A reminder that today marks one year since the first Euromaidan protesters were killed in clashes with Ukrainian police. The first person to die was ethnic Armenian Serzh Nihoyan:

"He loved history, both Armenian and Ukrainian," said his mother, Venera, saying that he remembered to light a candle every December 7 in memory of Armenia's devastating Spitak earthquake in 1988. "That's the kind of guy he was. He had never been to Armenia. But he dreamed of getting a passport and getting to travel there."

The next to die, later the same day, was Belarusian Mikhail Zhyzneuski:

Zhyzneuski, who was in his late 20s, reportedly died of a gunshot wound to the heart. Since moving to Ukraine, he had become a member of UNA-UNSO, a sometimes controversial Ukrainian nationalist organization that is militantly opposed to Russian influence.

Here's the story from our archive:

Ukrainian In Spirit, If Not Name: Euromaidan's First Victims

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