Revolution of Dignity#Removal of Yanukovych

File:Anti-government protests in Kiev (13087651675).jpg protesters in Kyiv, December 2013]]{{Main|Euromaidan}}

Successive Ukrainian governments in the 2000s sought a closer relationship with the European Union (EU).{{Cite web|url=http://www.eeas.europa.eu/statements/docs/2014/140612_01_en.pdf|title=Frequently asked questions about Ukraine, the EU's Eastern Partnership and the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement|date=24 April 2015|publisher=European Union External Action|access-date=6 May 2015}}{{cite news|url=https://money.cnn.com/2014/03/12/news/economy/ukraine-europe-soros/|title=Soros: Ukraine needs EU Marshall Plan|last=Thompson|first=Mark|date=12 March 2014|access-date=24 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140316224454/https://money.cnn.com/2014/03/12/news/economy/ukraine-europe-soros/|archive-date=16 March 2014|url-status=live|department=CNN Money}} The government of President Viktor Yanukovych had been negotiating an association agreement with the European Union since 2012.{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-02-27/the-new-great-game-why-ukraine-matters-to-so-many-other-nations|title=The New Great Game: Why Ukraine Matters to So Many Other Nations|last1=Coy|first1=Peter|date=27 February 2014|work=Bloomberg BusinessWeek|access-date=23 March 2014|last2=Matlack|first2=Carol|last3=Meyer|first3=Henry}} Such a 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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.worldstopexports.com/ukraines-top-15-import-partners/|title=Ukraine's Top Trading Partners|last=Workman|first=Daniel|date=24 April 2019|website=World's Top Exports|access-date=3 July 2019}} Yanukovych believed that the complications could be addressed, and he said that he intended to enter the agreement,{{Cite web|url=https://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/eu-ukraine-relations/eu-to-ukraine-reforms-necessary-for-trade-pact-320910.html|title=EU to Ukraine: Reforms necessary for trade pact – Feb. 25, 2013|date=25 February 2013|website=KyivPost|access-date=17 November 2019}} but continued to postpone.{{cite news|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2013/12/15/suspends-trade-deal-talks-with-ukraine/gzOIK9J1kFp2wMKw0IblVI/story.html|title=EU suspends trade deal talks with Ukraine|last=Kramer|first=Andrew|date=15 December 2013|newspaper=The Boston Globe|access-date=27 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328062255/http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2013/12/15/suspends-trade-deal-talks-with-ukraine/gzOIK9J1kFp2wMKw0IblVI/story.html|archive-date=28 March 2014|url-status=live}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-26248275|title=Ukraine crisis: Timeline|date=13 November 2014|work=BBC News}}

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.{{cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/id/101265041|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215212348/https://www.cnbc.com/id/101265041|archive-date=15 December 2013 |title=EU talking to IMF, World Bank, others about Ukraine assistance |publisher=CNBC |date=11 December 2013 |access-date=12 March 2014}} The EU was willing to offer €610 million ($838 million) in loans,{{cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2013/12/17/ukraine-leader-seeks-cash-at-kremlin-to-fend-off-crisis.html |title=Ukraine leader seeks cash at Kremlin to fend off crisis |publisher=CNBC |date=17 December 2013 |access-date=12 March 2014}} 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.{{cite web | author1=Olga Onuch | author2=Nadiya Kravets | title=Russia's shifting role in Ukraine crisis | website=Al Jazeera | date=2014-03-02 | url=https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/3/2/russias-shifting-role-in-ukraine-crisis/}}

Yanukovych's decision meant the country was turning towards the Russia-proposed Eurasian Economic Union, which was more popular in Ukraine's East. Western-oriented Ukrainians went to the Maidan square to protest against the turn.{{Cite book |last1=Arel |first1=Dominique |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7dWgEAAAQBAJ&dq=In+Ukraine,+the+proposed+Economic+Union+was+more+popular+in+the+East+than+the+West&pg=PA13 |title=Ukraine's Unnamed War: Before the Russian Invasion of 2022 |last2=Driscoll |first2=Jesse |date=2023-01-05 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-316-51149-7 |pages=13 }} 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.{{cite news|url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_UKRAINE_NEWS_GUIDE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221000303/http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_UKRAINE_NEWS_GUIDE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT |title=Roots and Consequence's of Ukraine's Violence |author=Vladmir Isachenkov and Maria Danilova |agency=Associated Press |date=20 February 2014 |access-date=20 February 2014 |archive-date=21 February 2014 }}

In mid-February, an amnesty agreement was made with protesters under which they would be spared criminal charges in exchange for leaving occupied buildings.{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/190357.html |title=Law on amnesty of Ukrainian protesters to take effect on Feb 17 |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=17 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221071618/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/190357.html |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live}} 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 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".{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/190290.html |title=Yanukovych: I don't want to be at war, my goal is to restore stable development of country |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=15 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/190290.html |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }}

File:Euromaidan 9 February 2.jpg

File:Euromaidan 19 January 3.jpg

The protests that began on the night of 21 November 2013 in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv were still ongoing by mid-February 2014.

A period of relative calm in the anti-government demonstrations in Kyiv ended abruptly on 18 February 2014, when deadly clashes broke out between protesters and riot police (known as the Berkut militsiya). At least 82 people were killed over the next two days, including 13 policemen. More than 1,100 people were injured.{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/ukraine-violence-leaves-dead/story?id=22566049 |title=Ukraine Violence Leaves at Least 25 Dead |first=Kirit |last=Radia |date=18 February 2014 |website=ABC News |access-date=1 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180715181350/https://abcnews.go.com/International/ukraine-violence-leaves-dead/story?id=22566049 |archive-date=15 July 2018 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/30/exclusive-photographs-expose-russian-trained-killers-in-kiev.html |title=Exclusive: Photographs Expose Russian-Trained Killers in Kiev |first=Jamie |last=Dettmer |date=30 March 2014 |newspaper=The Daily Beast |access-date=1 March 2019}}

On 18 February, some 20,000 Maidan protesters marched from Independence Square towards the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) in support of restoring the 2004 Constitution, which had been repealed by the Constitutional Court after Yanukovych was elected president. The Berkut blocked their path. The confrontation turned violent. BBC correspondents reported that each side blamed the other. The security forces fired guns, including automatic weapons and sniper rifles, loaded with both rubber bullets and, later, live ammunition, while also using tear gas and flash grenades to repel thousands of demonstrators. The protesters fought with rocks and bats, Molotov cocktails, and firearms, and broke into Party of Regions headquarters. Eleven protesters were killed or fatally wounded; three were shot dead by police, eight died of other injuries. Four police officers were also shot and killed.{{cite web |title=Accountability for Killings and Violent Deaths during the Maidan protests |url=https://ukraine.un.org/sites/default/files/2021-01/Briefing%20note%20on%20Maidan%20investigations%20ENG%20final.pdf |publisher=United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine |date=January 2021}}

