Ihor Ihorovych Kostenko (, ; 31 December 1991 – 20 February 2014) was a Ukrainian journalist, student activist and Wikipedian killed during the

Euromaidan Euromaidan ( ; , , ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. The p ...

events.

Biography

Ihor Ihorovych Kostenko was born in Zubrets,

Ternopil Oblast Ternopil Oblast (), also referred to as Ternopilshchyna () or Ternopillia (), is an Oblasts of Ukraine, oblast (province) of Ukraine. Its Capital (political), administrative center is Ternopil, through which flows the Seret (river), Seret, a tribu ...

, Ukraine. He was raised by his grandparents, as his parents worked primarily in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. As a child he attended Saint Josaphat Buchatskiy, a Ukrainian Catholic

parochial school A parochial school is a private school, private Primary school, primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathem ...

in Buchach. He had one sister, Inna. Kostenko received his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in 2013 and was a first-year graduate student in geography at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, in

Western Ukraine Western Ukraine or West Ukraine (, ) refers to the western territories of Ukraine. There is no universally accepted definition of the territory's boundaries, but the contemporary Ukrainian administrative regions ( oblasts) of Chernivtsi, I ...

. His thesis was the development of the tourism industry in Buchach. He also worked as a journalist for the online edition of the sports website ''Sportanalitika'' (''Sport Analytics''). He was also a regular contributor to the Ukrainian Wikipedia under the nickname Ig2000, creating more than 280 articles on aviation, economics, football and other subjects. Kostenko's article on the Soviet destroyer ''Nezamozhnik'' was recognised with the "Good Article" rating.

Death

Kostenko went to Kyiv on 18 February 2014 to take part in the

demonstrations, the pro-Western movement that broke out after Ukraine's government refused to ratify its earlier decision to join the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

(EU). He joined other friends from Lviv in building barricades to protect the protesters. The confrontation between protesters and police worsened in the late hours of 19 February 2014, and snipers began shooting at demonstrators. On 20 February 2014, Kostenko's body was found on the street, near the October Palace. He had gunshot wounds to the head and heart, and multiple fractures to his legs. The day after his death, Kostenko's friend Yuriy Muryn recalled his last communications with Kostenko. "He just called me yesterday and I didn't hear it ring. I called him back today and he didn't answer. I just can't comprehend it," Muryn said. "And during the first riots on Hrushevskoho he sent me his girlfriend's phone number, saying: 'Tell her that I love her, if something happens.' I thought he was joking, but when riots broke out again, he asked: 'Do you remember about my request?'" On 22 February 2014, a procession of hundreds of people followed his hearse taking Kostenko from Kyiv to Lviv for his funeral. More than 500 mourners held a candlelight vigil in Ternopil. Kostenko and six other victims from Euromaidan were mourned on 23 February at the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lviv.

Legacy

On 21 November 2014, together with the other activists killed during Euromaidan, Kostenko was posthumously awarded the title "

Hero of Ukraine A Hero of Ukraine (HOU; ) is the highest national decoration that can be conferred upon an individual citizen by the president of Ukraine. The decoration was created in 1998 by President Leonid Kuchma. As of 6 June 2025, the total number of re ...

," the highest national award a Ukrainian citizen can earn. Kostenko was also named 2014 Wikipedian of the Year. Wikipedia founder

Jimmy Wales Jimmy Donal Wales (born August 7, 1966), also known as Jimbo Wales, is an American List of Internet entrepreneurs, Internet entrepreneur and former Trader (finance), financial trader. He is a Founders of Wikipedia, co-founder of the non-profi ...

announced the award during the 2014 Wikimania Conference in August in London. Wales presented the award to Kostenko's sister, Inna, in September in Kyiv. The magazine of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine posthumously named Kostenko "Student of the Year." The auditorium at Lviv University was renamed the "Ihor Kostenko Memorial Auditorium" in his honour. An additional plaque was installed at his high school, Saint Josaphat Buchatskiy. File:Квіти Ігорю Костенку.JPG, Flowers, photos and candles left on Instytutska Street where he was found File:Похорон Ігоря Костенка.JPG, Funeral procession for Ihor Kostenko in Lviv File:Похорон Ігора Костенка.JPG, Crowd at the church for his funeral File:Zubrets-mogyla-Kostenka-Igoria-8634.jpg, Ihor Kostenko's grave at the cemetery File:Zubrets-tryzub-u-poli-8647.jpg, Ukrainian

Trident A trident (), () is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. As compared to an ordinary spear, the three tines increase the chance that a fish will be struck and decrease the chance that a fish will b ...

planted in honor of Kostenko and Vasyl Moisei in

Ternopil Ternopil, known until 1944 mostly as Tarnopol, is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical regions of Galicia and Podolia. The populatio ...

File:Kostenko Igor Memory.JPG, Plaque commemorating Kostenko at the University of Lviv File:Wikimania 2014 closing ceremony10.jpg,

announces Kostenko as Wikipedian of the Year at

Wikimania Wikimania is the Wikimedia movement's annual conference, organized by Wikimedian, volunteers and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. Topics of presentations and discussions include Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia, other wikis, open-source ...

References

External links

"Wikipedian of the Year" awarded in Kyiv

News report on funerals of Kostenko and Vasyl Moisei

Kostenko's profile on the "Heavenly Hundred" Memorial
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kostenko, Ihor 1991 births 2014 deaths Assassinated activists Recipients of the title of Hero of Ukraine Ukrainian democracy activists Assassinated Ukrainian journalists Wikipedia people Wikimedians of the Year Ukrainian Wikimedians Recipients of the Order of Gold Star (Ukraine)

Biography

Death

Legacy

See also

References

External links