February 2014 Maidan Revolution

The Revolution of Dignity ( uk, Революція гідності, translit=Revoliutsiia hidnosti) also known as the Maidan Revolution or the Ukrainian Revolution,Ukraine profile - Timeline
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CNN (3 February 2017) at the end of the Euromaidan protests, when deadly clashes between protesters and the security forces in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv culminated in the ousting of elected President Viktor Yanukovych, the overthrow of the Ukrainian government, and the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War.

In November 2013, a wave of large-scale protests (known as Euromaidan) erupted in response to President Yanukovych's sudden decision not to sign a political association and free trade agreement with the European Union (EU), instead choosing closer ties to Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union. In February of that year, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) had overwhelmingly approved finalizing the agreement with the EU. Russia had put pressure on Ukraine to reject it. These protests continued for months; their scope widened, with calls for the resignation of Yanukovych and the Azarov Government.Kiev protesters gather, EU and Putin joust
Reuters (12 December 2013) Protesters opposed what they saw as widespread government corruption and abuse of power, the influence of oligarchs, police brutality, and violation of human rights in Ukraine.Yanukovych Offers Opposition Leaders Key Posts
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (25 January 2014) Repressive anti-protest laws fuelled further anger. A large, barricaded protest camp occupied Independence Square in central Kyiv throughout the 'Maidan Uprising'.

In January and February 2014, clashes in Kyiv between protesters and Berkut special riot police resulted in the deaths of 108 protesters and 13 police officers, and the wounding of many others. The first protesters were killed in fierce clashes with police on Hrushevskoho Street on 19–22 January. Following this, protesters occupied government buildings throughout the country. The deadliest clashes were on 18–20 February, which saw the most severe violence in Ukraine since it regained independence. Thousands of protesters advanced towards parliament, led by activists with shields and helmets, and were fired on by police snipers. On 21 February, an agreement between President Yanukovych and the leaders of the parliamentary opposition was signed that called for the formation of an interim unity government, constitutional reforms and early elections. The following day, police withdrew from central Kyiv, which came under effective control of the protesters. Yanukovych fled the city. That day, the Ukrainian parliament voted to remove Yanukovych from office by 328 to 0 (72.8% of the parliament's 450 members).

Yanukovych alleged that this vote was illegal and possibly coerced, and asked Russia for help. Russia considered the overthrow of Yanukovych to be an illegal coup, and did not recognize the interim government. Immediately after, the Russo-Ukrainian War erupted, with a Russian military intervention, the annexation of Crimea by Russia, and the eruption of pro-Russian unrest throughout Ukraine, especially in the southern and eastern regions of the country. During the pro-Russian unrest, widespread protests, both for and against the revolution, occurred in eastern and southern Ukraine, where Yanukovych previously received strong support in the 2010 presidential election. “Pro-Maidan” and “Anti-Maidan” rallies soon clashed with each other and escalated into violence such as the 2014 Odesa clashes, with the violence at its worst in the Russian-speaking Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists seized control of government buildings and proclaimed the creation of self-proclaimed breakaway states in Donetsk and Luhansk, sparking the Donbas War (forming part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian War). Eventually, by 2022, the Russo-Ukrainian War culminated with Russia initiating a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The interim government, led by Arseniy Yatsenyuk, signed the EU association agreement and disbanded the Berkut. Petro Poroshenko became president after a victory in the 2014 presidential elections (54.7% of the votes cast in the first round). The new government restored the 2004 amendments to the Ukrainian constitution that had been controversially repealed as unconstitutional in 2010, and initiated a removal of civil servants associated with the overthrown regime. There was also a widespread decommunization of the country.

Prelude

Successive Ukrainian governments in the 2000s sought a closer relationship with the European Union (EU). The government of president Viktor Yanukovych had been negotiating an association agreement with the European Union since 2012. Such comprehensive trade agreement with the EU would have impacted Ukraine's trade agreements with Russia, the latter being Ukraine's biggest trade partner at the time. Yanukovych believed that the complications could be addressed, and he said that he intended to enter the agreement, but continued to postpone. This was interpreted as an attempt to back out of signing this agreement, and led to a wave of protests which came to be known as the "Euromaidan" movement.

