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]

The first deaths occurred on Unity Day, 22 January, during riots on Hrushevskoho Street in Kyiv, where three activists: Serhiy Nigoyan, Mykhailo Zhyznevskyi and Roman Senyk [uk] were shot dead by security forces. On the same day, the dead body of activist Yuriy Verbytsky [uk] was found on the city outskirts; he had been kidnapped a day before with Ihor Lutsenko, who was released. These were the first victims to die in demonstrations in Ukraine since it gained national independence in 1991. The deaths caused widespread protests. On 23 January, then Prime Minister Mykola Azarov in a BBC interview said that police had not been issued firearms, and said no police officers were located on the rooftops around the protest area. He stated that the shooting of protesters was a provocation by extremist forces aimed at escalating violence.^[7] Party of Regions MP Arsen Klinchayev stated during a memorial service in Luhansk for those killed on 22 January by police, "These people were against the government. Nobody has the right to use physical force against police officers. And then they have their sticks, then stones, then something else. The police have the right to defend their lives. So I think it's right that these four people were killed. Moreover, I believe that you need to be stricter."^[8]

On 18 February, protesters attempted to march from Independence Square to the parliament building, to urge politicians to vote for constitutional amendments. Clashes broke out as their path was blocked by riot police, who tried to push them back to Maidan. Eleven protesters were killed or fatally wounded. Three of them were shot dead by police; the rest died of other injuries. Four police officers were also shot and killed.^[1][9]

Later that evening and into the early hours of 19th February, the security forces launched an operation to clear Independence Square. Small groups of titushky (government loyalists) also gathered nearby. Clashes broke out between the security forces and protesters, resulting in the deaths of seventeen protesters and five police officers. Most of the protesters were shot by police. Two others died when police set the Trade Union building on fire, and another was found dead with his throat slit. A journalist, Viacheslav Veremii, was beaten and shot dead by titushky for filming them. The five police officers died from gunshot wounds.^[1][9]

On the morning of 20 February, riot police massed at the edge of the Maidan camp on Independence Square. At around 9am, two Berkut officers were shot dead. Around the same time, protesters tried to push the security forces away from the Maidan and back up Instytutska Street. The security forces fired indiscriminately on the protesters from ground level, while snipers fired on protesters from above. By midday, 48 protesters had been shot dead on Instytutska Street, as had two other police officers.^[1][9] According to the newspaper Ukrainska Pravda, special forces (Berkut) and Interior Troops snipers^[10] shot at people on Maidan and/or snipers located in nearby buildings, with the special forces firing AK-47 assault rifles.^[11] 20 February was the bloodiest day of the clashes, with at least 21 protesters killed.^[12][13]

The final death toll from these clashes in late February was 103 protesters and 13 police.^[14][15][16] According to Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Oleh Zalisko [uk] in February, 184 people sustained gunshot wounds in Kyiv and over 750 suffered bodily injury.^[17] On 20 February, the (then) opposition parties (Batkivshchyna, UDAR and Svoboda) stated "To hold talks with the regime, the policies of which led to the deaths of many people, is an extremely unpleasant thing but we must do everything possible and even the impossible to prevent further bloodshed".^[18]

On 21 February, the Maidan held a memorial for the slain protesters who they named the Heavenly Hundred.^[19] During the event, a mourning Lemko song "A duck floats on the Tysa..." was heard (Ukrainian: «Плине кача по Тисині…»).

On 24 February, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) decided to propose that the next Ukrainian president award the title Hero of Ukraine to protesters killed in the clashes.^[20]

In June 2016, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine announced that forensic examinations had matched bullets removed from the victims' bodies with the assault rifles of the Berkut.^{[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]} In the years since the revolution, the Office of the Prosecutor General has identified 27 Berkut officers involved in the 20 February shootings of protesters. However, in most cases, investigators have been unable to identify which Berkut officer shot specific protesters.^[9]

In the immediate aftermath of the revolution, the new government's health minister, Oleh Musiy—a doctor who helped oversee medical treatment for casualties during the protests—told the Associated Press that the similarity of the bullet wounds suffered by both protesters and police suggested the shooters were trying to stoke tensions on both sides and spark greater violence, with the goal of justifying a Russian invasion. "I think it wasn't just a part of the old regime that (plotted the provocation), but it was also the work of Russian special forces who served and maintained the ideology of the (old) regime," he said, citing forensic evidence.^[29] Hennadiy Moskal, former deputy head of the Security Service of Ukraine and Ministry of Internal Affairs, suggested that snipers from the Security Service and Militsiya were responsible, who acted on contingency plans dating back to Soviet times: "Snipers received orders to shoot not only protesters, but also police forces. This was all done to escalate the conflict, to justify the police operation to clear Maidan".^[30][31] The new Interior Minister, Arsen Avakov, said in March 2014 that the shootings were provoked by a 'non-Ukrainian' third party, and that an investigation was ongoing.^[32]

Russian state media reported in March 2014 a leaked telephone call in which Estonia's foreign minister, Urmas Paet, allegedly accused the opposition of shooting both police and protesters.^[33] Paet acknowledged the phone call was authentic, but denied blaming the opposition and said he was merely relaying rumors he had heard from a doctor.^[34] A spokesperson for the US state department said the leak was "Russian tradecraft".^[35] The doctor, Olga Bogomolets, said she had not told Paet that policemen and protesters had been killed in the same way, that she did not blame the opposition for the killings, and said the government told her an investigation had begun.^[36]

