On November 5, 1968, he committed suicide by self-immolation on Khreshchatyk, Kyiv's main street, in protest against the Soviet rule of Ukraine, against russification as well as the Soviet invasion in Czechoslovakia. Before his death, Makukh shouted 'Long live free Ukraine!' On 6 November 1968 the prosecutor's office of the Leninsky District of Kyiv city opened a criminal case against him because of the suicide, the outcome of which was never made known.