KIEV ¨C In the afternoon of Feb. 20, after the morning¡¯s dead had been cleared away, Volodymyr Melnychuk arrived outside Kiev¡¯s October palace.
Higher up the hill stood the seats of Ukrainian government, defended by thousands of police. Below lay Independence Square, or Maidan, covered in protesters¡¯ camps and scarred with barricades and the detritus of battle.
In fierce clashes that morning scores of protesters and government forces had been killed. Calm now prevailed, and Melnychuk, a handyman who helped build barricades at the protests, had arranged to meet a friend at the palace¡¯s white portico.
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