Protests originally erupted in November 2013 after Yanukovych refused to sign the association agreement with the EU at a meeting of the Eastern Partnership in Vilnius, Lithuania, choosing closer ties with Russia instead. Prime Minister Mykola Azarov had asked for €20 billion (US$27 billion) in loans and aid. The EU was willing to offer €610 million ($838 million) in loans, but Russia was willing to offer $15 billion, as well as cheaper gas prices. In addition, the EU demanded major changes to Ukraine's regulations and laws, but Russia did not stipulate regulatory or legal adjustment of such nature or scale. Russia also applied economic pressure on Ukraine and launched a propaganda campaign against the EU deal.

Yanukovych was widely disliked in Ukraine's west but had some support in the east, where his native Russian is much more spoken, and in the south. The rallies were initially peaceful but became violent in January 2014 after parliament, dominated by Yanukovych's supporters, passed laws intended to repress the protests. The European Union and the United States urged Yanukovych to negotiate a peaceful end to the conflict and said they would impose sanctions on government officials if they were found responsible for violence.

In the lead-up to the February revolution an amnesty agreement was made with protesters wherein they would be spared criminal charges in exchange for leaving occupied buildings. The demonstrators vacated all occupied Regional State Administration buildings, and activists in Kyiv left the Hrushevskoho Street standoff; Kyiv's City Hall was also released back to government control on 16 February. All those previously jailed for taking part in protests were scheduled to be released after 17 February.

On 14 February, Yanukovych had said: "I want to say that I was incited, and I'm incited to use various methods and ways how to settle the situation, but I want to say I don't want to be at war. I don't want any decisions made using such a radical way." He called on all politicians to refrain from radicalism and to understand that "there is a line that shouldn't be crossed, and this line is law".

Overview

The protests that began on the night of 21 November 2013 with public protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv were still ongoing by mid-February 2014. The protests were sparked by the Ukrainian government's decision to suspend the signing of an association agreement with the European Union (EU).

A period of relative calm in the anti-government demonstrations in Kyiv ended abruptly on 18 February 2014, when protesters and police clashed. At least 82 people were killed over the next few days, including 13 policemen; more than 1,100 people were injured.

On 18 February, some 20,000 Euromaidan protesters advanced on the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) in support of restoring the Constitution of Ukraine to its 2004 form, which had been repealed by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine shortly after Yanukovych was elected president in 2010. The police blocked their path. The confrontation turned violent; the BBC, citing correspondents, reported that each side blamed the other. The police fired guns with both rubber bullets and, later, live ammunition (including automatic weapons and sniper rifles), while also using tear gas and flash grenades in an attempt to repel thousands of demonstrators. The protesters fought with crude weapons (such as large rocks and bats), firearms, and improvised explosives ( Molotov cocktails), and broke into the headquarters of the Party of Regions. Police officers stormed the main protest camp on Maidan Nezalezhnosti and overran parts of the square. The Trade Unions Building, which served as the Euromaidan headquarters, was burned down. Political commentators suggested that Ukraine was on the brink of a civil war. Some areas, including Lviv Oblast, declared themselves politically independent of the central government.

Starting on 18 February Euromaidan activists occupied regional state administration (RSA) buildings in several oblasts (regions).

On 19 February, the authorities instituted police checkpoints, restrictions on public transportation, and school closures in Kyiv, which the media referred to as a ''de facto'' state of emergency.

On 20 February, Internal Affairs Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko announced that he had signed a decree authorising the use of live ammunition against protesters.Zakharchenko officially allowed firearms to the security forces
TSN(20 February 2014) Central Kyiv saw the worst violence yet, and the death toll in 48 hours of clashes rose to at least 77.Ukraine protests timeline
BBC, 23 February 2014 In response, the chairman of the Ukrainian parliament (equivalent to the office of speaker in other countries' parliaments), Volodymyr Rybak, announced the next day that he had signed a parliamentary decree condemning the use of force and urging all institutions (the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Cabinet of Ministers, etc.) to cease immediately all military actions against protesters. Parliament also suspended Zakharchenko from his duties.

On 21 February, President Yanukovych signed a compromise deal with opposition leaders. It promised constitutional changes to restore certain powers to parliament and called for early elections to be held by December.

Despite the agreement, thousands continued to protest in central Kyiv, and the demonstrators took full control of the city's government district: the parliament building, the president's administration quarters, the cabinet, and the Interior Ministry. On 21 February, a bill to remove Yanukovych was introduced in parliament. On the same day, Yanukovych left for Kharkiv