Key episodes of Ukraine's 2014 Revolution of Dignity and why probes continue 11 years on

Key questions

• When did Maidan turn from a rally into a full-fledged revolution?
• What happened during the first dispersal of protesters?
• Which event was called the “baptism by fire”?
• How are the Maidan cases being investigated, and why does it take so much time?

At the turn of 2013 and 2014, an event took place in Ukraine that radically changed the country’s development vector — the Revolution of Dignity. It was preceded by a rather categorical refusal of the authorities to take the course toward integration with the European Union. People began to understand that president Viktor Yanukovych leaned more toward Russia, which in many ways was effectively dictating the then policy of the party.

The fate of the state was being decided on the main squares of Ukrainian cities, but the main attention was focused on Kyiv’s Maidan. Everything most important happened there, and the loudest crimes of that time were committed there as well.

Later, they were combined under one name — the Maidan cases. The dispersal of students on the night of November 30 and clashes with protesters in December, the confrontation on Hrushevskyi Street, the killings of activists — all of this is being investigated to this day.

The Maidan cases began to be handled immediately after the Revolution. They were overseen by the Prosecutor General’s Office, and later the proceedings were transferred to the State Bureau of Investigation.

The dispersal of students

The first protests on Maidan in Kyiv began on November 21. By the 30th, a few hundred people remained on the square, and the rallies continued, but their activity was clearly declining. However, an order was given to clear Maidan, and the notorious Berkut riot police were deployed for this purpose.

The dispersal itself began early in the morning, around 4 a.m. According to various estimates, there were up to 400 protesters on Maidan at that moment, the majority of them students. By the morning of November 30, they were surrounded by about two thousand Berkut fighters armed with special equipment. Protesters were brutally dispersed — they were beaten with batons, explosive packets were thrown into the crowds, they were knocked to the ground, beaten, and literally trampled underfoot.

Clashes between protesters and Berkut (photo: Vitalii Nosach/RBC-Ukraine)

As a result of the dispersal, 79 people sustained injuries of varying severity. Protesters ran from Berkut and hid in cathedrals, but they were pursued even hundreds of meters away from Maidan. At 4:27, the fighters completely pushed people out of the square and cordoned it off, and later allowed municipal workers to enter — they began installing the Christmas tree on Maidan. For another half hour, Berkut walked along Khreshchatyk and beat protesters there as well.

This episode became a turning point for the Revolution. If, before November 30, the rally, by various accounts, was fading, afterwards tens of thousands of people began gathering on Maidan and the surrounding streets. Besides, protests began in other Ukrainian cities.

Many participants of those events call the dispersal of students the watershed moment that determined the fate of the protests, turning them into a full-fledged revolution. The authorities’ bet that such a brutal dispersal would intimidate people failed. The protesters reacted in exactly the opposite way — they became enraged.

Protesters confront Berkut (photo: Vitalii Nosach/RBC-Ukraine)

“When did I realize this was a Revolution? When they beat the students — I remember the rally began, I think it was the March of Millions. The streets were really packed with people. It became clear that something was going to happen,” one eyewitness says.

Attempt to disperse people in December

By the time of the next dispersal attempt, tens of thousands of people had already densely settled on Maidan and nearby areas. Many had come from other cities, so they spent the night on the square in tents that formed an entire tent city. For obvious reasons, the Christmas tree could not be installed — only the frame was erected. Within a few days, it was covered with posters and slogans.

On the night of December 11, the authorities made another attempt to dismantle the protests. Around 1 a.m., court bailiff Larysa Sabodash climbed the steps of the Kyiv City State Administration and read out a ruling by the Pechersk Court. It ordered “the taking of measures” in a case regarding the blocking of sidewalks and roads by placing various objects on them. This bureaucratic wording, in fact, meant one thing — a forcible dispersal of protesters.

While Sabodash was reading the court decision, Berkut fighters and internal troops were gathering under the barricades. Protesters, meanwhile, barricaded themselves inside the Kyiv administration building and did not allow police in. To the sound of the bells of St. Michael’s Cathedral, the lights in the administration were turned off, and on Maidan, protesters began singing the song “I won’t give up without a fight” by Okean Elzy. The band’s vocalist, Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, also appeared on the square, saying: “I came because I couldn’t otherwise.”

Protesters defend themselves from security forces (photo: Vitalii Nosach/RBC-Ukraine)

Attempts to push people out of Maidan and the central streets continued throughout the night. Berkut fighters and police dismantled barricades, broke through human chains in some places, and entered the crowd. While people on stage urged Berkut to join the crowd, security forces continued pushing protesters back. Local clashes erupted, Berkut fighters beat people, detained them, and placed them in police vans.

Despite the demonstrative brutality and attempts at intimidation, people kept coming to Maidan throughout the night. Supporters of the protests spread information online about which route to take to reach the square without being detained. Security forces, meanwhile, were storming from three directions — from Mykhailivska, Instytutska, and European squares.

The pressure did not stop, but at some point, the balance of forces shifted not in favor of Berkut and other security forces. During another attempt to break through the barricades, Berkut fighters suddenly found themselves being outflanked by protesters. By morning, the security forces retreated — Maidan held.

Baptism by fire

On January 16, 2014, at the height of the Revolution, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a series of laws that were later labeled dictatorial and draconian. Their essence was that security forces received far greater powers to disperse protesters. On January 19, the government announced that the law had entered into force, and a new wave of protests began on Maidan.

That day, participants of the revolution gathered for another assembly, and after it, they headed toward the government quarter. “Yanukovych still doesn’t understand — we’ve lost our fear. I’m not afraid of anything, let them shoot me, I’m ready to die among the first ten,” one protester told journalists.

