{"id":1369671,"date":"2026-03-14T20:01:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T18:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/the-ukrainian-trail-in-the-assassination-attempt-on-the-tsar-why-kybalchych-and-perovska-deserve-the-title-of-hero-of-ukraine\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T20:01:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T18:01:13","slug":"the-ukrainian-trail-in-the-assassination-attempt-on-the-tsar-why-kybalchych-and-perovska-deserve-the-title-of-hero-of-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/the-ukrainian-trail-in-the-assassination-attempt-on-the-tsar-why-kybalchych-and-perovska-deserve-the-title-of-hero-of-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ukrainian trail in the assassination attempt on the Tsar: why Kybalchych and Perovska deserve the title of Hero of Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

On March 13, 1881, one of the most high-profile political assassinations of the 19th century was carried out in St. Petersburg – the Russian Emperor Alexander II was assassinated. The very ruler whom Russian historiography tries to present as the “liberator of the peasants,” but who at the same time became one of the symbols of the imperial policy of suppressing Ukrainian culture.<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the reign of Alexander II in 1876, the infamous Ems Decree was introduced – one of the harshest acts of the Russification policy of the Russian Empire.<\/p>\n

This decree effectively banned the use of the Ukrainian language in public spaces: the printing of Ukrainian books, the staging of theatrical performances in Ukrainian, the publication of Ukrainian lyrics for musical works, and the import of Ukrainian publications from abroad. The Ems Decree was an attempt to systematically destroy Ukrainian culture and national identity.<\/p>\n

Five years later, on March 13, 1881, members of the revolutionary organization “Narodna Volya” attempted to assassinate the Russian emperor. After the first explosion, which damaged the carriage, Alexander II got out of it to inspect the scene. It was at this moment that a second bomber threw explosives directly at the emperor’s feet. The explosion was fatal for both the tsar himself and the assassin.<\/p>\n

The direct perpetrator of the assassination was Ignatiy Hrynevytsky, a young nobleman of Belarusian-Polish origin. At the same time, people closely connected with Ukrainian history played an important role in this operation.<\/p>\n

The bomb for the attack was made by Mykola Kybalchych, the son of a Ukrainian priest from the town of Korop in the Chernihiv region. An extremely talented engineer and inventor, he even worked on a jet aircraft project while on death row. His ideas later entered the history of world cosmonautics.<\/p>\n

The operation to eliminate the emperor was led by Sofia Perovskaya, the great-great-granddaughter of the last hetman of Left-Bank Ukraine, Kyrylo Rozumovsky. She was a representative of the Starshyn family, which is directly connected with the traditions of Ukrainian statehood and the struggle for the autonomy of the Hetmanate.<\/p>\n

The history of the Ukrainian people is a history of centuries-old struggle for freedom, dignity and the right to their own culture. For centuries, Ukrainians were forced to resist imperial policies aimed at the destruction of their language, history and identity. The Ems Decree became one of the symbols of this struggle – a symbol of an attempt to silence Ukrainians. But at the same time, it showed that even in the harshest times there were people who were ready to challenge the empire.<\/p>\n

Given the historical role of these figures and their connection with Ukrainian history, I am addressing the Office of the President of Ukraine with a request to posthumously award the title of Hero of Ukraine to Mykola Kybalchych and Sofia Perovska – as people whose activities became part of the struggle against the Russian autocracy, which systematically suppressed Ukrainian culture and national identity.<\/p>\n

Today, as Ukraine once again wages a war for its freedom against Russian aggression, rethinking the history of the struggle against empire takes on special significance. The memory of those who stood up against tyranny and autocracy is an important part of the formation of national historical consciousness.<\/p>\n

And finally. Conferring the title of Hero of Ukraine on Mykola Kybalchych and Sofia Perovska will not only be a worthy tribute to their memory and historical role, but also a symbolic reminder that the struggle of Ukrainians for freedom has deep historical roots.<\/p>\n

This will also be a signal to Russian society and the political elite that Ukrainians have never accepted imperial enslavement. And that history has repeatedly demonstrated: even the highest officials of a state that pursues a policy of suppressing other peoples cannot feel impunity before those who fight for their freedom.<\/p>\n

Also follow \u201cPryamim\u201d<\/strong> on Facebook<\/a> , X<\/a> , Telegram<\/a> , and Instagram.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On March 13, 1881, one of the most high-profile political assassinations of the 19th century was carried out in St. Petersburg – the Russian Emperor Alexander II was assassinated. The very ruler whom Russian historiography tries to present as the “liberator of the peasants,” but who at the same time became one of the symbols […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":1369666,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76871,76872,76893],"class_list":["post-1369671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2","category-news-feed","category-thoughts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1369671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1369671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1369671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1369666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1369671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1369671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}