Panorama

Behind the Balaclavas (2014x20)

: 19, 2014

As Ukraine moves closer to civil war, reporter Paul Kenyon spends weeks with balaclava-wearing separatists, as they seize towns and fight for a breakaway republic. He follows men who've become some of the most powerful in the conflict. There's Miroslav - the former history teacher with a newborn baby - who joins protesters storming a local government building and is now part of the three man governing body of the People's Republic of Donetsk and Alexei, a former small businessman who now finds himself leading a 200 strong army. The programme also questions the new Mayor of Slaviansk - who rose to power during the rebellion after taking his predecessor prisoner, and who now boasts he's holding forty hostages in the town hall's cellars.