In April 2014, Ukraine's new interior minister, Avakov, presented the findings of the initial investigation into the shootings. It found the Berkut responsible for shooting the protesters, and identified twelve of the officers involved. It also identified some of the firing positions. Avakov said the previous regime had tried to hinder any inquiry by destroying weapons, uniforms and documents.^[37] The investigation also found that more than 30 Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB) agents were involved in the crackdown on protesters. Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, the interim head of Ukraine's Security Service, said the FSB agents had flown large quantities of explosives into an airport near Kyiv, that they were based at a compound in Kyiv throughout the Maidan protests, were provided with "state telecommunications", and were in regular contact with Yanukovych's security officials. He said that Yanukovych's SBU chief Oleksandr Yakymenko, who had fled the country, held several briefings with the agents. Russia's FSB rejected this as "groundless accusations".^[38]

On 31 March 2014, The Daily Beast published photos and videos which appear to show that some of the snipers were members of the Ukrainian Security Service's "Alfa" group, who had been trained in Russia.^[39]

In 2015, BBC published a story based on an interview with an unnamed man, who said he fired at riot police from the Kyiv Conservatory (music academy) on the morning of 20 February. The sniper said he was recruited by "a retired military officer". These morning shots are said to have provoked return fire from police snipers that resulted in many deaths. One Maidan leader, Andriy Shevchenko, said police commanders called him to say they were being shot from areas controlled by protesters. Another Maidan leader, Andriy Parubiy, said his team searched the Conservatory but found no snipers. He confirmed that many victims on both sides were shot by snipers, but they were shooting from other, taller buildings surrounding the Conservatory and was convinced they were snipers controlled by Russia.^[40] In 2016, Maidan protester Ivan Bubenchik admitted having fired on the security forces from the Conservatory on 20 February, killing two Berkut commanders. He said he acted in response to the Berkut shooting at protesters.^[41][42]

As of 2 March, The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported 18 officer fatalities related to the conflict.^[139] Two deaths that occurred during the crisis were considered by The Interior Ministry's as having no relation to Euromaidan or civil unrest.^[140] In addition, according to the Minister of Internal Affairs, another police officer, 30-year-old captain of the Internal Troops of Ukraine Dmytro Donets, died from a heart attack.^[141] On 18 February, six officers were killed in action against protest camps in Kyiv.^[142]

More information Nationality, Rank ...

Nationality	Rank	Name	Details	Date of death	Reference
	Lieutenant	Dmytro Vlasenko	Born 1982, Internal Troops (Crimea)	18 February	[143]
	Lieutenant	Vitaliy Honcharov	Born 1989, Internal Troops (Crimea)	18 February	[143]
	Lieutenant	Volodymyr Yevtushok	Born 1971, Patrol Service (Kyiv)	18 February	[143][144]
	Senior Lieutenant	Andriy Fediukin	Born 1972, Berkut (Crimea)	18 February	[143]
		Oleksiy Ivanenko	Born 1977, Internal Troops (Kharkiv)	18 February	[143]
	Lieutenant	Petro Savitsky	Born 1972, Patrol Service (Kyiv)	18 February	[143]
	Sergeant	Vasil' Bulitko	Born 1986, Berkut (Kyiv)	18 February	[143]
	Sergeant	Serhiy Tsvihun	Born 1990, Berkut (Zaporizhia)	18 February	[143]
		Ivan Tepliuk	Born 1993, Internal Troops (Kyiv)	18 February	[143]
		Maxim Tretiak	Born 1993, Internal Troops (Kyiv)	18 February	[143]
		Serhiy Spichak	Berdyansk (Zaporizhia region)	19 February	[145]
		Volodymyr Zubok			[145]
		Vitaliy Zakharchenko			[145]
		Roman Kizik			[145]
		Nazariy Myrka			[145]
		Serhiy Mikhaylovych			[145]
		Mykola Simisiuk			[145]

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Ukrainian sources refer to the activists who died during Euromaidan as "The Heavenly Hundred".^[146] In April 2014, the Kyiv City State Administration and Culture Ministry of Ukraine stated that they expected to open a memorial complex "to the heroes of Heavenly Hundred" in February 2015, on the occasion of the anniversary of the death activists.^[147]

On 1 July 2014, the Verkhovna Rada (the parliament of Ukraine) established the Medal "Order of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes".^[148][149]

On 25 August 2014, President Petro Poroshenko claimed he had called the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election in order to purify parliament of MPs who had supported "the [January] Dictatorship laws that took the lives of the Heavenly hundred".^[150][151]

Kyiv City Council renamed a part of Instytutska Street into Heavenly Hundred Heroes Avenue on 20 November 2014.^[152]

President Poroshenko decreed on 11 February 2015 that 20 February will annually be commemorated as "Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes". His decree established [an action plan to accomplish] a museum in Kyiv dedicated to Euromaidan.^[5][6] On 20 February, it is compulsory for Ukrainian TV channels to display a flaming candle or a similar stylized image, and, at 12:00, a minute of silence must be observed.^[153]

• Memorial in Kyiv for those killed, 24 February 2014
• Memorial in Kyiv, May 2014
• Moment of silence in memory of killed Euromaidan participants

• Casualties during the 2013–2014 Ukraine crisis
• Euromaidan
• Revolution of Dignity