Through February 23, we are marking the 11th anniversary of Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity. It started with a Facebook post summoning protesters to the Independence Monument on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) on November 21, 2013. It ended when disgraced, corrupt pro-russian president Viktor Yanukovych fled Ukraine for russia in the wee hours of February 22, 2014, and Verkhovna Rada officially removed him from the presidency.

Sayonara, sucker

Maidanivtsi guarding Mezhyhirya

The Mezhyhirya estate started life as a monastery. It served as a state residence in Soviet times and early in Ukraine's independence. It was privatized, probably illegally, in 2007, while Viktor Yanukovych lived there. When Euromaidan scared him into the arms of his russian master, he and his entire security team abandaned Mezhyhirya, and the Maidanivtsi moved in.

Yanukovych had been relatively secretive about his private life. Little was known about Mezhyhirya with him in residence. The Maidanivtsi found themselves in a sickeningly opulent monument to corruption: in addition to the expensively furnished main house, they discovered a bar and reception facility on a replica Spanish galleon moored on one of the property's manmade lakes, a golf course, a museum for Yanukovych's collection of classic cars, and a private zoo … all on an official salary of about USD $100,000 per year.

The Maidanivtsi opened the estate up to the public, giving Ukrainians a close look and just how hard Yanukovych abused their state funds.

After Euromaidan, Mezhyhirya became an unofficial Museum of Corruption. Early in the full-scale war, it served as a shelter for people displaced from surrounding towns. On January 28, 2025, the car museum was struck by a russian drone. While I wouldn't normally cheer a russian drone strike, there is something amusing in it wrecking that russian puppet's precious car collection.

They never did find a gold toilet, by the way. But they did find a 2-kilogram solid gold loaf of bread.