On the evening on 18 February and into the early hours of 19 February, the security forces launched an operation to clear Independence Square, and stormed the main protest camp.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26249330 |title=Ukraine police storm main Kiev protest camp |work=BBC News |date=18 February 2014 |access-date=18 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26249330 |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }} Clashes broke out, resulting in the deaths of seventeen protesters and five riot police. Most of the protesters were shot dead by police. Two others died when riot police set the Trade Unions Building on fire, which served as the Maidan headquarters. Another protester and a journalist were killed by titushky (government loyalists). The five police officers died from gunshot wounds. Political commentators suggested that Ukraine was on the brink of a civil war.{{cite news|last=Matthews |first=Owen |title=Ukraine: Heading for Civil War |url=http://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-heading-civil-war-229494 |access-date=20 February 2014 |newspaper=Newsweek |date=19 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220055425/http://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-heading-civil-war-229494 |archive-date=20 February 2014 |url-status=live }} Some areas, including Lviv Oblast, declared themselves politically independent of the central government.{{cite web

|author=Gianluca Mezzofiore

|url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ukraine-facing-civil-war-lviv-declares-independence-yanukovich-rule-1437092

|title=Ukraine Facing Civil War: Lviv Declares Independence from Yanukovich Rule

|work=International Business Times

|access-date=21 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ukraine-facing-civil-war-lviv-declares-independence-yanukovich-rule-1437092

|archive-date=1 December 2008

|url-status=live

|date=19 February 2014

}}

In protest at the deaths of civilians, Maidan activists began occupying regional state administration (RSA) buildings.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25905031 |title=Ukraine protests 'spread' into Russia-influenced east |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140127021816/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25905031 |archive-date=27 January 2014 |url-status=live |work=BBC News |date=26 January 2014 }}

On 19 February, the security forces set up checkpoints and announced restrictions on public transport and school closures in Kyiv, which the media referred to as a de facto state of emergency.{{cite news|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/18/7014488/ |title=The authorities de facto introduce a state of emergency |newspaper=Ukrainska Pravda |date=18 February 2014 |archive-date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220235927/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/18/7014488/ |url-status=live }}

On 20 February, Internal Affairs Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko announced that he had authorised the use of live ammunition against protesters.{{cite web | title=Захарченко офіційно дозволив силовикам вогнепальну зброю |trans-title=Zakharchenko officially allowed firearms to the security forces| website=ТСН.ua | date=2014-02-20 | url=https://tsn.ua/video/video-novini/zaharchenko-oficiyno-dozvoliv-silovikam-vognepalnu-zbroyu.html | language=uk}} On the morning of 20 February, riot police massed at the edge of Independence Square. Clashes broke out, and two Berkut officers were shot dead. At around 9am, protesters tried to push the Berkut away from the Maidan and back up Instytutska Street. The Berkut fired indiscriminately on the protesters from ground level, while snipers fired on protesters from above. By midday, 48 protesters had been shot dead on Instytutska Street, as had two other Berkut officers. 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 such as the Ministry of Internal Affairs to cease immediately all military actions against protesters.{{cite news|url=http://www.unian.net/politics/887613-ryibak-zayavil-chto-podpisal-postanovlenie-vr-o-prekraschenii-ognya.html |script-title=ru:Рыбак заявил, что подписал постановление ВР о прекращении огня |work=UNIAN |language=ru |date=21 February 2014 |access-date=21 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221154254/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191277.html |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live }} Parliament also suspended Zakharchenko from his duties.{{Cite news |date=21 February 2014 |title=Rada suspends Acting Interior Minister Zakharchenko from his duties |url=https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191757.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140225011151/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191757.html |archive-date=25 February 2014 |access-date=18 February 2024 |work=Interfax}}

On 21 February, President Yanukovych signed an agreement with opposition leaders. It promised constitutional changes to restore certain powers to parliament and called for early elections to be held by December.{{Cite news |title=Yanukovich impeached |work=Al Jazeera |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2014/2/22/ukraine-president-yanukovich-impeached |access-date=1 March 2022}} Despite the agreement, thousands continued to protest in central Kyiv, and the security forces withdrew, leaving demonstrators in control of the city's government district: the parliament building, the president's administration quarters, the cabinet, and the Interior Ministry.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-26248275|title=Ukraine protests timeline|work=BBC News|date=23 February 2014}}{{cite news|title=Ukraine protests: Vitali Klitschko is seeking immediate resignation of President Yanukocych – watch live|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10646265/Ukraine-protests-truce-broken-by-gunshots-in-Kiev-square-watch-live.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220101557/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10646265/Ukraine-protests-truce-broken-by-gunshots-in-Kiev-square-watch-live.html|archive-date=20 February 2014|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=22 February 2014|access-date=22 February 2014}}

• {{cite news|title=Ukrainian protesters claim control over capital |url=http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/2014/02/22/ukrainian-protesters-claim-control-over-capital/N4XhHbcoctzjiYaOM2EfhI/story.html |access-date=22 February 2014 |work=Boston |agency=Associated Press |date=22 February 2014 |author=Yuras Karmanau |author2=Angela Charlton |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228013838/http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/2014/02/22/ukrainian-protesters-claim-control-over-capital/N4XhHbcoctzjiYaOM2EfhI/story.html |archive-date=28 February 2014 }} The evening, Yanukovych secretly fled the capital, without informing parliament of his whereabouts.{{cite web | last1=Higgins | first1=Andrew | last2=Kramer | first2=Andrew E. | title=Ukraine Leader Was Defeated Even Before He Was Ousted | website=The New York Times | date=2015-01-04 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/world/europe/ukraine-leader-was-defeated-even-before-he-was-ousted.html}}

On 22 February, parliament voted 328–0 in favour of removing Yanukovych from office and scheduled new presidential elections for 25 May.{{cite news|title=Parliament Ousts Ukraine President |url=https://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304914204579398561953855036 |access-date=22 February 2014 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=22 February 2014 |author=James Marson |author2=Alan Cullison |author3=Alexander Kolyandr |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222171204/http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304914204579398561953855036 |archive-date=22 February 2014 |url-status=live }} Parliament named its chairman, Oleksandr Turchynov, as interim president.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26312008 |title=Ukraine: Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov named interim president |work=BBC News |date=23 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223115150/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26312008 |archive-date=23 February 2014 |url-status=live }} An arrest warrant for Yanukovych was issued by the new government on 24 February.{{cite news|url=https://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-issues-arrest-warrant-missing-leader-123251908--finance.html|title=Ukraine issues arrest warrant for missing leader|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=Washington Post|date=24 February 2014}} Over the next few days, Russian nationalist politicians and activists organised rallies in Crimea and urged the Russian government to help defend the region from advancing "fascists" from the rest of Ukraine.{{cite web | last=Lukov | first=Yaroslav | title=Crimea: Next flashpoint in Ukraine's crisis? | website=BBC News | date=2014-02-24 | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26321329}}

{{see also|Timeline of the Euromaidan}}

File:Euromaidan Kiev 2014-02-18 14-52.jpg

File:Barricade line separating interior troops and protesters seen as the conflict develops. Clashes in Kyiv, Ukraine. Events of February 18, 2014.jpg

File:Euromaidan Kiev 2014-02-18 15-08.JPG

The night before the clashes, Right Sector called on all of its members to ready themselves for a "peace offensive" on 18 February. The Maidan People's Union also urged all concerned citizens to take part in the "peace offensive", which student unions had agreed to join as well. The Maidan Union reported on the morning of 18 February that columns of protesters would begin a march on parliament at 08:30.{{cite news |url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/news/2014/02/17/7014143/ |title=Правый сектор объявил мобилизацию для мирного наступления' |trans-title= |newspaper=Ukrainska Pravda |access-date=22 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222171526/http://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/news/2014/02/17/7014143/ |archive-date=22 February 2014 |url-status=live }}

