Ukraine's parliament votes unanimously to remove Yanukovych and install an interim government, which announces it will sign the EU agreement and votes to free Tymoshenko from prison. 22, Yanukovych flees, eventually arriving in Russia. In late February, violence between police and protesters leaves more than 100 dead in the single bloodiest week in Ukraine's post-Soviet history.Īhead of a scheduled impeachment vote on Feb. Protesters begin camping out in Kyiv's Maidan, also known as Independence Square, and occupy government buildings, including Kyiv's city hall and the justice ministry. The announcement sparks huge protests across Ukraine - the largest since the Orange Revolution - calling for Yanukovych to resign. In October, a court finds her guilty of "abuse of power" during the 2009 negotiations with Russia over the gas crisis and sentences her to seven years in prison, prompting concerns in the West that Ukrainian leaders are persecuting political opponents. Ukrainian prosecutors open criminal investigations into Tymoshenko, alleging corruption and misuse of government resources. He says Ukraine should be a "neutral state," cooperating with both Russia and Western alliances like NATO. Yanukovych is elected president in February. Much of Europe still relies on Russian gas today. Under international pressure to resolve the crisis, Tymoshenko negotiates a new deal with Putin, and gas flows resume on Jan. Because Eastern and central European countries rely on pipelines through Ukraine to receive gas imports from Russia, the gas crisis quickly spreads beyond Ukraine's borders. 1, Gazprom, the state-owned Russian gas company, suddenly stops pumping natural gas to Ukraine, following months of politically fraught negotiations over gas prices. and Russia - will "respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine."Īn employee of the state-owned Russian natural gas company Gazprom works at the central control room of the company's headquarters in Moscow on Jan. In a treaty called the Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine agrees to trade away its intercontinental ballistic missiles, warheads and other nuclear infrastructure in exchange for guarantees that the three other treaty signatories - the U.S., the U.K. NATO's secretary-general visits Kyiv, and Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk visits NATO headquarters in Brussels.Īfter the Soviet Union's collapse, Ukraine is left with the world's third-largest nuclear stockpile. 25, 1991, the day after Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union.Īs NATO allies contemplate adding central and Eastern European members for the first time, Ukraine formally establishes relations with the alliance, though it does not join. Ukrainians demonstrate in front of the Communist Party's Central Committee headquarters in Kyiv on Aug. Since the illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, many Ukrainians have turned away from Moscow and toward the West, with popular support on the rise for joining Western alliances such as NATO and the European Union. Now it faces its biggest test as Russia threatens its very existence as an independent country. Since breaking from the Soviet Union, Ukraine has wavered between the influences of Moscow and the West, surviving scandal and conflict with its democracy intact. and its European allies to head off conflict, the situation for Kyiv is the most high-stakes in the country's 30-year history. Police said the crowd swelled to around 10,000 people.Īs Russian forces begin an all-out assault on Ukraine after months of troop buildup and failed diplomatic efforts by the U.S. Protesters chanted, "No to surrender!" and some held placards critical of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 6, 2019, to protest against broader autonomy for separatist territories. Demonstrators wave Ukrainian flags as they gather in central Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, on Oct.
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