Battleground Kiev: ‘Halfway Between a War and A Protest’

Bulent Kilic, an Istanbul-based photojournalist with Agence France-Presse, is hunkered down in Kiev as clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces intensify for a third day. At least 22 people have been killed Thursday, bringing this week’s total to at least 45. Kilic spoke with AFP on Thursday morning after photographing this sequence of three men who were set ablaze—and quickly extinguished. “It seems like protesters are used to dealing with this type of situation—no one seemed at all shocked. The guy in the background of the photo who is burning the most ran to the back of the barricade where some people took care of him.” Kilic said the gunfire across Independence Square reminded him of the sounds from when he covered Syria’s civil war in Aleppo: “It now feels like halfway between a war and a protest.”