Two Georgians posthumously awarded in Ukraine for their Euromaidan efforts

Two Georgian citizens who died during the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine at the beginning of this year have been awarded orders of heroes.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko awarded the Orders of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred to three foreigners - Georgia's Zurab Khurtsia and David Kipiani and Belarus citizen Mikhail Zhyznevskyi – who all died in the course of the Revolution of Dignity.

Respective document was signed by Poroshenko at a meeting with the parents of Zhyznevskyi yesterday.

The Order of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes is an order of Ukraine presented for civil courage, patriotism and defending constitutional principles of democracy, human rights and freedoms, active charitable, humanitarian, social activities during the Euromaidan-protests.

The order was established on July 1, 2014 when the Verkhovna Rada (the parliament of Ukraine) adopted a law on amendments to Article 7 of the Law of Ukraine "On National Awards of Ukraine”.

The name "Heavenly Hundred" refers to the Euromaidan participants killed during Euromaidan.

Kurtsia, 53, and Kipiani, 33, were among several Georgians who died in Ukraine when they supported the Ukrainian people protest against Russian violence.

Euromaidan was a wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which led to the 2014 Ukrainian revolution.