The Celestial Hundred

The Celestial Hundred

The Celestial Hundred

To my fellow-countrymen, living, dead and as yet unborn.

Taras Shevchenko

Duckling floats on Tisyna,

Oh, duckling floats on Tisyna,

Duckling floats on Tisyna.

My mother, don’t swear me,

My mother, don’t swear me.

Oh, if you will swear me at dark hour,

If you will swear me at dark hour.

I don’t know where I’ll die,

I don’t know where I’ll die.

Oh, I’ll die on foreign lands,

I will die on foreign lands.

Who will prepare a grave for me?

Who will prepare a grave for me?

Oh, another people will prepare,

Strangers will prepare.

Won’t you regret, mother?

Won’t you regret, mother?

Oh, my son, how could I not regret?

My son, how could I not regret?

You were laying on my heart,

You were laying on my heart.

Oh, duckling floats on Tisyna,

Duckling floats on Tisyna.

“Who if not me?” you will see this phrase in every chapter of this book.

“Who if not me?” ask you the eyes of the dead heroes of the Celestial squad from their portraits on the mourning wall.

“Who if not me?” resounds the echo on the Maidan.

The young and the grey-haired, parents of many children and single people. Migrant workers and PhDs. Easterners and westerners. Totally different yet so similar.

Each character of this book rose up against the violence, the injustice and the brutal abuse of their country... Each committed an individual heroic deed— gave their most valuable asset — their life—for the new Ukraine.

And it is not just pathos. It is the truth of life. The characters of this book through their own individual example showed the strength and invincibility of the Ukrainian spirit.

“We will give our soul and body for our freedom”—these lines of the national anthem turned out to be prophetic during the days of the Euromaidan. With these words Ukrainians stood throughout the frosty nights. With these words they went barehanded against the armed police.

It was the morning of February 20, 2014. After three months of protests the country froze in uncertainty and anticipation. The Maidan was cut off from the whole world: the metro stopped, the roads leading to Kyiv were blocked. Politicians tried to come to terms—to no avail.

All of a sudden Berkut started to retreat. Several dozen reckless heads drove the government forces up Instytutska street—and... got into a trap. The protesters—many without helmets—became a living target for the snipers, who had waited for them there.

Despite the shooting, protesters stubbornly moved ahead. Under the bullets. The first rank fell, the second took it's place, then the third one. another one. another one. Within several hours in the center of a huge European city half a hundred people were shot dead. Another thirty had died the day before. The video of this m******e was broadcast worldwide and shocked the whole world.

Then the country started to find out the names of its heroes. Each story caused a sharp piercing pain, all-encompassing anger and a sense of helplessness .

Each new story was carved in our memory. An awareness came that heroic deeds of these ordinary people should not be forgotten.

This book was written by Ukrainian journalists. They wrote it so that the heroes of the Celestial Hundred came alive on its pages. They wrote it to tell everybody how those “warriors of light” lived. What they loved. What they believed in. What they fought for on the Maidan.

This book was supposed to tell about those who died in Kyiv on those three fiercest days—February 18th, 19th and 20th. However, it turned out the Celestial Hundred counts a lot more than a hundred dead. It's not only on the Maidan and not only in Kyiv that Ukrainians gave their lives for their freedom. Unfortunately, we have all grounds to believe that this list will grow. From time to time heavily wounded heroes of Hrushevskyi street and Instytutska street die in hospitals...

We couldn't leave out those who died on the other side of the barricade. They are the victims of the regime, too. That's why you will find in this book the names of policemen and military men who died on the Maidan.

This book was written in two languages—Russian and Ukrainian—as a sign of respect to the heroes who came to the Maidan from various parts of Ukraine.

The book begins with the chronicle of the Euromaidan, the memoirs of the people who spent three months on it and witnessed it's life, and witnessed the death of the heroes. Through the prism of their feelings we would like to restore the atmosphere of the Maidan where lived and died those who saved and changed Ukraine.

There is one thing that worries us today. We must not allow that the heroic deed and sacrifice of the Celestial Hundred was in vain. That is what their loved ones and friends keep saying like a mantra.

LEST WE FORGET THE HEROES WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR UKRAINE. HEROES NEVER DIE!