Maidan casualties

Faces of deceased protestors in a exhibition at the Kyiv History Museum
Bodies of protesters Yu. Paraschuk, U. Holodnyuk and R. Varenitsya in Hotel Ukrayina
Memorial to protesters killed in the Maidan massacre in Kyiv

Altogether, 108 civilian protesters and 13 police officers were killed[1] in Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity (or the 'Maidan Revolution'), which was the culmination of the Euromaidan protest movement. The deaths occurred in January and February 2014; most of them on 20 February, when police snipers fired on anti-government activists in Kyiv. The slain activists are known in Ukraine as the Heavenly Hundred or Heavenly Company (Ukrainian: Небесна сотня, Nebesna sotnia). By June 2016, 55 people had been charged in relation to the deaths of protesters, including 29 former members of the Berkut special police force, ten titushky or loyalists of the former government, and ten former government officials.[1]

On 21 February, the Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada) passed a law to provide assistance to the families of the protesters who were killed.[2] On 21 November 2014 a decree by the new Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko posthumously awarded the title "Hero of Ukraine" to the slain protesters.[3] Three non-Ukrainian citizens killed in the revolution were each posthumously awarded the title "Knight of the Order of the Heaven's Hundred Heroes".[4] Since 2015, the deaths have been commemorated each year in Ukraine on 20 February, which is "the Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes".[5][6]

  1. ^ a b "Accountability for killings in Ukraine from January 2014 to May 2016" (PDF). Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. pp. 9, 21–25.
  2. ^ Дорожовець, Олег; Коаліція "Україна. П'ята ранку"; Орлова, Юлія (21 February 2014). "Рада встановила допомогу сім'ям загиблих активістів" [The Rada established help to the families of perished activists]. LB.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  3. ^ "УКАЗ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА УКРАЇНИ № 890/2014". Official site of the President of Ukraine. Archived from the original on 21 November 2014.
  4. ^ "Президент нагородив орденами Героїв Небесної Сотні трьох іноземців, які загинули під час Революції Гідності // Офіційне інтернет-представництво Президента України". Archived from the original on 31 December 2014.
  5. ^ Poroshenko, Petro (25 August 2014). "February 20 will mark the Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes". Petro Poroshenko, President of Ukraine: Official website. President of Ukraine. Archived from the original on 19 February 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  6. ^ "February 20 to be commemorated as Heavenly Hundred Heroes Day– decree", Interfax-Ukraine (12.02.2015)