That morning, around 20,000 demonstrators marched on the parliament building as that body was set to consider opposition demands for a new constitution and government. Around 09:45, the demonstrators broke through the police barricade of several personnel-transport trucks near the building of the Central Officers' Club of Ukraine{{cite news|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/articles/2014/02/18/7014151/ |title=Війна на вулицях Києва. ОНЛАЙН |trans-title=War on the streets of Kyiv. Online |newspaper=Ukrainska Pravda |date=18 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221000846/http://www.pravda.com.ua/articles/2014/02/18/7014151/ |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live }} and pushed the cordon of police aside.{{cite news|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/18/7014175/ |title=Мітингувальники прорвали оточення ВВ і намагаються розблокувати Грушевського |trans-title=Protesters broke through the cordon of Internal Troops and attempted to unblock Hrushevskoho |newspaper=Ukrainska Pravda |date=18 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221001144/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/18/7014175/ |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live }} The clashes started after some two dozen demonstrators moved a police vehicle blocking their path to parliament. At 10:00, a member of parliament representing Batkivshchyna, Lesya Orobets, reported that police armed with Fort-500T shotguns had begun to attack with flash and stun grenades from Shovkovychna Street and Lypska Street.

As the column neared the parliament building at 10:08, it met resistance from another cordon of police officers. There were reports that the number of protesters had swelled to 50,000. At 10:18, according to other reports, explosions and smoke were seen on Instytutska Street as people started to tear up roadway paving blocks. Protesters started to throw the pavement blocks at the police, while officers defending themselves with shields tried to subdue the crowd with stun grenades. Protesters who had barricaded themselves near the Dynamo Stadium colonnade began setting fire to tires. At about 10:30, parliament was set to vote on whether to restore the 2004 constitution. However, it did not happen as Chairman Rybak did not register the bill.{{cite news|title=Four reported dead, more than 100 injured as violent clashes break out near Ukraine's parliament (live updates) |url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv/renewed-violence-breaks-out-today-near-ukraines-parliament-at-least-one-injured-336993.html |newspaper=Kyiv Post |date=18 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140218165210/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv/renewed-violence-breaks-out-today-near-ukraines-parliament-at-least-one-injured-336993.html |archive-date=18 February 2014 |url-status=live }}

At 10:33, the street fights between protesters and the police shifted to Shovkovychna Street. Protesters started to wave ₴200 banknotes in the face of some of Yanukovych's police forces—saying that they were mercenaries—in Mariinskyi Park. An activist, Oleksandr Aronets, reported that snipers were targeting civilians. By 11:00, protesters had sustained serious wounds. Molotov cocktails were thrown by the protesters, and on Shovkovnycha Street, a barricade of dump trucks was set on fire.

File:Київ - Революція Гідности - Беркутня на вулиці Інститутській - 14021443.jpg

At 11:23, the Berkut special police forces tried to launch an assault on the crowd, but the protesters attacked back. Two minutes later, the first report came that protesters were breaking down the doors of the Party of Regions headquarters on Lypska Street. At 11:30, protesters—including the journalist Tetyana Chornovol—sacked and set fire to the building.{{cite web|url=http://ru.tsn.ua/politika/pri-zahvate-ofisa-partii-regionov-ubili-dvuh-sotrudnikov-carev-349697.html |title=При захвате офиса Партии регионов убили двух сотрудников – Царев – Политика |date=18 February 2014 |trans-title= |publisher=The Sports Network |access-date=18 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221022259/http://ru.tsn.ua/politika/pri-zahvate-ofisa-partii-regionov-ubili-dvuh-sotrudnikov-carev-349697.html |archive-date=21 February 2014 }}{{cite news

|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2014/feb/18/ukraine-protests-president-viktor-yanukovich-party-video?CMP=twt_gu

|title=Ukraine: protests at President Viktor Yanukovich's party HQ – video

|work=The Guardian

|date=18 February 2014

|access-date=18 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222172013/http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2014/feb/18/ukraine-protests-president-viktor-yanukovich-party-video?CMP=twt_gu

|archive-date=22 February 2014

|url-status=live

}} Two persons died as a result, including a programmer who worked at the headquarters. At 12:12, Minister of Healthcare Raisa Bohatyriova was attacked by protesters as she left Mariinskyi Park, but she escaped unharmed. By 12:30, the police had regained control of the Party of Regions office.

By 13:00, thousands of police officers had encircled the government district and begun chasing down protesters. One protester with a head wound told the Kyiv Post that charging police officers had "smashed everybody" in their path.

Around 13:30, four officers on Instytutska Street were stationed atop a building, lobbing stun grenades at the crowd and shooting, when protesters stormed the building and set part of it on fire. The protesters forced their way to the roof, forcing the police to retreat. The building on Instytutska Street was described as the scene of the day's most violent clashes. Berkut and Internal Troops servicemen opened a full-scale assault, firing directly into the crowd. There were reports of police using water cannons to break through.

File:Clashes between radically oriented protesters and internal troops. Ukraine, Kyiv. Events of February 18, 2014.jpg

By mid-afternoon, police officers using tear gas drove as many as 10,000 protesters from Mariinskyi Park, where barricades had been built earlier in the day. Demonstrators threw stun grenades, filling the park with smoke. Other anti-government activists tried to keep the pro-government and anti-government forces apart.

Multiple news outlets published photographs showing the police armed with AK-74 assault rifles.{{cite tweet|user=SpilnoTVEnglish|number=435796770011246592|title= #Ukraine-#Berkut troops attack|access-date=18 February 2014}}{{cite web|author=Max Seddon |url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/maxseddon/several-dead-dozens-injured-as-ukraine-protests-turn-violent |title=At Least 13 Dead, Dozens Injured As Ukraine Protests Turn Violent Again |date=18 February 2014 |publisher=Buzz Feed |access-date=20 February 2014 |archive-date=20 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220001301/http://www.buzzfeed.com/maxseddon/several-dead-dozens-injured-as-ukraine-protests-turn-violent }} Former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Hennadiy Moskal speculated that they were Alpha Group units.{{cite news |script-title=uk:Москаль: Росіяни кажуть Януковичу, що його керівники СБУ та МВС профнепридатні |url=http://espreso.tv/new/2014/02/19/moskal_rosiyany_kazhut_yanukovychu_scho_profneprydatni_kerivnyky_sbu_ta_mvs_proponuyut_yomu_operaciyi_z_velycheznymy_zhertvamy_ta_nezrozumilymy_naslidkamy |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140221162335/http://espreso.tv/new/2014/02/19/moskal_rosiyany_kazhut_yanukovychu_scho_profneprydatni_kerivnyky_sbu_ta_mvs_proponuyut_yomu_operaciyi_z_velycheznymy_zhertvamy_ta_nezrozumilymy_naslidkamy |archive-date=21 February 2014 |publisher=Espreso TV |language=uk |date=19 February 2014 }} A Berkut leader, Vladimir Krashevsky, said the armed police officers in black with yellow armbands were part of a Berkut unit that had been deployed to help evacuate the interior troops.{{Cite web |date=15 March 2014 |title=Ветеран "Беркута": мы не стреляли по людям в Киеве |trans-title= |url=https://www.bbc.com/russian/international/2014/03/140315_crimea_berkut_interview |access-date=5 May 2022 |website=BBC News Русская служба |language=ru}}

