Ten years of Euromaidan

Author: Ukrainian YEA Anna Protsai

Photo Credit: Mehdi Chebil / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect

Ten years on, I want to reflect on the Euromaidan – one of the most prominent events in modern Ukrainian history that shaped our identities. I will briefly share its story, and also my personal impressions as a 13-year-old teenager experiencing Euromaidan. I believe that we all need to be aware of our history and therefore to build a pro-European Ukraine for us and our descendants.

1. The prerequisites of the Euromaidan. Pro-European spirit of Ukrainians 

Euromaidan was something that nobody expected. Nobody expected that the then President Viktor Yanukovych and his government would blatantly plant a knife into Ukrainians’ backs and decide to suspend the preparation process for the signing of the Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine. That was the moment Yanukovych ultimately showed his pro-Russian identity. Ukrainians refused to accept this and bravely stood up despite the extremely violent resistance from authorities, the freezing weather, and an overall fearful atmosphere of not knowing what would follow next.

In fact, Ukrainians always had this pro-European spirit. If we look at the days when the Soviet Union, this bloody empire, ceased to exist, millions of Ukrainians took to the streets with tears of happiness to express their delight that these days of oppression, poverty, and communism were over and they could start building a new and progressive Ukraine, with its own currency, language, Constitution, values and political directions.

2. The price of a European choice

Euromaidan 2013 was a turning point in modern Ukrainian history. It began on 21 November 2013, without using any political symbols. On 24 November, more than 100 people gathered at the Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. According to the BBC, the protests were the largest since the Orange Revolution in 2004. And the Euromaidan, or ‘Revolution of Dignity’, was happening not only in the capital but in other Ukrainian cities too – Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Donetsk, Luhansk, Poltava and others. People felt united and that was what helped them resist aggressive policemen. This spirit also spread beyond the borders of Ukraine. The Ukrainian diaspora was organising actions of support for the Euromaidan around the world.

People were living at the Maidan Nezalezhnosti. They put up tents filled with flags and other Ukrainian symbols, helped each other, as well as volunteered by cooking warm food and providing warm shelters. Exactly during the Euromaidan, the initiative “Euromaidan SOS” was born, as one of the initiatives of the prominent Ukrainian NGO “Centre for Civil Liberties”. In 2022, the NGO became a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Back then, “Euromaidan SOS” was providing legal and psychological assistance to people who suffered from the unlawful actions of police and other authorities during the Revolution of Dignity.

A huge role in Euromaidan was played by students who were also supported by European leaders like Polish MP Pavel Koval and then Speaker of the Lithuanian Seimas Loreta Graužinienė. Unfortunately, the use of violent force by the police claimed 106 lives of innocent people who were fighting for a better future for their country. The fallen activists are also known as the ‘Heavenly Hundred’ (Небесна Сотня, Nebesna Sotnya, in Ukrainian). There are memorials for the Nebesna Sotnya all over Ukraine nowadays. Future generations should remember the price of the freedom that their ancestors paid.

3. Personal impressions and thoughts

I was 13 years old when Euromaidan was happening. Being a young and naive new student in my school, I did not quite understand what was going on. But I will never forget the day of 20 of February 2014, as I entered school and it was almost empty. Out of 35 people in my class, only me and my classmate George were present. I had two thoughts:

1) “Wow, this is so incredible… are all these missing students at the Maidan Nezalezhnosti square now with their parents?”

2) “Wow, this is so incredible… are all these missing students in their homes now, with their parents, afraid that any disturbances could happen here?”

It was mentally hard to experience it all as a teenager, especially hearing about deaths in the heart of Kyiv on TV. But I am very grateful to be in a pro-Europe country with European values, and Euromaidan was a key factor that has set off many things: Viktor Yanukovych and his government were eliminated, political prisoners were released, the decommunisation process finally began and a democratic government came to power.

A process started to be visible: on 21 March 2014, then Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk signed the political section of the Association Agreement and on 27 June, the 5th President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, signed the economic section of the Agreement. A significant step was also made by Poroshenko: a visa-free regime between Ukraine and the EU. It became a reality on 17 May, 2017: since then, Ukrainians no longer need to spend their time on lots of documents to travel to the EU. The Association Agreement officially entered into force on 1 September, 2017.

4. Euromaidan: Strengthening the Ukrainian identity

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 did not change the vector and amount of European support for Ukraine, on the contrary. As the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen said, “Ukraine is welcome to become part of the European family”. A historical moment happened on 23 June 2023: the European Council granted Ukraine the candidate status for accession to the EU. Ukraine was given 7 recommendations from the EU to implement in its national legislation and already on 14 December the European Council opened negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU.

This would not have happened without Euromaidan, a true Revolution of Dignity that shaped every Ukrainian and our national identity. Ukrainians showed which direction they wanted and which they did not. Unfortunately, the state aggressor continued trying to impose its desire to force Ukraine to abandon its pro-EU ideas, ultimately by war. But it will not succeed. Ukrainians pay the highest price for freedom and democracy and for territorial integrity – their lives. The EU and the whole world will forever remember this bravery and EU membership is something that Ukraine truly deserves.