Today is the Day of Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred: how Ukrainians will honor the memory of the fallen participants of the Revolution of Dignity
Kyiv • UNN
On February 20, Ukraine commemorates the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred, 107 fallen participants in the 2014 Revolution of Dignity who opposed fugitive president yanukovych's decision to abandon the EU Association Agreement and Ukraine's European choice.
Today, February 20, Ukraine commemorates the Heavenly Hundred Heroes - the fallen participants of the 2014 Revolution of Dignity. The memorial date was established by presidential decree in 2015, UNN reports.
Chronology of events
In November 2013, after then-President viktor yanukovych refused to sign an association agreement with the EU, a peaceful protest began on Independence Square. It turned into an indefinite protest after its participants were brutally beaten on the night of November 29-30.
With each passing day, the confrontation between the protesters, who were in favor of the European vector of Ukraine's development, and the security forces, who were defending Yanukovych's government, intensified.
The first victim of the Revolution of Dignity is Pavlo Mazurenko, who died in hospital on December 22, 2013 after being severely beaten by five unidentified men in Berkut uniforms.
The first people killed on the Maidan were a resident of Dnipropetrovs'k region, Serhiy Nigoyan, and a citizen of Belarus, Mikhail Zhiznevsky.
The bloodiest stage of the confrontation in the center of Kyiv took place on February 18-20.
On February 18, security forces announced the so-called "anti-terrorist operation" and began storming the barricades on Maidan. On the night of February 19, the House of Trade Unions caught fire. The exact number of people killed in the fire has not yet been established.
During the fighting in the center of Kyiv, security forces and "titushky" killed 22 protesters on February 18, and 8 protesters on February 19.
The authorities and the opposition allegedly agreed to a truce, but in the morning clashes between security forces and Maidan activists resumed. Later, law enforcement officers opened deadly fire on a column of protesters walking down Instytutska Street. February 20, 2014, was the most tragic day of the Revolution of Dignity - 47 people were killed.
The poet Tetiana Domashenko first called the fallen participants of the Revolution of Dignity the Heavenly Hundred.
Of the 107 heroes of the Heavenly Hundred, the youngest, Nazariy Voitovych, was 17 years old, and the oldest, Ivan Nakonechnyi, was 82 years old. There were also three women among the dead: Antonina Dvoryanets, Olga Bura, and Lyudmyla Sheremet.
The last of the Heroes, Viktor Orlenko, died on June 3, 2015, due to complications from a gunshot wound received on February 18, 2014.
Honoring the Heroes
The ceremony to honor the memory of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes and participants of the Revolution of Dignity will begin today, February 20, at 10:00 a.m. in the Ecumenical Church of the Archangel Michael and the Ukrainian New Martyrs.
At 12:00, the annual silent action in memory of those killed during the Revolution of Dignity "Angels of Memory" will begin on the Heavenly Hundred Heroes Alley.
At 12:30 on Maidan Nezalezhnosti, a street photo exhibition "Maidan Sich. How the war began".
The Museum of Kyiv History (7 Bohdana Khmelnytskoho St., 3rd floor, Kyiv) will host an exhibition "Earthly Paths of the Heavenly Hundred" from 12:00 to 19:00.
Optional
According to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, in 2023 , 63 people were notified of suspicion in Maidan cases, and 26 indictments against 51 people were sent to court.
In 2023, the courts delivered 13 guilty verdicts in Maidan cases (one of which was later overturned), convicting 18 people - more than in the previous 4 years combined.