Protesters re-occupied City Hall.{{cite news |url=http://www.nst.com.my/world/protesters-re-occupy-kiev-city-hall-afp-1.487751 |title=Protesters re-occupy Kiev city hall |agency=Agence France-Presse |work=New Straits Times |date=31 January 2014 |access-date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221022938/http://www.nst.com.my/world/protesters-re-occupy-kiev-city-hall-afp-1.487751 |archive-date=21 February 2014 }}

At 15:45, hundreds of riot police officers advanced toward Maidan, attacking protesters.{{cite news |url=http://espreso.tv/new/2014/02/18/titushky_znuschayutsya_na_antymaydani_nad_polonenymy_aktyvistamy |script-title=uk:Тітушки знущаються на Антимайдані над полоненими активістами |publisher=Espreso TV |access-date=19 February 2014 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140221162447/http://espreso.tv/new/2014/02/18/titushky_znuschayutsya_na_antymaydani_nad_polonenymy_aktyvistamy |archive-date=21 February 2014 }} An officer grabbed the gas mask of a Kyiv Post journalist on Instytutska Street and said of the police advance: "I love it! We love it!"

File:A police officer attacked by protesters during clashes in Ukraine, Kyiv. Events of February 18, 2014.jpg

At 16:00, the acting chief of the Security Service of Ukraine, Oleksandr Yakymenko, and acting Interior Minister Zakharchenko issued a public warning to protesters to clear the streets within two hours, saying, "If by 18:00 the lawlessness doesn't cease, we shall be forced to use all legal means to bring order." At the October Palace, visible from Independence Square, riot police threw bricks down the hill at protesters from a bridge along Instytutska Street.

Throughout the day of 18 February 2014, protesters lit tires, threw and launched Molotov cocktails, bars of steel and other projectiles at lines of Berkut police. At 17:04, armed Berkut untied the wire at the Mykhaila Hrushevskoho Street barricade gate near Dynamo Stadium and penetrated with some surprise. EuroMaidan protesters were watching a drone hovering from the opposite direction, with their backs turned to the police. Hundreds of Berkut began throwing grenades, two of which injured U.S. photographer Mark Estabrook and countless others while discharging their pistols and shotguns. Euromaidan protesters and civilians began a mass retreat toward the next gate in a barricade on Khreschatyk Street. There were many injuries and several deaths.{{Cite web | url=http://EuromaidanRevolution.com |title = Hot soup 7-136|date = 7 February 2014}}

At 20:00, pro-Russian sources had reported that 50 unknown or presumably pro-Russian assailants were trying to break into the Canadian embassy.{{cite news |url=http://interfax.com.ua/news/general/190782.html |title=Неизвестные пытаются прорваться в консульство Канады в Киеве – милиция |trans-title= |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=20 October 2012 |access-date=18 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221024155/http://interfax.com.ua/news/general/190782.html |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live }} On the same day, a Global Affairs Canada spokesperson acknowledged that protesters had taken "shelter" and were "peaceful and have not caused any damage or harm to staff." In 2015, it was revealed that the embassy had deliberately opened its gates after spotting a Canadian passport-wielding Euromaidan protester being chased by Berkut. Upon entry of the unknown passport-wielding Euromaidan protester, a deluge of Euromaidan protesters stormed the embassy and occupied the main lobby, using the embassy as a safe haven from Berkut. The embassy was used to treat the wounded during the evening of 18 February. Euromaidan protesters later left the embassy voluntarily, leaving flowers. Unnamed European allies later asserted, that given the prolonged occupation and lack of resistance by Canadian foreign service officers, Canada played an intentional and deliberate role in enabling Euromaidan protesters. Contemporary media sources argue that Prime Minister Stephen Harper never acknowledged the true extent of the security breach.{{cite news |last1=Brewster |first1=Murray |title=Canadian embassy played role as safe haven in Ukraine uprising, investigation finds |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadian-embassy-used-as-safe-haven-during-ukraine-uprising-investigation-finds-1.3148719 |access-date=13 April 2021 |work=CBC News |agency=The Canadian Press |date=12 July 2015}}

File:Berkut attacks Maidan. War in Kiev.ogv

Following the warning, the police advanced on thousands of protesters on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) with guns, a water cannon, and an armored personnel carrier. Tents housing protesters were burned in the main square. The police justified their actions as part of an anti-terror campaign against "individuals who had clearly armed themselves".{{cite web | title=Ukraine: 'Protesters to be punished' as police come under attack | website=euronews.com | date=2014-02-19 | url=http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/19/ukraine-protesters-to-be-punished-as-police-come-under-attack/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219160634/http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/19/ukraine-protesters-to-be-punished-as-police-come-under-attack/ | archive-date=2014-02-19 | url-status=dead}} Opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk called on the police to retreat 200 meters up Instytutska Street and urged both sides to call a truce until morning.{{cite news|title=Police advance on EuroMaidan at night after government ultimatum |url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/police-advance-on-euromaidan-following-a-government-ultimatum-live-updates-337067.html |newspaper=Kyiv Post |date=18 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219054438/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/police-advance-on-euromaidan-following-a-government-ultimatum-live-updates-337067.html |archive-date=19 February 2014 |url-status=live }} Protesters on the square stacked tires and other burning debris to create a wall of fire between themselves and security forces.

The TV channel 5 Kanal's broadcast was shut down countrywide{{cite web|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/18/7014479/ |script-title=uk:5 канал відключили по всій Україні |trans-title=5 Kanal is disconnected throughout Ukraine |work=Ukrainska Pravda |access-date=19 February 2014 |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221031434/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/18/7014479/ }} but remained available via satellite (with a brief interruption) and a live feed on YouTube.

File:Euromaidan in Kiev 2014-02-19 10-22.jpg, used as Euromaidan headquarters, on fire after a police raid]]

At approximately 22:00, it was reported that the police had broken through the protesters' barricades on the eastern side of the square.{{cite news|url=http://vestiua.com/ru/news/20140218/43533.html |script-title=ru:На Майдане горит Дом профсоюзов |trans-title=On Maidan Trade Unions building is burning |website=Vestiua.com |access-date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221031541/http://vestiua.com/ru/news/20140218/43533.html |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live }} Officers then tried to retake the occupied Trade Unions building but failed.

Presidential adviser Hanna Herman said that negotiations between the government and the opposition would not happen until peace was restored and the crowds retreated, and that "calling further for armed conflict is a great crime against the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian state." General Prosecutor of Ukraine Viktor Pshonka said: "Organisers of mass protests will be held accountable. We will demand the heaviest punishment both for those who revved people up to take part in today's action and for those who organised and controlled them."

