside warm apartments. But it has been a while since the authorities looked so helpless in the face of the people’s simple desire to get something they thought they deserved.

Still, others were critical of the society mobilizing in defense of a pirate website. Jouranlist Serhiy Shcherbyna wrote [ru]:

Where are you, the renowned [citizens], when honest, normal businesses are being bluntly taken from ordinary mid-level entrepreneurs? […] Why nobody touches the Tax Inspection's website for their regular [pressure] on business?

Why would you not [disable] the Interior Ministry's website when people are being killed at [local police stations]? Why would you not [disable] the Kyiv City Administration's website for [icy] roads on which people are breaking arms and legs every day?

Why are Ukrainians able to protest only when their social benefits and [free stuff] are taken away? Freedom of speech, the lawlessness of the authorities, politically-motivated [imprisonments], a half-dead economy and, most of all, a country that is nearing a collapse, all this is not causing such an outrage.

While the online polemics continue and the future fate of Ex.ua remains unclear, as of February 6, the website is operational and works on restoring its full capacity.

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I would like to tell you about my grandmother – Boiko Anna. She was born and lives in the village of Yaglush in Rogatyn district of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. She is a cheerful, talented, strong person. A person who has been through a lot, who is full of knowledge and memories.

This is how Anna Boiko’s granddaughter, Olya Suprun, starts [uk] her blog called “The Story of Anna Boiko's Life.” Online, Olya shares her grandmother’s memories, including stories from the life of their family and other residents of Yaglush.

Her grandmother’s native village, Yaglush, is located in today’s Ivano-Frankivsk region of western Ukraine. This region belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire since 1772, to West Ukrainian People’s Republic for a short period after World War I, to interwar Poland between the 1920s and the late 1930s, to the Soviet and then Nazi forces during World War II, and then again to the Soviets from 1944 until Ukraine’s independence in 1991.

Anna Boiko with her husband Mykhailo. Photo scanned by Olya Suprun, used with permission.

Anna Boiko’s memories recorded by her granddaughter go back as early as 1939 and depict the experiences of Yaglush residents during the times of the region's transfer from the Polish to the Soviet rule, the World War II period, and the subsequent return of the Soviet power. They touch on such painful topics of Ukraine’s history as the Nazi occupation, repressions and deportations of the local population during the early years of communism, the fate of the partisans from the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

This is how Anna describes [uk] the life of the village with World War II looming on the horizon:

The things in politics were tremulous, too, [people] were expecting better times than under Poland, but things did not turn for the better. The arrests and prosecutions began. Several families were deported to Siberia: Zakhariy Zliukovsky, Dutka and a few more families that were resettled here from Poland. The landowner’s land was divided up, and [my] mom got a few hundred [square meters]. But the land was of clay soil and inaccessible in the rain – there was no good road.

[…]

At that time the war with Germans was approaching. I remember it was a Sunday, a bright and sunny day. Grandma was chatting with a neighbor woman in the house. I went to the yard to let the chicken out […]. Suddenly [I heard] a loud roar of thunder – one, then another. I ran to the house and told grandmother, “Grandma, get the hen in, a rainstorm is coming!” Although the sky was clear, without a single cloud and no storm was in sight. Soon mom came home and said she heard in a village that there was a war! It was not thunder, but the sound of bombs falling. From that day on people became very cautious. It was the year of 1941.

Despite her grandmother's difficult childhood, Olya portrays her as a knowledgeable yet curious 75-year-old woman, who writes poetry and memoires, does beautiful embroidery, plays computer games and enjoys cooking. She frequently shares Anna’s poems, recipes and stories of everyday village life, while paying special attention to customs and traditions cherished by its residents.

Traditional dishes made by Anna Boiko for the 12-Dish Christmas Eve Dinner. Photo by Olya Suprun, used with permission.

In one of the posts, Olya admits [uk] to both being new to blogging and to realizing that her blog is rather unusual:

I know this blog is a bit weird and of an unusual format: strange, unknown house in the background, unpopular stories in which it is hard to find some meaning, and, in addition to this, their author – my grandma - is not the author of this blog… but it is neither [meant] for ratings, nor for profit; in order to understand its significance, one must read between the lines…

Anna Boiko reads a blog about herself together with her husband. Photo by Olya Suprun, used with permission.

