Soon, Twitter exploded with expressions of sorrow and rage, as many users feared she was dead. As of Friday night, Zhukovska's post has generated more than 6,200 retweets. After hours of agonized waiting Thursday night, Oleh Musiy, a top medic for the protesters, told AP that Zhukovska had survived. Mykola Dyomin, head doctor at Hospital No. 17, where Zhukovska was admitted, said she has undergone surgery and should be discharged in about a week.
"I am alive! Thank you to all those who are praying and supporting me," she tweeted Friday. "I am in the hospital; my condition is stable for now!"
Health Minister Raisa Bohatyryova, a top Yanukovych ally, visited the hospital where Zhukovska and scores of other injured activists were being treated Friday. She condemned violence against Zhukovska and said the government was not to blame.
"Everything should be investigated," she told reporters. "But if today, we as society, start assigning grades to everyone or passing personal judgments, it would be wrong, it wouldn't be safe."
Bohatyryova's words fell flat with one protester at the hospital, who shouted at her with his voice trembling with rage: "If only you knew, bitch, what I have lived through! I will never forgive you for what you did."
Zhukovska's spirit was unwavering.
"As soon as I get better, of course, I will go to the Maidan," she said.
