Belarusian-born Maidan defender posthumously granted Hero of Ukraine


President Petro Poroshenko awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine to Mikhail Zhyzneuski, a Belarusian citizen killed in the Revolution of Dignity.

The Ukrainian leader presented to Zhyzneuski’s parents on June, 13.

“Mikhail is not a foreigner for is. We believe he has a Ukrainian soul. I am proud that your son – great Belarusian and great Ukrainian – has joined today the glorious group of Ukrainians with the title of Hero of Ukraine,” Petro Poroshenko said.

In April, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved a law under which foreigners – heroes of the heavenly Hundred – may be awarded the highest national title. 235 deputies were in favor of adopting the law, no one voted nay or abstained..

Mikhail ‘Loki’ Zhyzneuski, a Belarusian-born defender of Maidan, was one of the first killed in January 2014 in the course of the protests in Kyiv. Mikhail Zhyzneuski left Belarus in 2005. He lived in the town of Bila Tserkva near Kyiv. He was shot dead on the morning of January 22 in Hrushevskoho Street. Zhyzneuski was an activist of Ukrainian organisation UNA-UNSO (The Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People’s Self-Defense). He was buried near the village of Znamya Pracy (Flag of Labour), Homiel region. He was posthumously awarded with Order of Heroes of Heavenly Hundred.

belsat.eu

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