In the Ukrainian town of Lviv, 500 kilometers from the capital Kyiv, protesters surround a military barracks. They do not want the soldiers stationed there to travel to Kyiv and join the harsh crackdown on protesters there.<br /><br />Many mothers of soldiers inside hold up signs with messages warning their sons that they will be forced to fire and kill people in Kyiv.<br /><br />The mothers brave the cold temperatures – minus five Celsius during the day, minus 14 at night – to make sure their sons do not leave.<br /><br />Lidiya Semerenko, a mother of a soldier serving in Lviv, told euronews what happened to one of her son’s colleagues who was beaten outside the barracks: “...his attackers accused him of being a pro-government thug who attacked demonstrators. He was beaten up. My son is 25 .. I’m scared for him,” she said.<br /><br />Those convicted of blocking the movement of military personnel could face up to three years in jail, though.<br /><br />Mykhaylo Dubyak, euronews correspondent, in Lviv said: “The tragic news in Kyiv mobilised even more people from here in Lviv. Activists are surrounding and blocking three military units. They received a piece of paper with a message from the soldiers urging them to say there: ‘Stay there blocking us in, do not leave. The military chiefs want us to go’.”