At 01:35 the next morning, street lights were switched off around the square. The activists believed that this heralded the beginning of a decisive assault.{{cite news|access-date=19 February 2014 |url=http://lenta.ru/chronicles/battle/ |script-title=ru:"Беркут" против Майдана |trans-title="Berkut" against Maidans |website=Lenta.ru |date=18 February 2014 |language=ru |archive-date=19 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219124547/http://lenta.ru/chronicles/battle/ }}

Emerging from a meeting with President Yanukovych, opposition leader Vitali Klitschko told Hromadske TV that the talks had not been successful. Klitschko said that opposition leaders had listened for more than an hour to Yanukovych's claims that they were to blame for the 20 deaths on 18 February. The president also demanded that the opposition force the protesters to leave Maidan Nezalezhnosti. He reportedly threatened opposition leaders with criminal prosecution.{{cite web|author=Допис by Svyatoslav Tsegolko. |url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/19/7014647/ |script-title=uk:Янукович погрожує справами проти керівників опозиції – Яценюк |publisher=Ukreayinska Pravda |language=uk |access-date=19 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221051003/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/19/7014647/ |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live }}

In a message on Ukrainian television, Yanukovych told the opposition leaders, "Separate yourself from the radical elements that seek bloodshed and conflict with law enforcement agencies," and said that if they did not do so, he would "talk differently" with them.{{cite news|url=http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/19/ukraine-protesters-resist-police-charge-on-independence-square-as-death-toll-/ |title=Ukraine protesters resist police charge on Independence Square as death toll rises |publisher=Euronews |date=19 February 2014 |archive-date=19 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219175641/http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/19/ukraine-protesters-resist-police-charge-on-independence-square-as-death-toll-/ |url-status=live }} He added: "The opposition leaders have ignored the basic foundation of democracy. The line had been crossed when they called people to arms."

On 18 February, three opposition parties (Batkivshchyna, UDAR, and Svoboda) said in a statement: "We never have and never will call people to arms. This is our principled position. The death of each person is a personal tragedy for each of us."{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191096.html |title=Batkivschyna, UDAR, Svoboda never have and never will call people to armed protest |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=19 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221061853/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191096.html |url-status=live |archive-date=21 February 2014 }} Later that day, the parties said, "To hold talks with the regime, the policies of which led to the deaths of many people, is an extremely unpleasant thing, but we must do everything possible and even the impossible to prevent further bloodshed." They said that dissolving the protests would be "counterproductive and unrealistic" and stated: "It was not we who brought Maidan together, and it is not for us to disperse it! People will decide themselves what to do depending on when and how their demands are satisfied."{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191112.html |title=Three Ukrainian opposition forces calling to do everything possible to prevent further bloodshed |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=19 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221062107/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191112.html |url-status=live |archive-date=21 February 2014 }}

File:Euromaidan 19 February 9.jpg

The Kyiv Metro was closed and main roads blocked by police.{{cite news|url=http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/19/tension-in-ukraine-as-protesters-anticipate-more-battles/ |title=Kyiv on shutdown as Ukraine protesters fear new police crackdown |publisher=Euronews |date=19 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219200229/http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/19/tension-in-ukraine-as-protesters-anticipate-more-battles/ |archive-date=19 February 2014 |url-status=live }} Bigger stores and malls on Khreshchatyk were also closed, but according to a Euronews correspondent, "Life away from the barricades is business as usual."{{cite news|url=http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/19/ukrainian-capital-mostly-normal-beyond-immediate-protest-zone/|title=Ukrainian capital mostly normal beyond immediate protest zone|publisher=Euronews|date=19 February 2014|access-date=19 February 2014|archive-date=18 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818001823/https://www.euronews.com/2014/02/19/ukrainian-capital-mostly-normal-beyond-immediate-protest-zone}}

In the early morning, titushky shot two protesters, killing one.{{cite news|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/19/7014579/ |script-title=uk:Тітушки Розстріляли Двох Протестувальників – Очевидці |work=Ukrainska Pravda |access-date=19 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221063742/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/19/7014579/ |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live }} By this point, the death toll had risen to 26 on both sides, including 10 police.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26252679 |title=Ukraine crisis: Renewed Kiev assault on protesters |work=BBC News |date=19 February 2014 |access-date=19 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219063442/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26252679 |archive-date=19 February 2014 }}

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) launched an "anti-terrorist" operation, while the intelligence services began investigating unnamed politicians over what was described as an illegal attempt to seize power. The decision to begin the anti-terrorist operation involved the SBU, the Interior Ministry, the Ministry of Defence, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, and the central and local governments, according to a statement on the SBU website.{{cite news

|title=EuroMaidan rallies in Ukraine (Feb. 19 live updates)

|url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv/euromaidan-rallies-in-ukraine-feb-19-live-updates-337098.html

|newspaper=Kyiv Post

|date=19 February 2014

|archive-date=19 February 2014

|url-status=live

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219090703/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv/euromaidan-rallies-in-ukraine-feb-19-live-updates-337098.html

}} According to political analyst Taras Berezovets, the decree meant that the SBU could search protesters, seize their property, and detain them at will, "without a court order or other legal safeguards."

In the early morning, Olena Lukash announced that the opposition had refused to sign a declaration disapproving of radical measures. President Yanukovych demanded that the opposition stop occupying buildings and seizing arms; the opposition, however, would not concede.{{cite news|url=http://novosti.ua/politics/95250 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221064350/http://novosti.ua/politics/95250 |script-title=ru:Оппозиция отказалась подписывать заявление об осуждении радикальных действий, – Лукаш |publisher=Novosti.ua |language=ru |access-date=21 February 2014 |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live }} The acting minister of defence, Pavlo Lebedyev, acknowledged that he had sent some airborne troops from Dnipropetrovsk to Kyiv.{{Cite web |date=2014-02-19 |trans-title=Lebedev confirmed sending airborne troops from Dnipropetrovsk to Kyiv |script-title=uk:Лебедєв підтвердив відправлення десантних військ з Дніпропетровська до Києва - Український тиждень |url=https://tyzhden.ua/lebediev-pidtverdyv-vidpravlennia-desantnykh-vijsk-z-dnipropetrovska-do-kyieva/ |work=The Ukrainian Week |access-date=2023-07-07 |language=uk}} Ciphered telegrams were discovered in which Yuriy Ilyin, the newly appointed chief of the general staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, gave direct orders to deploy military units.{{cite web |url=http://tyzhden.ua/News/103066 |trans-title=Last Chief of Staff of Yanukovych ordered separate army units to suppress Maidan |website=The Ukrainian Week |date=19 February 2014 |title=Останній начальник Генштабу Януковича наказував окремим частинам армії придушити Майдан |language=uk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303151859/http://tyzhden.ua/News/103066 |archive-date=2014-03-03}}

Also on 19 February, a military An-26 made a secret flight from Kyiv to Russia to pick up a large batch of anti-riot weapons and ammunition; this only became known in 2015.{{Cite web|url = http://www.gazeta.ru/social/2015/07/06/6867873.shtml |title = Украина задолжала за "секретный" полет |trans-title= |date = 6 July 2015 |access-date = 8 July 2015}}

A Euronews correspondent on Independence Square reported that protesters were arriving "from all parts of Ukraine".{{cite news |url=http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/19/euronews-kyiv-correspondent-they-say-they-are-not-going-to-provoke-the-police-/ |title=Euronews Kyiv correspondent: 'They say they are not going to provoke the police... but they know how to protect themselves' |publisher=Euronews |date=19 February 2014 |access-date=19 February 2014|archive-date=19 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219215154/http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/19/euronews-kyiv-correspondent-they-say-they-are-not-going-to-provoke-the-police-/}} By 14:50, about 5,000 remained on the square. Right Sector occupied the Kyiv Central Post Office and the State Committee for Television and Radio, with the post office serving as a new headquarters.{{cite news|publisher=Nikvesti |access-date=20 February 2014 |url=http://nikvesti.com/news/politics/49921 |script-title=ru:Майдан нашел себе новый штаб – активисты заняли Главпочтамт |trans-title=Maidan found new headquarters - activists occupied Post Office |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221064830/http://nikvesti.com/news/politics/49921 |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live |date=19 February 2014 }}

