A Georgian citizen, Dato Kipiani, is among dozens of people killed in clashes in the center of Kiev.
 
Kipiani, 33, had lived in Kiev for past one year and was a Euromaidan activist, according to his relatives in Tbilisi.

A Tbilisi-based group, Free Zone, whose activists have been participating in protests in Kiev since anti-government demonstration began three months ago, said that Dato Kipiani died of gunshot wounds on Khreshchatyk Street last night. The same group, which is affiliated to the UNM opposition party, was reporting in December, 2013 that Kipiani and another Free Zone activist were attacked and beaten by the police in Kiev.

Georgian Foreign Minister, Maia Panjikidze, said on February 21 that a Georgian consul in Ukraine was not yet able to verify precise cause of the Georgian citizen’s death. “I hope that… we will be able to learn details about [causes] of death,” she said.

Georgia’s ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili, who formally remains chairman of UNM opposition party, said in his Facebook post that Davit Kipiani was UNM member. He wrote: “Dato was fighting for Ukraine, therefore for Georgia, for Ukraine and Georgia hence for freedom.”  

Meanwhile, a body of another Georgian citizen, Zurab Khurtsia, who died in the center of Kiev on February 18, when clashes renewed between protesters and police, was flown back to Georgia last night. His death was caused apparently by heart problems, according to officials and his relatives.