Heroes of Euromaidan killed by Russia in hostilities

On February 18-20, 2014, large-scale shootings of activists of the Revolution of Dignity took place in the center of Kyiv. On February 18, 22 protesters were killed. On February 20, the most people died — 48. In total, 107 participants of the Revolution of Dignity make up the "Heavenly Hundred."

With the war, thousands of dead were added to the "Heavenly Hundred" — many activists who survived the Euromaidan, went to war, and died already at the front. We recall some of the participants of the Revolution who were killed by Russia in the war.

Roman Ratushnyi. Roman was born in Kyiv on July 5, 1997. When the Revolution of Dignity began, Roman was only 16 years old. He was among the students who were beaten by Berkut riot police on the night of November 30. In 2018, he led the initiative "Save Protasiv Yar" and spoke out against Kyiv developers. At the beginning of the large-scale invasion, Roman defended Kyiv, and later, as part of the 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Brigade, he defended Kharkiv Oblast. On June 9, 2022, he was killed in a battle near Izyum.

Vasyl Marmus. He was born on April 26, 1992 in Chortkiv, Ternopil Oblast, in the family of political prisoner and dissident Volodymyr Marmus. He took an active part in the Revolution of Dignity. With the beginning of the large-scale invasion, he fought in Kyiv Oblast and Donbas as part of the 80th separate airborne assault brigade. He had the call sign "Musician". He died on September 15, 2022, while liberating Kharkiv Oblast. At the funeral, his wife Natalia said that Vasyl could have been among the Heavenly Hundred because he rushed to the vanguard during the Revolution, but she asked him to be careful because she was pregnant at the time. Vasyl is survived by his little daughter Sofia.

Hryhoriy Tsekhmistrenko. He was born on December 19, 1994 in Rivne. In February 2014, along with other participants of the Revolution of Dignity, he was detained by the police. Hryhoriy fainted several times at the police station after being hit in the head with a baton by a Berkut officer. A snowboarder's helmet he was wearing saved him from a skull fracture. In recent years, he lived in Canada and held Canadian citizenship. In January 2022, Hryhoriy came to Ukraine after hearing about the full-scale invasion and volunteered for the front in February. He was killed in the battles for Bakhmut on the night of January 15.

Oleh Yurchenko. He was born on April 20, 1977 in Kyiv Oblast. During the Revolution of Dignity, he was in the 4th Cossack Hundred. He was injured during a confrontation with Berkut. Since 2014, he held senior positions in the SBU. From 2016 to 2018, he worked in the Novoaidar Military-Civilian Administration of Luhansk Oblast. With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he performed special tasks in command positions. He had the nickname "Kyi". On January 2, 2023, he died near Bakhmut. Yurchenko is survived by five children.

Mykola Holikov. Born in the village of Dobrovliany, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. He was interested in cars, collected commemorative coins and studied English. As a member of the third hundred of the Maidan, he took an active part in the Revolution of Dignity. In 2014, he volunteered for the Aidar Battalion. In the east, he was taken prisoner by the enemy. After the exchange, Mykola settled in Kyiv and got married. From the first days of the full-scale invasion, he joined the territorial defense of Kyiv Oblast. He fell into an enemy ambush, where he was shot 10 times. Within a month and a half, the man underwent 18 surgeries. However, the 28-year-old defender's heart stopped beating on April 16, 2022.

The hromadske editorial office apologizes to the relatives and friends of the deceased Mykola Holikov and the combatant Oleksandr Smirnov, whose photo we mistakenly published on February 18, signing him as Mykola Holikov.

Mykola Korobenkov. He was born in Dzhankoy. The IT specialist left Crimea on December 13, 2013, and on December 14 he was already on the Maidan. His whole life fit into one trunk. He also took his son with him. On the Maidan, he worked in the Red Cross team. After the revolution, he joined the Patriot Defense and began teaching tactical medicine to the military and orphans.

In the movie Stop-Zemlia, he played a medical instructor - in fact, himself.

On February 24, 2022, the 45-year-old joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In his unit, he conducted tactical medicine training and performed non-medical combat missions. He died on November 10 near Mayorsk, Donetsk Oblast. He is survived by two children and a pregnant wife. She is due to give birth in March.

Volodymyr Hunko. A native of the village of Obodivka, Vinnytsia Oblast. He was an active participant in the Maidan. In 2014, he went to defend Ukraine as a volunteer with the Donbas battalion. He survived the "Ilovaysk Kettle". He was held captive for four months. After his release, he became a volunteer.

On February 24, 2022, he was sent to the presidential regiment, but he managed to get transferred to Bakhmut and died on July 31. Three floors collapsed on the 33-year-old soldier: two rockets hit the basement of the factory where the Ukrainian military were spending the night. He is survived by his parents and his girlfriend, with whom he was planning a wedding.

Oleh Sobchenko was born in Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi, Cherkasy Oblast. For many years, he worked on restoring memorials and graves of the Ukrainian National Republic army soldiers.

He was an active participant in the Revolution of Dignity and was injured during clashes with the Berkut in Cherkasy. He took part in the Anti-Terrorist Operation, and from February 2022 he fought as a member of the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade named after the Black Zaporozhians in Kyiv Oblast, followed by battles for Kharkiv, Lysychansk and Bakhmut. Sobchenko, a 49-year-old aerial reconnaissance officer, died on January 24, 2023, during the battles for Vuhledar.

Oleksandr Kolotvin was born on November 18, 1984, in Pyatykhatky, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. He took an active part in the Revolution of Dignity and practically went to the front from Maidan. He volunteered for Aidar. He had the nickname "Sakha". He liberated Shchastya, Metalist, and Lutuhyne. On August 16, 2014, while performing a combat mission near Khryashchuchyne, Luhansk Oblast, he was mortally wounded in the heart.

