Kuchma ordered it?

Oleksandr Turchynov says that the order for troops to move in on Maidan to disperse the protestors and put an end to the revolution came from Kuchma, according to the Ukrainska Pravda This was the troop movement that occurred on November 28th which was followed by US satellites.

Of course, Turchynov was a member of Yuschenko's team at the time and this may be what he believes happened. It would be interesting to know on what he bases this. Maybe he has some evidence of it. Being the new head of the SBU might suggest that. But I would be interested to know what it is he has, if anything, that would show Kuchma did.

I think he did and thought so at the time. There were very few people, only a handful, that could have issued that order. But I don't think anyone other than Kuchma would have issued it on their own. Kuchma may have been on his way out in absolute terms, but he had been the power and, for all they knew, was still the power that had to be dealt with. I doubt anyone would have issued any such order without his consent.

This is, of course, speculation without any kind of proof. And that proof will only be in the form of recollections of people to the event, unless an order is found with Kuchma's signature on it. (That is doubtful.) And these recollections will not constitute definitive proof but will serve, if a number of them come forward to speak, as better and better evidence that he did.