Greetings from Kyiv, where you might stumble across Zelenskyy taking a stroll

"The Maidan, Kyiv's Independence Square, has been the heart of political change in Ukraine for more than two decades. While visiting NPR's team covering Ukraine correspondent Joanna Kakissis and producers Hanna Palamarenko and Polina Lytvynova I went back to the square, where history-making news events have drawn me for over two decades. Memories flooded back of two people-power revolutions against Kremlin influence."

"A decade later, riot police snipers opened fire on demonstrators carrying wooden shields and European Union flags: unarmed men, incredibly, running towards the bullets, leaving 40 dead, but turning the political tide. The president fled to Russia. Those weeks saw students, pensioners, veterans, doctors and teachers stand in freezing temperatures around giant stages, teaching politicians that this was not a crowd to lead, but one to follow."

"Those revolutions helped pave the way for the unlikely rise of comedian Volodymyr Zelenskyy. First he broke character to call for peace, then became president, and later morphed into a wartime leader nicknamed "Churchill with an iPhone," recording defiant videos just steps from the square. Driving away from the square, I spotted Zelenskyy filming at a Maidan memorial for soldiers and volunteers including Americans killed since Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion."

Kyiv's Independence Square, the Maidan, has been the center of political change in Ukraine for more than two decades. Two people-power revolutions challenged Kremlin influence, including mass protests in 2004 marked by a policeman kissing the flag and a 2014 uprising where riot police snipers killed about 40 unarmed demonstrators, prompting the president to flee to Russia. Diverse citizens—including students, pensioners, veterans, doctors and teachers—stood for weeks in freezing temperatures and forced politicians to follow popular will. Those movements helped enable Volodymyr Zelenskyy's rise, who later emerged as a wartime leader filming defiant messages at Maidan memorials honoring fallen soldiers and volunteers.

Read at www.npr.org