Events during the baptism by fire near the Dynamo stadium (photo: Vitalii Nosach/RBC-Ukraine)

On Hrushevskyi Street, near the entrance to the Dynamo Stadium, security forces were already waiting for the protesters. Clashes began, Berkut fighters attacked people with stun grenades, and the first shots were fired. Security forces also sprayed water on people, although it was about 10 degrees below zero outside. Protesters, in response to these actions, began throwing paving stones dug out from the ground at Berkut.

Maidan participants dismantle paving stones (photo: Vitalii Nosach/RBC-Ukraine)

The clashes began on Epiphany Day, lasted several days, and resulted in the first casualties. On January 22, Armenian Serhiy Nihoyan was killed — he was shot with a shotgun loaded with buckshot. A photograph of Nihoyan holding a poster reading “God speaks with the voice of the people” became one of the symbols of the Revolution.

Serhiy Nihoyan (photo: Wikipedia)

That same day, Belarusian journalist Mikhail Zhyznyewski was killed. He, too, was killed with hunting ammunition. The first deaths shocked the participants of the Revolution, but even more shocking events were ahead.

Snipers on Maidan

In the second half of February, the government entered a political crisis, and the protests did not subside. On February 18, people marched in a column toward parliament to support the vote on returning to the 2004 Constitution. Approaching the Rada, on Hrushevskyi Street, in Mariinskyi Park, and on Khreshchatyk, they confronted security forces.

Following their established pattern, Berkut fighters threw stun grenades into the crowd and sprayed tear gas on people. Protesters threw paving stones and Molotov cocktails at the security forces. In the evening, the then-head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Oleksandr Yakymenko, delivered an address. In clumsy Ukrainian, he announced the beginning of an anti-terrorist operation directed against the participants of the Revolution. After his words, a new assault was launched on Maidan. On Instytutska Street, protesters began to be killed with live ammunition.

On the night of February 19, protesters held the square, but intense clashes continued. By day, the assault was stopped, and attempts at negotiations led nowhere. In the evening, there was still no mass shooting; protesters were cleaning the area and regrouping. And already on the morning of February 20, snipers appeared on the roofs of government buildings.

Events on Maidan in February (photo: Getty Images)

Eyewitnesses of those events say that at first they did not understand what was happening. Activists were moving after the security forces up Instytutska Street, then a burst of automatic gunfire was heard, and one of the protesters fell to the ground. Then another. Snipers were aiming at people — most were killed by gunshot wounds to the head and neck, less often to the abdomen. Protesters tried to drag away the wounded and came under fire themselves. Bodies lay right on the streets, while the crackle of automatic fire filled the air.

The most intense shooting occurred between approximately 9 and 11 a.m. By midday, it subsided — more than 40 protesters were killed, and together with the assault on Maidan two days earlier, there were about 50 casualties. When people realized what had happened, Maidan ignited with new force. By this time, the authorities understood they had completely lost control, security forces were leaving Kyiv en masse, and the Rada urgently voted to stop the “anti-terrorist operation.” On February 21, Viktor Yanukovych left the capital, and on the 23rd, Ukraine.

“I remember being called on the 21st — urgently take your camera, we’re going to Mezhyhirya (Yanukovych residence - ed.). I was in such shock that I didn’t immediately know what to say. I asked — is he gone? And they told me — yes, let’s go,” one participant of those events recounts.

Investigation after 11 years

For a long time, the Maidan cases were investigated by the Prosecutor General’s Office, later the Office of the Prosecutor General. In 2020, the proceedings were transferred to the SBI. Many of them are still being investigated.

During the investigation, about 500 Ukrainian citizens in total were served with suspicions. Overall, the Maidan cases comprise 15,000 volumes and 2,500 episodes of criminal actions. These include tens of thousands of expert reports, witness and victim interrogations, analysis of conversations. According to the SBI, about 840,000 people and 60,000 law enforcement officers took part in the Revolution of Dignity. “During the investigation, it is necessary to prove the guilt or innocence of 60,000 law enforcement officers regarding 840,000 people from all regions,” the SBI told RBC-Ukraine.

When asked where the court verdicts in the Maidan cases are, the Bureau emphasizes that both objective and subjective factors affect the pace of judicial proceedings. Often, the defense delays the process intentionally to stretch the case until the statute of limitations expires. Also, court hearings are scheduled once every 2–3 months. Today’s events also affect the pace — the Maidan cases overlap with the war and related crimes that are of higher priority for the courts.

But there are in absentia verdicts. They mostly concern security officers and politicians who fled to Russia. The SBI says that even before the full-scale war, they sent extradition requests to Moscow for suspects, including those who shot people on Maidan.

A Maidan protester (photo: Vitalii Nosach/RBC-Ukraine)

“When we sent the request, there were many attachments — about a thousand pages, tied with twine. A year later, a response arrived — claiming it was political persecution, and Russia would not serve these suspicions. All the attachments were returned with the same old twine. They hadn’t even been opened,” the Bureau notes.

There are also convicted individuals — most often “titushky,” who incited protesters to violence against security forces. Their cases, according to the Bureau, are heard most willingly by the courts. Many cases have no statute of limitations — this applies to proceedings on state treason, for which the top leadership, including Yanukovych, is being tried.

Many suspects are still at the familiarization stage. For example, today the commander of the Lviv Berkut, Serhii Kusiuk, is “familiarizing himself” with the case materials. He is suspected, among other things, of killing 12 Maidan participants and the unintentional killing of 8 more activists during the “ATO” (from 4 p.m. on February 18 to 6 a.m. on February 19).

“It happened exactly on Independence Square as a result of the violent dispersal of Maidan with the use of weapons — Ford-500 pump-action shotguns loaded with 12-gauge rounds with a lead slug and lead buckshot, which are prohibited for use,” the SBI emphasizes.