The Euromaidan protests began in central Kiev on the night of November 21, 2013 and climaxed in a wave of violent clashes between government forces and protesters on February 20, 2014. This narrative overview is presented as a visual demonstration of the major protest events of February 20th, 2014. Not all protestor deaths and movements taking place that day can be vetted and mapped. The information shown here is based on data made available to SITU by the Ukrainian legal team.
On the final day of the Euromaidan protests (February 20, 2014), 49 civilians died from gunshot wounds. The known locations of 45 of the civilian deaths are mapped here.
Most of the civilian deaths occurred along Instytutska Street, in front of the October Palace and near the Ukraine Hotel between 08:00 and 16:30.
Up until 09:00, police were stationed at the Independence Monument blocking the entrance to Instytutska Street and occupying Zhovtnevy Palace and nearby areas. At that time, protesters were still positioned at Maidan Square.
Both police and protesters were engaged in localized clashes. Gunshot wounds were sustained by police officers near the October Palace, water cannons were being used against groups of protesters along Instytutska Street, and there were stones and Molotov cocktails being thrown from both sides.
At approximately 08:50, militsiya (law enforcement officers) began relocating. They started to move en masse up Instytutska Street, away from Zhovtnevy Palace. Groups of militsiya ultimately established themselves along a barricade, (referred to here as Militsiya Barricade 1), located in front of the Metro Kreshchatyk. By 09:20, only Berkut units were located at Militsiya Barricade 1. Other law enforcement units had moved farther inside the government quarter.
Discrete groups of protesters began moving towards Militsiya Barricade 1, travelling up Instytutska Street along the southern side and towards Zhovtnevy Palace along the stairway, up the hill, and along the pedestrian bridge. From 9:00 to 9:21, 12 civilian protester were killed.
Between 09:21 and 09:30, 11 protesters were killed as they were advancing toward Militsiya Barricade 1. The known locations of those protester deaths are mapped here.
Starting at approximately 09:28 militsiya began relocating from Militsiya Barricade 1 to a barricade located further up Instytutska Street (referred to here as Militsiya Barricade 2) consisting of three parked vehicles and a low wall. By 09:31, all law enforcement officers present were located behind Militsiya Barricade 2. Security camera footage shows the last officer in a black uniform running behind Barricade 2 at 9:30:30. During this time, groups of protesters began moving closer to Militsiya Barricade 1.
Between 09:41 and 10:31, 19 protesters were killed as they tried to advance upon the police. After 10:31, 2 more protestors were killed.
Hundreds of videos taken throughout the day documented the events that took place.
The following section focuses on events surrounding the deaths of three protesters’. This section contains video documentation, digital reconstruction, and spatial analysis related to each death.
These digital reconstructions were produced by integrating evidence seen in video footage with a high resolution point cloud data set and 3D model.
The model is useful in situating other forms of visual evidence accurately and in enhancing understanding and analysis of events that took place in three dimensions.