On February 20, students of the Volodymyr Dahl East Ukrainian National University came to the memorial to the fighters for Ukrainian independence and together for the ninth time honored the memory of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes.
This Day is celebrated annually on February 20 in accordance with the Presidential Decree of February 11, 2015 “On Honoring the Feat of the Participants of the Revolution of Dignity and Perpetuating the Memory of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred.” On February 17, 2021, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine recognized the Revolution of Dignity as one of the key moments of Ukrainian state-building and an expression of the national idea of freedom.
It was during these days of the Revolution of Dignity that the confrontation between the Ukrainian people and the then regime reached its peak. On February 20, 2014, most of the Maidan activists were killed.
The sad list of the Heavenly Hundred opened on January 22, 2014, when Maidan activists Serhiy Nigoyan and Mykhailo Zhyznevsky died of gunshot wounds during clashes in the center of the capital. On the same day, the body of activist Yuriy Verbytskyi was found in the woods near Kyiv with signs of torture. By February 18, 2014, there were already 9 dead. From February 18 to February 20, the most people died on the Maidan – 78 people, and after February 20 – 20 more. All of them were included in the memorial to the fighters for Ukrainian independence – the Heavenly Hundred.
105 Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred were posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine, and three foreigners – Belarusian citizen Mikhail Zhiznevsky and Georgian citizens Zurab Khurtsia and David Kipiani – were posthumously awarded the Orders of the Heavenly Hundred.
The event was initiated by the head of the department for work with students, Tetiana Sotnikova, and Natalia Panina, a student of the Volodymyr Dahl East Ukrainian National University, made the video.