Every year on February 20, Ukraine celebrates the Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes. This memorable date was established by Presidential Decree No. 69 of February 11, 2015, "On Honoring the Feat of the Participants in the Revolution of Dignity and Perpetuating the Memory of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes."
In November 2013, the Revolution of Dignity began—a mass civil protest caused by a sharp change in the foreign policy course and development vector of the state, and later by the unconstitutional actions of the authorities.
The center of events was the capital's Independence Square and the surrounding streets: Khreshchatyk, Mykhailo Hrushevsky, and Instytutska. Peaceful actions began under the slogans of European integration, but later turned into a prolonged campaign of civil disobedience against the authoritarian regime of President Viktor Yanukovych – against corruption and human rights violations. The authorities' actions aimed at suppressing the protests by force led to an escalation of the conflict and human casualties.
The events of February 20, 2014, were the culmination of the Revolution of Dignity. The largest number of people – 48 – died that day in the centre of the Ukrainian capital.
The 107 participants in the Revolution of Dignity who died have been recognised as the Heavenly Hundred, including three women: Antonina Dvoryanets, Olga Bura and Lyudmila Sheremet.
The first of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes, Pavlo Mazurenko, died on December 22, 2013, as a result of bodily injuries inflicted by unknown persons dressed in special forces uniforms. The last of the Heroes, Viktor Orlenko, died on June 3, 2015, due to complications from a gunshot wound sustained during the storming of the Maidan by security forces on February 18, 2014.
The Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred include people of different nationalities, religions, education, and ages. Among them are citizens of Ukraine, Belarus, and Georgia. The youngest of the Heroes, Nazarii Voitovych, was 17 years old, and the oldest, Ivan Nakonechny, was 82.
A clear civic position and a willingness to defend it to the end are the traits that the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred possessed and which are worthy of emulation.
The Day of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred is intended to honor the struggle for a dignified life and freedom, heroism, and self-sacrifice, thanks to which the course of our country's history was changed. The Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred made their choice – to fight for freedom and dignity even at the cost of their lives; they died so that our country could develop as a free democratic state.
February 2014 saw the first act of armed aggression against Ukrainian citizens who wanted to live in a free country because they were free in spirit. That first battle in the center of Kyiv showed a lot in common with how Putin is acting in Ukraine today, because his goal is the same, and his methods are the same – to destroy those who resist, to kill the unarmed, including children, women, and the elderly.
Today, as a result of the aggressive war that the Russian Federation is waging against us, Ukraine, unfortunately, no longer has only the Heavenly Hundred, but a whole Heavenly Army. It includes many of those who were then on Independence Square, Hrushevsky Street, near Mariinsky Park, who went unarmed against the Berkut on Instytutska Street or took part in peaceful demonstrations in other Ukrainian cities.
The story of the Heavenly Hundred's feat, like the entire Revolution of Dignity, is a significant milestone in the chronicle of the Ukrainian people's struggle for liberation, and the names of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred are at the top of the martyrology of those who have died in the Russian Federation's war against Ukraine since 2014.
The course towards European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine, for which the participants of Euromaidan fought and the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred gave their lives, remains unchanged and is united with our desire to stop Russian aggression, restore the territorial integrity of Ukraine, and build it as a modern, prosperous European state.