File:Euromaidan in Kiev 2014-02-19 12-06.jpg]]

President Yanukovych fired the chief of the general staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Volodymyr Zamana, and replaced him with Ilyin, who was previously the commander of the Ukrainian Navy.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26265808 |title=Ukraine President Yanukovych sacks army chief amid crisis |work=BBC News |date=19 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219200534/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26265808 |archive-date=19 February 2014 |url-status=live }} The Ministry of Defence announced that it was redeploying units around the country to guard military facilities. The director of the SBU, Oleksandr Yakymenko, said that military bases and arms depots had been attacked in several regions.{{cite news|url=http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/19/ukraine-launches-anti-terrorist-operation-after-government-buildings-attacked/|title=Yanukovych accuses Ukraine opposition leaders of trying to seize power by force|publisher=Euronews|date=19 February 2014|access-date=19 February 2014|archive-date=18 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818001725/https://www.euronews.com/2014/02/19/ukraine-launches-anti-terrorist-operation-after-government-buildings-attacked}}

The European Investment Bank froze activities in Ukraine,{{cite news|url=http://www.epravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/19/420801/ |script-title=uk:Європейський інвестиційний банк заморожує діяльність в Україні - ЗМІ |trans-title=European Investment Bank freezes activities in Ukraine - Media |website=Epravda.com.ua |access-date=20 February 2014 |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221065516/http://www.epravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/19/420801/ }} saying, "For the time being, the situation is so cruel that it would be politically the wrong signal, but also irresponsible vis-a-vis the people we asked to do the job, to be active on business in Ukraine."{{cite news

|url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-ukraine-eib-idUKBREA1I10H20140219

|title=European Investment Bank freezes activities in Ukraine over violence

|work=Reuters

|access-date=19 February 2014

|archive-date=21 February 2014

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221065627/http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/02/19/uk-ukraine-eib-idUKBREA1I10H20140219

}}

Following a meeting between government and opposition leaders late at night, both sides declared a truce and agreed to start negotiations. President Yanukovych said in a statement that he had agreed to "start negotiations with the aim of ending bloodshed and stabilising the situation in the state in the interests of social peace". According to opposition politician Yatsenyuk, the truce included a pledge from Yanukovych not to launch a police assault that night.{{cite news|date=19 February 2014 |work=Daily Me |url=http://dailyme.com/story/2014021900003797 |title=Ukraine president Viktor Yanukovych says truce reached with opposition figures |archive-date=21 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221070059/http://dailyme.com/story/2014021900003797 }} Right Sector did not agree to the truce.{{cite news|work=The Insider |url=http://www.theinsider.ua/politics/530544dc3bd1e/ |script-title=uk:"Правий сектор" не погоджується на перемир'я |trans-title="Right Sector" does not agree to a truce |language=uk |access-date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221070249/http://www.theinsider.ua/politics/530544dc3bd1e/ |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live }} A Euronews correspondent on Independence Square reported that the number of protesters had grown, saying, "In general, all I have heard from people is the more they are attacked and the worse they are beaten, the more determined they are to stand back up and resume the struggle."{{cite news|url=http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/19/fires-burn-bright-in-kiev-as-spirits-undaunted-by-terror-maria-korenyuk-reports/|title=Protesters' defiance in Maidan: our correspondent's view|publisher=Euronews|date=19 February 2014|access-date=20 February 2014|archive-date=18 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818000141/https://www.euronews.com/2014/02/19/fires-burn-bright-in-kiev-as-spirits-undaunted-by-terror-maria-korenyuk-reports}} As revealed later, President Yanukovych had begun to prepare to leave Kyiv.{{Cite book |last=D'Anieri |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bomzEAAAQBAJ&dq=became+clear+later,+he+had+begun+preparations+to+leave+Kyiv+on&pg=PA214 |title=Ukraine and Russia: From Civilized Divorce to Uncivil War |date=2023-03-23 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-009-31552-4 |pages=214 |language=en}}

File:Київ - Революція Гідности - Ранок на Майдані Незалежности перед початком розстрілів на Інститутській - 14021443.jpg

At 00:35, Interfax reported that Yanukovych had declared 20 February a day of mourning for those killed in the clashes.{{cite news

|script-title = ru:На Украине – день траура

|trans-title = In Ukraine - Day of Mourning

|url = http://www.interfax.ru/world/news/359685

|work= Interfax

|access-date = 20 February 2014

|archive-date = 20 February 2014

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140220060103/http://www.interfax.ru/world/news/359685

}}

Around 03:50, activists claimed that they had torn a shoulder patch from the uniform of a Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) soldier during the clashes, brandishing the patch as alleged proof of Russian involvement.{{cite news|url=http://tyzhden.ua/News/102493 |title=На Майдані з офіцера під час штурму зірвали шеврон із двоголовим орлом – Новини – Український тиждень |publisher=Tyzhden |access-date=20 February 2014 |archive-date=26 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226180336/http://tyzhden.ua/News/102493 }} Protesters at Independence Square continued to hear gunshots, despite the ceasefire agreement.{{cite news |url=http://espreso.tv/new/2014/02/20/na_maydani_znovu_strilyayut |title=На Майдані знову стріляють |trans-title= |publisher=Espreso TV |date=20 November 2013 |access-date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140221184616/http://espreso.tv/new/2014/02/20/na_maydani_znovu_strilyayut |archive-date=21 February 2014 }} Around 04:20, five buses carrying protesters from Ivano-Frankivsk arrived.{{cite web

|url = http://espreso.tv/new/2014/02/20/na_maydan_pryyikhaly_aktyvisty_iz_ivano_frankivska

|script-title = uk:На Майдан приїхали активісти із Івано-Франківська

|trans-title = Activists came from Ivano-Frankivsk to Maidan

|language = uk

|publisher = Espreso TV

|access-date = 20 February 2014

|archive-url = https://archive.today/20140221070826/http://espreso.tv/new/2014/02/20/na_maydan_pryyikhaly_aktyvisty_iz_ivano_frankivska

|archive-date = 21 February 2014

}}

Each side blamed the other for igniting the deadly conflict.{{cite news|title=Protesters take police hostages in conflict|url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/protesters-take-police-hostages-in-conflict-337266.html|newspaper=Kyiv Post|date=21 February 2014}} SBU director Yakymenko blamed Ukraine's current Euromaidan government, claiming they were responsible for hiring snipers on 20 February.{{cite news|first=Katya|last=Gorchinskaya|url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/yakimenko-blames-maidan-organizers-for-hiring-snipers-us-for-financing-revoultion-in-ukraine-339179.html|title=Yakimenko accuses EuroMaidan leaders of hiring snipers; allegations denounced|date=13 March 2014|newspaper=Kyiv Post|access-date=13 March 2014}} In a statement, the Presidential Administration of Ukraine claimed that the protesters had gone on the offensive: "They are working in organised groups. They are using firearms, including sniper rifles. They are shooting to kill," it said. Protesters accused the police of starting the conflict by throwing Molotov cocktails and improvised explosive devices. Opposition politician Klitschko issued a statement saying: "Armed thugs have been let loose in the streets to attack people and create an illusion that there is a confrontation between citizens."