Sviatoslav Aleksapolskyi was born in the city of Saky. Until 2014, he lived in Crimea, participated in the Crimean Euromaidan and was a fan of the Crimean football club Tavria. He practiced Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, had a blue belt, and planned to get a purple belt.

He took part in hostilities from 2015 to 2020 as a member of the Azov and the Airborne Forces. In 2022, he returned to the war. He was the commander of a reconnaissance platoon of the 126th Brigade. He had the nickname "Sviat". He was killed on August 29 in southern Ukraine when his unit took part in a counteroffensive. Sviatoslav was 32 years old.

In an interview with hromadske a few weeks before his death, Sviatoslav said: "The heroism of some is always a mistake of others. The military knows that all heroic deeds are done not because someone wants to do so, but because there is no other way."

Taras Matviyiv was born on February 18, 1989, in the village of Vyazivne, Volyn Oblast. During Euromaidan, he was in the third hundred of the Self-Defense. From the first days of the war in Donbas, he volunteered at the front, and later fought in the Carpathian Sich volunteer unit. In 2018, Taras enrolled in the leadership courses of the Army Academy and became an officer. In 2019, he began serving in the 24th King Danylo Brigade.

Junior Lieutenant Taras Matviyiv was killed in Luhansk Oblast on July 10, 2020, by mortar fire while pulling out two wounded brothers-in-arms. Taras was the only son of his parents. He was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine.

"To the last, I hope that Ukrainians will not exchange freedom for pieces of silver and will not be afraid of assuming responsibility for their actions," Taras wrote on social media.

Vasyl Polishchuk was born on August 25, 1995, in the village of Staryi Irzhavets, Poltava Oblast. During the Revolution of Dignity, he was on the Maidan and immediately went to the front. He was wounded, but after rehabilitation he returned to service with only half of his left lung. He was on the front line for over six years.

During the full-scale war, he continued to defend Ukraine. On August 27, 2022, 27-year-old Vasyl was killed in the battles near Izyum. He is survived by two children.

Illya Voloshyn was born in Zaporizhzhya and graduated from Zaporizhzhya Polytechnic National University. He participated in the Revolution of Dignity and then volunteered to go to Donbas. He fought as part of the Sich volunteer battalion, and later in the Carpathian Sich. He had the call sign "Noha". In civilian life, he was engaged in business.

During the full-scale war, Illya joined the 110th separate territorial defense brigade. On October 24, Illya was seriously wounded and lost a lot of blood. Doctors fought for his life for several days, but on October 30, his heart stopped. Illya was 31 years old.

Serhiy Kalyna. He was born and raised in the city of Sambir in Lviv Oblast. He graduated from the Faculty of History and Geography at Ivan Franko University. He was a participant of the Revolution of Dignity, after which he fought as a volunteer in the ATO. From the first days of the full-scale invasion, he joined the army and went to the front. He took part in battles near Kyiv, Chornobyl and in Kharkiv Oblast. Last year, he was awarded the medal "For Military Service to Ukraine" by presidential decree. The 41-year-old soldier died on January 3 in Luhansk Oblast.

Bijan Sharopov. He was born in 1989 in Dushanbe. In 1995, his family moved to Kyiv. Bijan was a researcher at the Bohomolets Institute of Physiology. He was a participant in the Revolution of Dignity, and after the Russian invasion in 2014, he fought in Luhansk Oblast as part of the Aidar volunteer battalion. After returning from the ATO, Bijan completed his postgraduate studies and began teaching. He headed the Council of Young Scientists at the Bohomolets Institute and worked in the Department of Neuromuscular Physiology.

After February 24, Bijan Sharopov took up arms again. Since April, he had been missing and only in February 2023 was it confirmed that the scientist had died.

Petro Ursulovych. Petro is a native of Kalush. After the beating of students on the night of November 30, 2013, he came to Kyiv and participated in the hottest confrontations as a member of the Kalush unit of the Third Hundred of the Maidan Self-Defense. After the Revolution of Dignity, he joined the ATO. When the large-scale invasion began, Ursulovych joined the Armed Forces on the first day as a squad leader of the 80th separate air assault brigade. He was wounded in action but returned to his position after treatment. Petro Ursulovych died on October 30 near the village of Nevske, Svatove district, Luhansk Oblast. He was 43.

Volodymyr Havryliuk was born in Vinnytsia Oblast and lived in Crimea. He joined the Revolution of Dignity after students were beaten on the Maidan. When the Russians occupied Crimea, Volodymyr moved to mainland Ukraine, where he enlisted in the Golden Gate Battalion. He fought on the Luhansk axis. Later, he came to Vinnytsia and became a patrol policeman. From the first days of the full-scale invasion, Volodymyr went back to fight. Havryliuk was killed in Donbas. He is survived by his wife and two children.

Vitaliy Benchak is a native of Zakarpattya Oblast. Participant of the Revolution of Dignity, battles in Donbas, volunteer, member of the Tyachiv District Council of the 6th convocation. With the beginning of the full-scale war, he joined the Carpathian Sich. He had the call sign "Tur". Vitaliy was killed in action in Donetsk Oblast. His death was reported on October 2, 2022. Vitaliy was 41 years old. His parents, wife and children were waiting for his return from the war.

Oleh Rybalchenko. A participant of the Revolution of Dignity, he went to the front as a volunteer after Euromaidan. When he returned to Kyiv, he worked as a journalist. In particular, he wrote for Ukrainska Pravda. After the full-scale invasion, Oleh returned to the front line. First, he defended the capital, and then Donetsk Oblast. Oleh, 28, was killed in December in the battle for Bakhmut.