Twelve years after protesters fell defending Ukraine's European future, the nation on Thursday observed the Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes—a memorial day that has transformed from commemoration into a living explanation of why Ukrainians continue fighting Russian aggression today.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy honored the 107 civilians and activists killed during the Revolution of Dignity's final days in February 2014, when Ukrainian special forces opened fire on demonstrators in Kyiv's Independence Square. Those deaths, and the broader revolution they catalyzed, set Ukraine on an irreversible path toward European integration—a choice Moscow has sought to reverse through military force ever since.
The revolution began in November 2013 when then-President Viktor Yanukovych abandoned a long-negotiated Association Agreement with the European Union, accepting instead a $15 billion loan from the Kremlin. What started as peaceful protests against that decision evolved into a nationwide uprising demanding fundamental change in how Ukraine would be governed and which direction it would face.
In Ukraine, as across nations defending their sovereignty, resilience is not just survival—it's determination to build a better future. The Heavenly Hundred did not die simply opposing Yanukovych's government—they fell defending Ukrainian citizens' right to choose democratic governance over authoritarian dependency, rule of law over corruption, and European integration over Russian domination.
Among the fallen was Serhiy Nigoyan, a 20-year-old Armenian-Ukrainian who became the first protester killed on January 22, 2014. Yuriy Verbytsky, a mathematician and activist, was abducted and tortured to death. Ustym Holodnyuk, just 19 years old, was shot by snipers on February 20, 2014—exactly twelve years ago today—during the revolution's bloodiest day.
These were not professional revolutionaries or foreign agents, as Kremlin propaganda claimed then and continues to claim now. They were students, workers, professionals, and pensioners united by the conviction that Ukraine deserved better governance than Yanukovych's kleptocratic regime offered.
The revolution succeeded in ousting Yanukovych, who fled to Russia on February 22, 2014. But Moscow's response came swiftly. Russian forces occupied Crimea within days and backed separatist movements in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, initiating a conflict that has now consumed nearly four years since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
For Ukrainian soldiers currently defending frontline positions, the Heavenly Hundred's sacrifice carries immediate meaning. Many cite the Revolution of Dignity as their motivation for volunteering to fight. They understand the current war as a continuation of the same fundamental struggle—Russia seeking to prevent Ukrainian sovereignty and European integration.
Oleksandr, a 32-year-old infantry officer serving in Donetsk region who asked that only his first name be used, was 20 years old during Maidan. "I was there on Independence Square," he said in a recent interview. "I saw the Heavenly Hundred fall. Now I'm here to make sure their sacrifice meant something—to make sure Ukraine remains free."
The memorial ceremonies in Kyiv Thursday featured wreath-laying at the Heavenly Hundred memorial on Institutska Street, where many protesters died. Families of the fallen attended alongside current government officials and ordinary citizens who remember those days vividly.
Yet the commemoration extends beyond remembrance into active policy. Ukraine's pursuit of EU membership—the very issue that sparked the revolution—continues advancing even amid war. The country received candidate status in 2022 and began formal accession negotiations in 2024, steps that would have seemed impossible during Yanukovych's presidency.
The Revolution of Dignity also fundamentally reshaped Ukrainian national identity. Before Maidan, regional and linguistic divisions dominated political discourse. After the revolution and Russia's subsequent aggression, a broader Ukrainian civic identity emerged based on shared democratic values rather than ethnicity or language.
This transformation helps explain why Russian President Vladimir Putin's assumptions about Ukraine's fragmentation and lack of national cohesion proved catastrophically wrong. The Maidan Revolution forged a national consciousness that Putin failed to understand—a consciousness now fighting for survival against the very force that sought to prevent its emergence.
As Ukraine observes this twelfth anniversary, the Heavenly Hundred's legacy lives not only in memory but in every Ukrainian soldier defending the nation's sovereignty, every civilian enduring blackouts and air raids, and every official negotiating European integration. Their sacrifice gave Ukraine the chance to choose its future. Today's Ukrainians are fighting to ensure that choice becomes permanent reality.
