Protest outside a "secret prison" near Kyiv: masked men break up the crowd, a journalist is kicked in front of the police

Late on the evening of November 2, in the settlement of Petropavlivska Borshchahivka right next to Kyiv, a group of masked men in civilian clothes attacked protesters who had been standing for hours outside a facility of Ukraine's National Guard. The footage shows them chasing people down the street, and one of them kicking a journalist from the UNIAN news agency in the stomach. All of it - in front of police officers.

The protest started after information spread on social media that around 40 men were being held illegally in the basement of a private house, some of them badly injured and without proper medical care. About a hundred people gathered outside the building. They broke through the fence, smashed windows, shots were heard, smoke devices were set off, and a National Guard bus was damaged.

Then came the official version. It was confirmed that the facility is used by a National Guard unit linked to the First "Azov" Corps. Guard commander Oleksandr Pivnenko called it temporary accommodation for mobilised soldiers and for soldiers who had earlier left their units without permission. Four soldiers with injuries were taken to hospital. The police insist there was no illegal prison and that nobody died.

The numbers don't add up. Social media spoke of 40 people, while the head of the Ukrainian president's office, Kyrylo Budanov, who came to the scene to talk to the crowd, said there were 14 people inside and that they needed to be moved so they could get medical help. As soon as he left, things got worse - and that is exactly when the journalist was attacked.

The agency didn't wait for a press release. "Who are these people, why aren't they at the front, and when will Ukraine finally stop using Yanukovych's methods?" UNIAN asked, publicly demanding an answer from Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi.

Opposition bloggers in Ukraine claim these were "titushky" - organised gangs of thugs the authorities send in to break up protests. Russian war correspondent Alexander Kots goes a step further, claiming they were "Azov" members with batons and that the police "vanished somewhere" at the crucial moment. A Russian correspondent who sees "Azov" in every shadow is hardly a neutral witness, and so far none of these claims has been officially confirmed. The attackers' identity has not been established.

Minister Vyhivskyi ordered an official investigation involving the State Bureau of Investigation and the office of the military ombudsman. Sounds serious. But the Balkans know this script well: a protest, then "unknown" men in plain clothes, police looking the other way, then an investigation nobody asks about a month later. Will anyone answer for it this time - or will the attackers once again stay faceless and nameless?