Ukraine's Protesters Used These Badass, Homemade Medieval Weapons [PHOTOS]

When Ukraine's massive protests began in late November, no one could predict the impact they would have on the country. Nonetheless, the world turned its gaze to Ukraine. That attention was due in no small part to apocalyptic photos of the so-called Euromaidan protesters who wanted greater integration of Ukraine and Europe.

In the ensuing months, hundreds of journalists and photojournalists traveled to Kiev to document the protests. Documentary photographer Tom Jamieson traveled there too, but when he arrived, he noticed that nearly every journalist was taking the same kinds of pictures. Jamieson decided that he had to find something that the world hadn't seen.

"By the time I arrived, the world had been saturated with these images of fire and ice and in the end it was about removing all of that, the barricades, the protestors, all the things that had already been photographed thousands of times over and reducing it to just the weapons," Jamieson told Business Insider.

Jamieson shared some of the photos from his DIY Euromaidan project here, and you can check out the rest at his website.

Jamieson traveled to Kiev in late February, during the Sochi Olympics. By the time he got there, the protests had come "to an uneasy standstill."

Tom Jamieson

While walking around the Euromaidan protests, Jamieson was struck by the fact that almost everyone was carrying homemade weapons.

Tom Jamieson

"These intimate objects fashioned from wood, steel or plastic; each completely unique to their owner and often personalized with inscriptions or revolutionary imagery," Jamieson says, describing the weapons.

Tom Jamieson

Jamieson says that while the weapons look menacing, one has to remember that they couldn't stand up to the weapons of the regime. "A club is no match for an assault rifle," he said.

Tom Jamieson

To take the photos, Jamieson walked through the square with an assistant holding a black sheet. He asked the protesters to display their weapons, and then he raised the sheet and took their photo.

Tom Jamieson

Tom Jamieson

Tom Jamieson

Tom Jamieson

Tom Jamieson

Tom Jamieson

Tom Jamieson

Tom Jamieson

Tom Jamieson

Tom Jamieson