“Maidan Changed Us All”: Kyiv Honors The Heroes Of The Revolution

Ukrainians have gathered in central Kyiv to mark the fourth anniversary of the start of the Euromaidan Revolution. On November 21, people came with flowers and candles to the Heavenly Hundred Avenue — formerly known as Institutska Street — to honor the memory of those who lost their lives during Kyiv’s pro-European protests.

Among those in attendance were former protesters and friends and relatives of the victims.

People with flowers and candles came to the Heavenly Hundred Avenue (formerly Institutska Street) to honor the memory of those who perished on the Maidan. Photo credit: HROMADSKE

“I was injured on Institutska Street on February 20, [2014]. Traditionally, we gather here to remember the boys,” says Borys Kharchuk, who suffered a gunshot wound when security forces attempted to disperse the protests. “After Maidan, people began to put pressure on the authorities. Maidan changed all of us.”

On November 21, 2013, after the Ukrainian government halted preparations to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union, journalist (and current Ukrainian parliamentarian) Mustafa Nayyem wrote a Facebook post calling on people to gather on Maidan Square. This became the start of Euromaidan.

Several acts of violence against protesters and supporters of the protests sent shockwaves through Ukrainian society — the violent dispersal of student protesters on the Maidan on November 30, 2013; the shooting of protesters on Institutska Street on February 20, 2014; the killing of protesters Serhiy Nihoyan, Mykhailo Zhiznewsky, and Roman Senik; the kidnapping of Ihor Lutsenko and the murder of Yury Verbytsky in January 2014.

These are only a few of the episodes unified into one huge legal case colloquially referred to as the “ Maidan Case.” Its magnitude is best illustrated in numbers: it has over 9.5 thousand witnesses.