After almost three months of protests in Ukraine, violence reignited Tuesday when thousands of demonstrators tried to march from their camp in Independence Square to the Parliament building a mile away and were confronted by security forces. Clashes have become increasingly violent, with nine killed already, making it by far the deadliest day of Ukraine's crisis, and things appear to be getting rapidly worse.
Read why protests reignited here. Read the fuller backstory on Ukraine's crisis here. At this point, events are moving so quickly that Twitter may be one of the best ways to follow it. Here are 16 accounts you should follow to keep up with events (hat tip to BuzzFeed's Max Seddon for some of these).
Journalists in Kiev now
(1) Christopher Miller – The editor of the English-language Kyiv Post is on the ground. He's also a practiced expert at translating and explaining Ukraine and its politics for an English-speaking audience. Essential.
Protester tents burning on Maidan right now after police toss Molotov cocktails from their perch above square. #euromaidan #ukraine
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) February 18, 2014
(2) Yulia Bragina – A Sky News producer who is usually in Moscow but now in Kiev.
Arseniy Yatsenuk, one of the opposition leaders has called for truce till morning, but calls were ignored. Heavy smoke rising from maidan
— Yulia Bragina (@YuliaSkyNews) February 18, 2014
(3) Maria Danilova – The A.P. correspondent in Kiev. Speaks Russian. Not a frequent tweeter, but you want to catch it when she does.
As riot police move in on opposition camp in Kiev, protesters sing Ukrainian national anthem #euromaidan
— Maria Danilova (@mashadanilova) February 18, 2014
(4) Myroslava Petsa – Reporter with Ukraine's Channel Five.
#Yatsenyuk: Don't cover #Ukraine with blood. Immediate truce is our demand, then we'll join negotiations.
— Myroslava Petsa (@myroslavapetsa) February 18, 2014
(5) Nataliya Gumenyuk – Ukrainian freelance reporter.
talking to AlJazeera English in a minute.it's indeed getting worse with every minute. no sense to crackdown,police goes on #maidan #ukraine
— Nataliya Gumenyuk (@ngumenyuk) February 18, 2014
(6) Leonid Ragozin – Former BBC, now travel writer
Crimean parliament says civil war is under way in Ukraine. States possibility of mobilization. http://t.co/3gJPfDw6ZB
— Leonid Ragozin (@leonidragozin) February 18, 2014
Activists on the ground
(7) Kateryna Kruk – The press secretary for an opposition lawmaker, Kruk has been tweeting from the heart of the protests since they began. Invaluable.
protesters have set water cannon on fire.
— Kateryna_Kruk (@Kateryna_Kruk) February 18, 2014
(8) Lyalya Horsky – Frequent tweeter, photographer and livestreamer from Independence Square.
A security ring has been formed around the center of #Kyiv impossible for anyone to get to the maidan from outside #euromaidan
— Lyalya Horsky (@lyalyaHorsky) February 18, 2014
(9) Taras Denysenko – A student and software developer.
#euromaidan #Ukraine @insider_com_ua reports that Lviv regional administration building is retaken by protesters.
— Taras Denysenko (@TarasDenysenko) February 18, 2014
(10) Ukraine Pravda – An opposition newspaper. Rarely in English, but lots of photos and videos.
На Майдані горять намети під стелою і намети з іншого боку Інститутської pic.twitter.com/UfGcFkzPzl
— Українська правда (@ukrpravda_news) February 18, 2014
(11) EuroMaydan – A purportedly official account of the EuroMaiden protests (so named for the protest site, Maidan Nezalezhnosti, which means Independence Square, and for the pro-European mission). Rarely in English, still worth following for photos, videos and links.
#ЄвроМайдан зараз 21.20 pic.twitter.com/WxThMEIMuf http://t.co/UKuMOHeboV
— ЄвроМайдан (@EuroMaydan) February 18, 2014
Ukraine-watchers
(12) Max Seddon – BuzzFeed correspondent, typically in Kiev or Moscow. Briefly traveling. But, even abroad, an excellent aggregator with a sharp eye.
Pro-Kremlin newspaper says dozens of buses of riot police massing outside Kiev, awaiting the command to storm Maidan http://t.co/1HHVpyQXXd
— max seddon (@maxseddon) February 18, 2014
(13) Natalia Antonova – A Moscow-based journalist, relaying information from her father, who is in Kiev.
Dad saw heavy-duty vehicles on the way to Maidan. License plates not local. Buses - license plates not local. #Kiev #euromaidan
— Natalia Antonova (@NataliaAntonova) February 18, 2014
(14) Simon Shuster – A Berlin-based journalist for Time magazine, previously in Moscow and currently Sochi.
Ukraine protest leader, ex-Minister Lutsenko: "The slaves of Putin want to make us all slaves...We will lay down our lives for the freedom"
— Simon Shuster (@shustry) February 18, 2014
(15) The Interpreter – A Russian-to-English translation journal. Highly critical of the Kremlin.
#Ukraine Liveblog: The main Ukrainian TV channel reporting on protests has been shut off http://t.co/bugEFZ0z9D
— The Interpreter (@Interpreter_Mag) February 18, 2014
(16) Hannah Thoburn – A research assistant at the Brookings Institution focusing on Ukraine and other post-Soviet states.
Ukrainian riot police still broadcasting requests for women and kids to leave the square. More violence likely to come.
— Hannah Thoburn (@HannahThoburn) February 18, 2014