XHABIR DERALLA
While Russian military machinery is roaring on the borders, and paramilitaries under the dictate of Vladimir Putin are violating ceasefire agreements on a daily basis, Ukraine is marking February 20, Day of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred. This day is dedicated to the remembrance of the victims of the regime violence of Viktor Yanukovych
History will note that most of the Heavenly Hundred gave their lives during the Revolution of Dignity (November 2013– February 2014). Others lost their lives later – in March and April 2014, defending the ideals of democracy, human rights and freedoms, the European future of Ukraine.
The Maiden and Colorful Revolution
The days when the Revolution of Dignity (Maiden) started in our country, the authoritarian regime of Nikola Gruevski ruled. The resistance was ignited. The local elections in 2013 and the early parliamentary election in April 2014 showed all the features of an anti-Western, authoritarian and kleptocratic regime. That regime did not refrain from brutal use of structural violence against the citizens and from election theft of industrial scale. Two years after Maiden, in 2016, the Colorful Revolution started and led to the fall of the regime.
All those who took part in the civil resistance against the violent regime of Gruevski and the Family (as this authoritarian clique was called) followed the events in Ukraine and were in solidarity with the fighters for human dignity there. Yanukovych was the Ukrainian Gruevski. They were both what Hungarian Orbanrepresents today. All together they are shadows of the tyrant in the Kremlin.
Maidan “piano extremist”
We remember Bohdan Dniprov, the “piano extremist” who expressed his “extremism” by playing the piano during the Maiden protests. The regime journalists both in Ukraine and in Macedonia gave identical names to the Maidan and Colorful revolutionaries: traitors, spies, mercenaries… In our country they still use them to this day.
The Ukrainian Revolutionaries of Dignity fought for human rights and freedoms, for human dignity and for Ukraine independent from the hegemony of Putin’s regime clique.
Hundred and seven victims
The clashes with the forces of Yanukovych’s regime took one hundred and seven victims. The youngest one, Nazar Voytovych, was 16 years old, while the oldest, Ivan Nakonechny, was 83. They, along with the hundreds of thousands of protestors took to the streets to defend freedom and dignity. And they didn’t spare their lives, they didn’t succumb to the propaganda, they were not afraid of the armored vehicles and the police brutality.
The number of 107 victims isn’t final. The investigation is ongoing.
Ukraine’s difficult path to freedom
The years that followed were difficult for Ukraine. After the fall of Yanukovych’s marionette regime, Russia carried out aggression against Ukraine and occupied the Crimean Peninsula, and installed in the eastern parts of the country paramilitaries in “private-state ownership” (the “Wagner” paramilitary, “Russian Orthodox Army” and others). Since the start of the Russian aggression on Ukrainian soil, 15,000 people have lost their lives.
At the same time, most of Ukraine lives in freedom and development. The democratic authorities in Kiev are leading the country towards the Euro-Atlantic alliances with decisive steps, something that has become part of the very constitution of Ukraine as well. Simultaneously, it’s becoming clear to increasingly more people in the world that freedom of Ukraine means also freedom of Europe and the world.
The biggest war on European soil in the past 80 years
Putin, aware that Ukraine freedom and independence mean an end for his despotism that has been lasting for more than two decades, has set off the military machinery of a size not seen since World War II. He has already started operations that clearly show that he is ready to conduct full invasion with Blietzkrieg and hence lead the biggest war on European soil in the past 80 years.
Therefore, the Day of the Heroism of the Heroic Hundred is important for every person who knows the value of freedom, human rights and freedoms, of human dignity.
All rights reserved. The text is the personal view of the Author.
Translation: N. Cvetkovska
