A 21-year-old volunteer medic who tweeted "I am dying" after she was reportedly shot in the neck during violent protests in the Ukrainian capital has sparked an outpouring of sadness online.
Olesya Zhukovska posted the words in Ukrainian on her Twitter feed and Facebook-like VKontakte account on Thursday afternoon, adding fuel to an already emotionally-charged situation after fierce clashes between protesters and riot police on Kiev's central Independence Square claimed dozens of lives.
But to the relief of countless netizens, the young volunteer survived her wounds.
Euromaidan, as the three-month protest movement aimed at ousting President Viktor Yanukovych is called, later announced that Zhukovska was in a serious condition, but alive.
"Everything will be fine with you! I am praying for you! Ukraine is praying for you!" netizen Anastasiya Sosnovaya said.
Adding to the drama of the event, Zhukovska had appealed to Ukrainians and others to come to Kiev "urgently" an hour or so before being injured.
"We need your support. The killings started this morning and will continue until tonight," she posted on Twitter.
Riot police fired live rounds at protesters on Thursday, leaving scores of bodies among smouldering debris in the city centre as the revolt against Yanukovych turned increasingly bloody.
