Ukraine remembers the popular uprising that foreshadowed war
War-ravaged Ukraine on Tuesday commemorated the 10th anniversary of the so-called Maidan Revolution, the popular uprising that toppled a pro-Russian president, showcased the country’s embrace of European values and foreshadowed the current conflict with Moscow .
Across Ukraine, people laid flowers at monuments honoring those killed during the protests, and officials hailed the uprising that began in 2013 as a milestone on the path to greater democracy and standing up to Russia.
In a video address released Tuesday morningPresident Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said: “10 years ago we began a new chapter in our struggle. Ten years ago, the Ukrainians launched their first counter-offensive.” During the Maidan Revolution, he added, “the first victory in the current war took place.”
The uprising, sparked by popular outrage over a decision by Ukraine’s then-president Viktor F. Yanukovych to suspend a trade deal with Brussels, was a powerful demonstration of the country’s commitment to Europe.
The current war has accelerated these ambitions, with Ukraine now an official candidate to join the European Union. Several top European officials visited Ukraine’s capital Kiev on Tuesday to reaffirm their support for the war-torn country, including Charles Michel, president of the European Council, and Boris Pistorius, Germany’s defense minister.
The Maidan uprising “is also part of European history,” Kateryna Zarembo, an associate fellow at the Kiev-based New Europe Center, said in an interview, adding that Tuesday’s visits showed Europe’s strong commitment to Ukraine .
Tuesday’s commemorations were shrouded in a particularly deep sense of sadness, as Ukrainians reflected not only on the lives lost in the past decade’s struggle for independence, but also on the prospect that many more will die as the bloody fighting continues.
“These men are now watching us from the air,” Rostyslav Karandieiev, Ukraine’s acting culture minister, said at a commemoration in Kiev honoring the roughly 100 participants in the Maidan uprising killed by police.
“They were the first, but unfortunately not the last,” he added.
Around him, mourners stood in the bitter morning cold, holding bouquets of white and yellow chrysanthemums, next to marble portraits of the victims. They recited prayers, sang the Ukrainian national anthem and shouted “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!” – the slogan the country has rallied behind since Russia invaded last year.
The Maidan protests erupted on November 21, 2013, hours after Mr Yanukovych announced he was rejecting the trade deal with the European Union in favor of closer economic ties with Russia. Many Ukrainians supported the deal with Brussels, seeing it as a way to reduce Moscow’s influence and improve living standards.
The protests were initially peaceful but escalated into violence when police began firing live ammunition into crowds of demonstrators, who armed themselves with makeshift shields and batons. More than a hundred people were killed in the fighting, including a dozen police officers.
Increasingly unpopular, Mr Yanukovych fled to Russia and was removed from office by the Ukrainian parliament, a moment the country celebrated as a historic democratic victory.
But Russia viewed the protests as a Western-backed coup aimed at distancing Moscow from a country previously in its sphere of influence. Shortly afterwards, Russian forces captured Crimea and unleashed a separatist uprising in eastern Ukraine.
At the commemoration in Kiev on Tuesday, Ohla Salo, a museum worker, said: “When Maidan won, Putin understood that it would not be possible to take control of Ukraine other than by military means.”
In his video speech, Mr Zelensky made a direct link between the Maidan uprising and the current war.
“We fought and we are still fighting,” he said. “Both then in the center of the capital and now on the outskirts of Bakhmut,” he added, referring to a city in the east that saw some of the most intense battles of the war.
Tuesday’s commemorations were clearly intended to strengthen the resilience and courage of Ukrainians in the face of the Russian invasion. But those in Kiev could not hide a sense of growing fatigue as the war approaches its 21st month and progress on the battlefield has largely stalled.
“We understand that victory may not be quick,” Ms Salo said.
Ukraine’s military said on Tuesday its forces faced heavy attacks from Russian forces in the east around the cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka.
Serhii Tsekhotskyi, a Ukrainian officer who fought at Avdiivka, told national television that Russian forces had sent self-driving “kamikaze” vehicles packed with explosives into Ukrainian positions in recent days.
Moscow said on Tuesday its armed forces repelled attempts by Ukrainian forces to expand their control over a swath of land they captured on the Russian-held left bank of the Dnipro River near the southern city of Kherson. The Russian account could not be independently verified.
“It will be a long war,” said Oleksandr Krykun, a 67-year-old Ukrainian sergeant, at the memorial in Kiev.
Mr. Krykun expressed a sentiment that has been growing in Ukraine in recent weeks: that the West is not committed enough to Ukraine’s victory over Russia as the world’s attention shifts to the war in Gaza.
Asked about the US announcement on Monday of $100 million in additional military aid to Kiev – a small package compared to previous aid measures – Mr Krykun said: “It’s just coins.”
Amid fears of a possible drop in US aid, European leaders have pledged to boost their own aid to Ukraine. Billions of dollars in additional aid have been announced in recent days by Germany and the Netherlands, among others. Mr Pistorius, the German defense minister, told reporters that he had come to Kiev “primarily to pledge further support.”
The visits by European officials came ahead of a summit next month where European Union leaders plan to decide whether to open formal membership talks with Ukraine.
Mr Zelensky has pushed for his country to join the party. “Year by year, step by step, we are doing everything we can to ensure that our star shines in the circle of stars on the EU flag,” he said on Tuesday.