It seems, however, that the popularity of The Story of Anna Boiko's Life has already exceeded its author’s expectations. In 2011, it was recognized as the best personal blog at Best Ukrainian Blog Awards [uk], and the number of its readers and fans continues to grow.

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The person behind the creation of the country's first public hospital Twitter (@MechnikovaBoln [uk, ru]) and Facebook [uk, ru] accounts, is a tech savvy epidemiologist and blogger Mykhailo Sukhomlyn (@mvsnotes [uk, ru], mvsnotes.blogspot.com [uk, ru]).

However, this is not his first attempt at running a social media account for a state medical institution.

Social media enthusiasts

Sukhomlyn and his wife - programmer Tetyana Cheshko (@tvnotes [uk]) - used to work at a regional sanitary and epidemic department. Both being social media enthusiasts, they set up [uk] the institution's Twitter account, which was used for timely internal exchange of information amongst the department's staff. Mykhailo and Tetyana also admit [uk] that they are frequently approached by Twitter users with health and medical questions.

After becoming Dnipropetrovsk Regional Hospital's Chief Information Officer, Sukhomlyn decided to apply his successful experience there and launched [uk] its social media accounts to share news about the hospital, including events, employment vacancies, arrival of new equipment, etc.

Mykhailo Sukhomlyn (first from the right) and Tetyana Cheshko (third from the right) with medical information systems specialists, photo by Dnipropetrovsk Regional Hospital

In an interview to Dnipropetrovsk TV Channel 9, Sukhomlyn explained [uk, ru] that the administrators use the hospital's account to tweet about the services provided by the institution, while encouraging Facebook uses to discuss their quality on its official page. For instance, one of the first issues raised by the patients included long waiting lines at the hospital.

Other medical personnel at the institution are also using Twitter. Last month, the hospital shared [uk] their Twitter list and encouraged others to follow:

Рекомендую наших лікарів, твітерян-початківців - @Tolubaiev @Oxanalivshits @DrMedvedev @IhorKyrpa @SokolovMD #ff #sledui #раджу

Doctors of Dnipropetrovsk Regional Clinical Hospital named after Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, photo by Dnipropetrovsk Regional Hospital

While their activity may be pioneering for Ukraine, there is an international directory [en] of the most influential doctors on Twitter, which currently contains 1,327 names and is updated on an hourly basis.

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A copy of the note is provided [ru] by Watcher.com.ua:

Dear fans of Starbucks Ukraine!
The page will be administrated in Russian only because the majority of our subscribers are Russian-speaking.
In no way do we mean to offend the Ukrainian-speaking fans of the brand or provoke a conflict. You may post on the wall in [any language], even in Swahili. Starbucks is an intrenational company – we understand all languages.
Have a nice day!

The page gathered hundreds of negative comments and appeals by angered Facebook users.

Here is one such appeal [en] by TV host Oleksandr Zinchenko:

Dear Sir/Madam,
My appeal is in regards to Ukrainian (I don't know if it is separate Office or combined with Russian) Office. The page of Starbucks Ukraine in Facebook ( [www.facebook.com] )posted all info in Russian language with justification that Ukrainian people all understand it and they don't need translation into official Ukrainian language. Also derogatory comment of that kind: you can write your complaints even on Swahili if don't want to use Russian- we don't care.

Other netizens were unhappy as well.

Twitter user @povnatorba wrote [uk]:

Ukrainophobes at Starbucks Ukraine http://povnatorba.com/ukrajinofoby-v-starbucks-ukraine/

Soon, the page was taken down by Facebook. Starbucks' U.S. office confirmed that it was indeed a fake.

However, according to the analysis [uk] by Serhiy Pishkovtsiy of Blogoreader.org.ua [uk], it is not uncommon for Ukrainian as well as foreign brands in Ukraine to run their social media accounts in Russian. His chart illustrates [uk, ru, en] the situation:

Pishkovtsiy writes [uk]:

I understand that the selection of business may not be (or even surely is not) representative – the companies are of different business areas and scale.

However, it opens our eyes to the so-called “language issue”: only three companies Sony Ericsson, McDonald’s and Pepsi administrate their accounts exclusively in Ukrainian. Curiously, none of them has been established in Ukraine.

Pishkovtsiy concludes [uk] that Russophone social media marketing (SMM) accounts alone are unlikely to disturb the Ukrainian Internet audience. Unless, of course, the language in which they are maintained is aggressively paraded around.

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