February 20 - Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes

On February 20, Ukraine commemorates the Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes at the state level. This date honors the memory of those who died during the Revolution of Dignity, primarily during the most tragic days of confrontation in the center of Kyiv in February 2014, as reported by UNN.

The commemorative day was established by Presidential Decree No. 69/2015 and has been observed annually on February 20 ever since.

The Revolution of Dignity was a mass civil protest that lasted 94 days – from November 21, 2013, to February 22, 2014. It was triggered by a sharp change in the foreign policy course and development vector of the state, and subsequently by unconstitutional actions of the authorities. The center of events was the capital's Maidan Nezalezhnosti and the surrounding streets: Khreshchatyk, Mykhaila Hrushevskoho, Instytutska.

Why February 20 was chosen as the day of commemoration

February 20, 2014, marked the peak of violence against protesters: on this day, the largest number of people died on the streets of the government quarter and near Maidan. That is why the date became a symbolic turning point, after which there was no turning back: society paid the highest price for choosing freedom, dignity, and a European future.

Who are the Heavenly Hundred Heroes

The name "Heavenly Hundred" emerged by analogy with the hundreds of Maidan Self-Defense and became established during the farewells to the fallen on February 21-22, 2014. The Heavenly Hundred Heroes include people of different ages, professions, views, from various regions, and even countries.

The Ukrainian Institute of National Memory provides the following details: the youngest hero, Nazariy Voytovych, was 17 years old, and the oldest, Ivan Nakonechny, was 82. Among the 107 heroes who died during the Revolution of Dignity, there were also three women: Antonina Dvoryanets, Olha Bura, and Lyudmyla Sheremet.

State and memory: what has changed since 2014

After the Revolution of Dignity, Ukraine began to build an entire layer of state memory policy.

A separate symbol became the state award associated with the feat of the Heavenly Hundred: this refers to the Order of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes, whose statute and design were approved by Presidential Decree No. 844/2014.

And five patriots from among the Heavenly Hundred Heroes — Oleksandr Badera, Yuriy Dyakovsky, Yuriy Popravka, Volodymyr Rybak, and Dmytro Cherniavsky — were posthumously awarded the title "Hero of Ukraine."

This year, as usual, flowers will be laid at memorial signs and monuments to the fallen, and the country's top officials will remember the Heavenly Hundred heroes in their speeches and video addresses. Memorial services will be held in churches, temples, and cathedrals.

In addition, on the eve of February 20, 2026, the National Museum of the Revolution of Dignity and partners also announced events and a social campaign for the date, and memorial events with the participation of the heroes' families are planned in Kyiv.

You can read books and watch documentaries about the Heavenly Hundred Heroes. Specifically:

• the book series "Maidan. Direct Speech";
• the three-volume work "Heavenly Hundred. Biographies" (author — Svitlana Tereykovska);
• the book "Maidan from the First Person. 45 Stories of the Revolution of Dignity";
• the collection "Maidan from the First Person. Art on the Barricades";
• the film series "The Winter That Changed Us" by director Volodymyr Tykhyi;
• the film "Maidan" by Serhiy Loznytsia.

Why this date feels different during the "great war"

After 2022, the Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes acquired an additional dimension. The Revolution of Dignity became not only a story about protests but also a prelude to a long war for Ukraine's right to be itself. In this sense, February 20 is a starting point from the choice of freedom in 2013-2014 to the daily resistance today.