On the morning on 20 February, protesters advanced up Instytutska Street in a bid to push the Berkut away from Independence Square. They were led by activists with shields and helmets. The protesters were fired on by the retreating Berkut, as well as by snipers.{{cite news|title=Ukraine death toll rising on Feb. 20 with at least 42 people killed, most by gunshots from police |url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv/ukraine-death-toll-rising-on-feb-20-with-at-least-42-people-killed-most-by-gunshots-from-police-live-updates-video-337236.html |newspaper=Kyiv Post |date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221071310/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv/ukraine-death-toll-rising-on-feb-20-with-at-least-42-people-killed-most-by-gunshots-from-police-live-updates-video-337236.html |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live }} Altogether, 48 protesters were killed or fatally wounded by gunfire.

File:Київ - Революція Гідности - Розстріли на Інститутській - 14021595.jpg

According to a UNIAN correspondent, there were more than 30,000 people on Independence Square.{{cite news|url=http://www.unian.info/politics/886961-there-are-more-than-30-thousand-people-at-maidan.html |title=There are more than 30 thousand people at Maidan |work=Ukrainian Independent Information Agency |date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221152355/http://www.unian.info/politics/886961-there-are-more-than-30-thousand-people-at-maidan.html |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live }} At 09:25, protesters had pushed the Berkut back to the October Palace{{Cite web |trans-title=Day of Mourning. Online |script-title=uk:ДЕНЬ ЖАЛОБИ. ОНЛАЙН |url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/articles/2014/02/20/7015036/ |access-date=2023-07-07 |website=Ukrainska Pravda |language=uk}} after security forces tried to set fire to Kyiv Conservatory, which was being used as a field hospital for wounded protesters.{{cite web | title=Протестувальники відтіснили Беркут до Жовтневого |trans-title=Protesters pushed away Berkut to the October Palace | website=Українська правда | date=2014-02-20 | url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/20/7015040/ | language=uk }} At 09:32, it was announced that parliament would not convene. Euromaidan protesters marched on the police with shields and Molotov cocktails and forced them to retreat, thus regaining control of Independence Square and capturing up to 67 police officers.{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0220/505470-foreign-ministers-meet-to-consider-ukraine-crisis/ |title=Ukraine protesters take back Kiev square |publisher=RTÉ News |access-date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220163953/http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0220/505470-foreign-ministers-meet-to-consider-ukraine-crisis/ |archive-date=20 February 2014 |url-status=live }} Around 10:49, law enforcement personnel were captured while sleeping in the Ukrainian House and during clashes on barricades near the October Palace. Many of the men were only 18 or 19 years old, were not trained, and were armed only with rubber truncheons. Those with minor injuries were treated by medics. The captured police were from Crimea, the central-eastern cities Dnipropetrovsk and Kryvyi Rih, and eastern Luhansk. Interior Troops soldiers, of whom almost 100 surrendered during the clashes (mostly conscripts aged 19–20),{{cite news|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/20/7015081/ |script-title=uk:ЗМІ: ВВшники масово здаються в полон активістам Євромайдану | Українська правда |language=uk |newspaper=Ukrainska Pravda |access-date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221151608/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/20/7015081/ |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live }} were held prisoner at the headquarters of the Energy Company of Ukraine and at the October Palace.

At 10:55, the chief of the presidential administration, Andriy Klyuev, announced that the president was prepared to sign a treaty with the opposition on the demanded changes to the Constitution of Ukraine, and that the ongoing clashes should compel politicians to find a quick consensus.{{cite web | title=У Януковича пропонують підписати конституційний договір |trans-title=At the Yanukovych headquarters propose to sign a constitutional treaty | website=Українська правда | date=2014-02-20 | url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/20/7015084/ | language=uk}}

At 10:00, Euromaidan's activists picketed the main office at the Kyiv Metro station Politekhnichnyi Instytut, demanding that the system be reopened.{{cite news |url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/20/7015032/ |title=Макеєнко відмовився відновлювати роботу метрополітену |trans-title= |website=Pravda.com.ua |date=20 February 2014 |access-date=13 March 2014}} A former head of the Kyiv City State Administration, Ivan Saliy, also called for the reopening of the metro.{{cite web | title=Роботу метро в Києві треба відновити негайно – колишній голова КМДА | website=newsradio.com.ua | date=2014-02-20 | url=http://newsradio.com.ua/2014_02_20/Robotu-metro-v-Ki-v-treba-v-dnoviti-negajno-kolishn-j-golova-KMDA/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140225222044/http://newsradio.com.ua/2014_02_20/Robotu-metro-v-Ki-v-treba-v-dnoviti-negajno-kolishn-j-golova-KMDA/ | archive-date=2014-02-25 | url-status=dead | language=ru }} At 16:00 that day, the Titushky were transported by metro from the Pozniaky station to the Pecherska station, Lvivska Gazeta reported.{{cite news |url=http://www.gazeta.lviv.ua/news/2014/02/20/23631 |title=Метрополітен перевозить "тітушок" з Позняків на Печерськ |trans-title= |website=Gazeta.lviv.ua |date=20 February 2014 |access-date=13 March 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140225124049/http://www.gazeta.lviv.ua/news/2014/02/20/23631 |archive-date=25 February 2014 }} The government also closed highway and railway access to Kyiv.{{Cite news |date=19 February 2014 |title="Укрзалізниця" припинила рух потягів зі Львова до Києва |trans-title=Ukrzaliznytsia stops train movement from Lviv to Kyiv |url=https://lb.ua/society/2014/02/19/256129_ukrzaliznitsya_prekratila_dvizhenie.html |access-date=18 February 2024 |work=LB.ua |language=uk}}

Trains between Kyiv and Lviv, one of the protesters' strongholds, were temporarily suspended; a railway spokeswoman said this was because of damage to the lines.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26268620 |title=Ukraine death toll rises to 22 as EU talks under way |work=BBC News |date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220071545/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26268620 |archive-date=20 February 2014 |url-status=live }} Coincidentally, there were reports that arms had been seized from an Interior Ministry armory in Lviv and transported to the outskirts of Kyiv.{{cite news|author=Andrew Higgins|author2=Andrew E. Kramer|author3=Steven Erlanger|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/24/world/europe/as-his-fortunes-fell-in-ukraine-a-president-clung-to-illusions.html?_r=1|title=As His Fortunes Fell in Ukraine, a President Clung to Illusions|work=The New York Times|date=23 February 2014|access-date=12 March 2015}}

