What started as social unrest in late 2013 due to the then-president’s decision to delay a trade agreement between Ukraine and the EU eventually erupted into massive political demonstrations backed by the US and the EU calling for closer ties with Europe.
Amid the bloody developments in the streets of Kiev, political upheaval was brewing in Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada parliament. Radicals soon declared the government as illegitimate, thus resulting in putschists seizing power in direct violation of Ukraine’s Constitution.
The protests quickly grew increasingly violent and ultimately led to full-fledged armed clashes with Ukrainian law enforcement. Pressured by the opposition, President Viktor Yanukovych fled Ukraine, effectively abandoning the country amid a profound crisis.
The new Kiev government took political measures infringing on the rights of Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine. This prompted people in Eastern Ukraine to take to the streets to oppose the new authorities.
The deep social and political rift within the Ukrainian society sparked the beginning of the ongoing Ukrainian crisis.