The monument to the heroes was created at the initiative of students and faculty of Drahomanov National Pedagogical University and the Junior Academy of Sciences (JAS) of Ukraine. Shaped as a Cossack cross, it has been erected in front of the main building of Drahomanov University. The solemn unveilng of the memorial sign was attended by the university’s rector Viktor Andrushchenko, President of the JAS of Ukraine Stanislav Dovhy, writer Ivan Drach, and chair of the parliamentary committee on education Lilia Hrynevych.
“We are unveiling this memorial sign for the Heroes of the Heavenly Sotnia, who were our sons and brothers, when our country is under attack and our brothers defend homeland. This sign is a symbol of our people’s eternity and immortality. We decided to erect this sign on campus, because students were the driving force behind the Revolution of Dignity,” Andrushchenko said at the opening of the monument. His Holiness Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv and All Rus’-Ukraine blessed the sign: “These young people, students, gave their lives for freedom and democracy in Ukraine. Our neighbors did not like it, as they oppose our aim to join democratic Europe. The neighboring state has committed aggression against peace-loving Ukraine. The proof of our love of peace is that Ukraine, which was the third strongest nuclear-armed power once, was the only country to renounce its nuclear weapons. Russia joined the US and the UK to guarantee our territorial integrity in return for it. This guarantor violated an international treaty and committed aggression. The best sons of Ukraine, coming from all over the country, are now giving their lives in the Donbas for the Ukrainian people, nation, language, culture, and history. They are doing it because they overcame their fear long ago, back in the Euromaidan days...”
