01/03/2022
This was an article we featured in our 2014 Rome Campus Graduate Newsletter.
Given the latest developments in Ukraine, we wanted to re-share it with our community.
Thank you Nataliya Nemesg for allowing us to reshare this 🙏🏼 ❤️.
The Ukrainian revolution, also called “the revolution of dignity,” started quickly and unexpectedly this past February. It immediately became the number one debated topic not only in Ukraine, but in the whole world. No one could expect that the protests would last for such a long time; but in comparison to the Orange revolution of 2004, this time, the situation has developed in a different way.
The preliminary reason the peaceful rallies began was the government’s decision to suspend preparation on signing the Association agreement with the EU. However, this was just a first push towards mass protests. Ukrainians flocked to protest in Kiev’s main square – Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square), which became widely known as “Euromaidan.”
They were there to defend their European choice, which seemed to be lost after the failure to sign the agreement at the Vilnus Summit.
However, on November 30, 2013, young protestors, mostly students, were brutally beaten by special police troops and were forced to flee from the square and hide in the nearest cathedral. This violent night caused a fracture in the consciousness of Ukrainians and, subsequently, the people realized that they could not live under the criminal regime of Yanukovich anymore.
The fact that these students could be beaten by the police was unacceptable. It was the right time for change and the opportunity to change the state could not be wasted. However, the price, which had to be paid for Ukraine’s democratic future, was very high.
What started as a peaceful revolution grew into a bloody warfare between a criminal government and its citizens. From November to February, the Euromaidan activists were persecuted, kidnapped, tortured, injured and over one hundred were killed. The first victims were shot dead during clashes with police in the center of Kiev on January 22; but the bloodiest events took place during the barbaric attempt to disperse the crowds in the Euromaidan on February 18, and in the following days, when almost 90 people were killed by snipers.
Those victims, who died for their motherland are now known as “heaven’s hundred” and the pictures of these patriots are displayed in Euromaidan. On this list of deceased heroes are mostly young Ukrainian men, but citizens of Georgia and Belarus are also there.
Unfortunately, they were killed because of their support for the Ukrainian people. In memory of this massacre, people brought flowers and lit candles in the center of the Ukrainian capital.
Even though the corrupt regime of Yanukovich has fallen, and Ukraine has returned towards democratic development, there are still many challenges to overcome.
The country still remains in a difficult economic situation because of the plundered Ukrainian treasury; the loss of part of Ukraine’s territory – Crimea; and the risk of state collapse, caused by Russian separatists who are promoting anti-Ukrainian propaganda in eastern Ukraine. Another serious threat is the potential invasion of the Russian Federation, which refuses to accept Ukraine’s European choice and has started organizing almost one hundred thousand soldiers and a significant amount of military hardware along the eastern Ukrainian border.
The revolution of dignity has united thousands of citizens from different parts of the country in the joint effort against injustice and criminal authority, which has robbed the state for almost four years. It also has demonstrated to the world that Ukrainians are not afraid to defend and even die for their right for a European democratic life. However, the fight is not over yet; Ukrainians should not give up, and should prepare to defend their homeland in case of further aggression from Russia.
