Some have probably seen the apocalyptic scenes of the Ukrainian protests. With smoke and fire in the background, people wearing gas masks or with bloodied faces, and the police with their shields and full body armor bracing for an angry crowd. What started as peaceful protests in late November escalated when police started using tear gas and batons to control the protesters as they seized government buildings, broke windows, and toppled a statue of Vladimir Lenin in Kiev. As the government took greater measures to stop the protesters, the protesters fought harder to be heard. On January 21, unknown men abducted Igor Lutsenko, a Ukrainian activist and journalist, along with Yuriy Verbytsky, a prominent protester known by the people, from a Kiev hospital. They left Lutsenko in a nearby forest to find his way back to the city while Verbytsky was found dead in a city suburb. Though there were also reports of protesters stabbing three police officers, one of which died later of his wounds, protesters have reported being tortured by the police. Elsewhere, security forces killed three more protesters as security forces moved against Ukrainian protest camps. Ukraine has begun to look like a war zone.