‘Warrior Of Light’ Mikhail Zhyzneuski Commemorated Today

Four years ago, the Belarusian Heavenly Hundred hero made his way into history.

The Heavenly Hundred Remembrance Day is marked in Ukraine today. Four years ago, Belarusian Mikhail Zhyzneuski and Armenian Sergey Nigonyan died during the violent dispersal of the peaceful protest by the law-enforcers, belsat.eu writes.

A sniper’s bullet stopped the Belaruisan’s life on January 22, 2014. Mikhail Zhyzneuski didn’t live 4 days to mark his 26th birthday. He became the second victim, killed at the Euromaidan in Kyiv.

On November 21, 2013, the then president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych decided to establish closer ties with Russia and announced the refusal to sign a trade agreement with the European Union. This decision caused massive social protests. The Independence Square in Kyiv became the main platform for the struggle of demonstrators and law-enforcers.

Last year, Petro Poroshenko posthumously awarded Mikhail Zhyzneuski with the Order of Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred, and in February 2016 the Ukrainian government appointed a lifelong scholarship to his parents.

A memorial to Mikhail Zhyzneuski was opened in the Hrushevski Street in Kyiv in November 2014. In Belarus, his grave was repeatedly subjected to the acts of vandalism.