Powerful Photo Of Elderly Woman Perfectly Sums Up The Defiance And Intensity In Ukraine

Vasily Fedosenko of Reuters took this photo of a woman holding religious items and pointing her finger at a seemingly smug Interior Ministry official during a rally to support EU integration in Kiev, Ukraine on Thursday.

Ukrainian citizens have flooded the streets ever since President Viktor Yanukovich decided not to sign an Association Agreement and trade pact with the EU after pressure from Russia.

Several of the major themes of the standoff are imbued in the photo: The protests remain defiant as they commandeered City Hall as opposition leaders call for the resignation of the government while Ukrainian authorities cooly threaten another crackdown as Yanukovich visits Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia.

REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

The most fascinating part is that the woman likely remembers life ling before the country became independent in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Some said that the country's Orange revolution in 2004 were hampered because the protesters were conditioned to authoritarian rule to some extent, but this old lady seems to have broken those constraints.