The Day of Dignity and Freedom is a landmark state holiday established in honor of the beginning of two revolutions: 2004 and 2013. This day is a symbol of the creation of the modern history of the state, a memorable date that honors the courage and patriotism of Ukrainians who defended their original values: freedom, democracy and Europeanness.

History

On November 21, 2013, the first protest actions of the Ukrainian public began in response to the decision of the then authorities to stop the course towards European integration and cancel the process of preparing for the signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union. The reason for such a decision was called the allegedly unaccounted for consequences of sanctions on the part of russia.

It has become obvious to Ukrainian society that the country is rapidly moving towards total authoritarianism with its disregard for basic human rights, total corruption, arbitrariness of law enforcement agencies, repression and terror. This is what forced Ukrainians to take to the streets of Kyiv first, and then to other cities of Ukraine.

In the evening of November 21, 2013, the first protests began. At first, Ukrainians organized a protest in Kyiv thanks to social networks, and later those who did not care went to the Euromaidans in Lviv, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Uzhhorod, Lutsk and other cities.

From the second half of November 22, the number of protesters began to grow, and by November 24, about one hundred thousand people had gathered on the Maidan.

On the night of November 29-30, security forces dispersed activists who had gathered on Independence Square. The use of force against the demonstrators caused an even greater wave of protests - they turned from pro-European to anti-government.

After several months of rallies and violent actions in the center of Kyiv with over a hundred killed and over 2 thousand injured, on the night of February 22, 2014, then President Yanukovych fled Ukraine. On the same day, the Verkhovna Rada supported the resolution to remove Yanukovych from the post of president. And after that, Russia's military aggression began, which was accompanied by the annexation of Crimea and the occupation of certain territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.