The head of the Kyiv City State Administration, Volodymyr Makeyenko, resigned from the Party of Regions but said that he would continue to perform his duties to ensure that the city functioned properly.{{cite news|url=http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/20/ukraine-death-toll-rises-as-protesters-retake-maida/ |title='Dozens dead' in Kyiv as Ukraine 'truce' breaks down |publisher=Euronews |date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220185431/http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/20/ukraine-death-toll-rises-as-protesters-retake-maida/ |archive-date=20 February 2014 |url-status=live }} He then ordered the reopening of the Kyiv Metro. By 15:00, the metro was still not running, and ground-based transport in the city was scarce.{{cite news|date=20 February 2014 |url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191366.html |title=Kyiv residents leave city center |work=Interfax-Ukraine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221152806/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191366.html |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live }} The metro was partly reopened in the early evening, but interchange stations remained closed.{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191446.html |title=Kyiv subway partially resumes operation, says press service |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221152930/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191446.html |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live }}

The Embassy of the United Kingdom in Kyiv was temporarily closed.{{cite news|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/20/7015013/ |title=Велика Британія тимчасово закрила своє посольство в Києві |trans-title=UK temporarily closed its embassy in Kyiv |newspaper=Ukrainska Pravda |date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221153050/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/20/7015013/ |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live }}

File:Snipers seen on the roof. Clashes in Ukraine, Kyiv. Events of February 18, 2014.jpg

Radio Liberty published video footage of police special forces shooting protesters with Kalashnikov and sniper rifles.{{cite news|publisher=Radio Svoboda |language=uk |url=http://www.radiosvoboda.org/content/article/25270798.html |script-title=uk:ВІДЕОФАКТ: силовики, втікаючи, стріляли з автоматів Калашникова |year=2014 |url-status=live |archive-date=21 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221153216/http://www.radiosvoboda.org/content/article/25270798.html |newspaper=Радіо Свобода |last1=Свобода |first1=Радіо }} Acting Interior Minister Zakharchenko announced that combat weapons had been provided to the police, saying in an address to the nation, "We signed relevant orders as part of the Antiterrorist Center's work: the law enforcement officials have been provided with combat weapons, and they will be used in line with the law on police."{{cite web|url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/ukrainian-police-have-been-provided-with-combat-weapons-interior-minister-337238.html |title=Ukrainian police have been provided with combat weapons – interior minister |work=Kyiv Post |date=20 February 2014 |access-date=21 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221070442/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/ukrainian-police-have-been-provided-with-combat-weapons-interior-minister-337238.html |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live }} The ministry's website said the riot police had the right to use their weapons to free hostages being held by protesters. The ministry further stated that a sniper had injured 20 of its police officers.{{cite news|url=http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/20/sniper-fire-brings-disturbing-new-dimension-to-ukraine-violence/|title=Sniper fire brings disturbing new dimension to Ukraine violence|publisher=Euronews|date=20 February 2014|access-date=20 February 2014|archive-date=21 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221150443/http://euronews.com/2014/02/20/sniper-fire-brings-disturbing-new-dimension-to-ukraine-violence/}}

Interfax-Ukraine reported that at 15:00, "a group of unknown individuals" headed to the Presidential Administration Building, and shots and explosions were heard. The Euromaidan self-defense force had repeatedly urged protesters not to go outside the square's perimeter.{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191397.html |title=Unknown people heading towards Ukrainian presidential administration building; shots audible |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=20 February 2014 |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221153920/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191397.html }}

The above-mentioned clashes erupted shortly before three visiting EU foreign ministers—Radosław Sikorski of Poland, Laurent Fabius of France, and Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany—were due to meet with President Yanukovych to push for a compromise with the Ukrainian opposition.{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191430.html |title=German, French, Polish foreign ministers end six-hour meeting with Yanukovych |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=20 February 2014 |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221154141/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191430.html }} The meeting was delayed for security reasons and began an hour late. Before the meeting, Fabius said in an interview with BFM TV: "Our purpose is to cause the Ukrainian administration to conduct elections. There is no solution other than elections."{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191277.html |title=EU demands elections in Ukraine – French foreign minister |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221154254/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191277.html |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live }} The negotiations lasted six hours.{{cite web | title=Foreign Affairs Ministers Steinmeier Of Germany, Sikorski Of Poland, Fabius Of France To Meet With Yanukovych Again On Thursday-Friday Night | website=un.ua | date=2014-03-23 | url=http://un.ua/eng/article/493179.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222193719/http://un.ua/eng/article/493179.html | archive-date=2014-02-22 | url-status=dead}} Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland told reporters soon afterward, "It was agreed with Yanukovych that there was a willingness to hold early elections this year, both presidential and parliamentary." Tusk also said that Yanukovych "was willing to form a national unity government in the next 10 days and to change the constitution before the summer". Further talks were scheduled to negotiate the signing of the relevant document.{{cite news|agency=Agence France-Presse |newspaper=Straits Times |url=http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/world/story/ukraine-leader-yanukovych-willing-hold-early-elections-polish-pm-20140221 |title=Ukraine leader Yanukovych willing to hold early elections: Polish PM |date=21 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/world/story/ukraine-leader-yanukovych-willing-hold-early-elections-polish-pm-20140221 |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }}

After a telephone conversation between Yanukovych and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, Russian human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin was sent as an envoy to Ukraine, at Yanukovych's request, to try to mediate talks between the government and the opposition.{{cite news|url=http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/20/live-updates-at-least-17-dead-after-renewed-clashes-in-kiev/ |title=Ukraine as it happened, Kyiv's bloodiest day |publisher=Euronews |date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220185042/http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/20/live-updates-at-least-17-dead-after-renewed-clashes-in-kiev/ |archive-date=20 February 2014 |url-status=live }}

The United States imposed visa bans on 20 Ukrainian officials it considered "responsible for ordering human rights abuses related to political oppression". The European Union introduced a visa ban and a financial asset freeze against those responsible for the violence in Ukraine, and a ban on export to Ukraine of equipment that could be used by the government for "internal repression".{{cite web |url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/20/7015244/ |title=Європа Погодила Санкції Проти Українських Чиновників |trans-title=

|newspaper=Ukrainska Pravda |access-date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/20/7015244/ |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }}{{cite web|url=http://consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/141110.pdf |title=Council conclusions on Ukraine |publisher=Council of the European Union |access-date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/141110.pdf |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }}{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26280710 |title=Ukraine unrest: EU sanctions imposed |work=BBC News |date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26280710 |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }} "The scale of implementation will be taken forward in the light of developments in Ukraine," the EU Council concluded.{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191525.html |title=Scale of sanctions to depend on further developments in Ukraine- EU Council conclusions |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191525.html |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }}

The leader of the ruling Party of Regions, Oleksandr Yefremov, travelled to Luhansk to meet with local leaders and law enforcement agents to discuss the possibility of southeastern Ukraine's declaring independence and seceding from the state.{{cite news |url=http://espreso.tv/new/2014/02/20/yefremov_poyikhav_do_luhanska_schob_obdumaty_varianty_vidyednannya_pivdennoho_skhodu_ukrayiny___zmi |script-title=uk:Єфремов поїхав до Луганська, щоб обдумати варіанти від'єднання Південного Сходу України, – ЗМІ |publisher=Espreso TV |date=20 February 2014 |access-date=20 February 2014 |language=uk |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140220162159/http://espreso.tv/new/2014/02/20/yefremov_poyikhav_do_luhanska_schob_obdumaty_varianty_vidyednannya_pivdennoho_skhodu_ukrayiny___zmi |archive-date=20 February 2014 }}{{#tag:ref|In Luhansk Governor of Luhansk Oblast Valeriy Holenko said: "We believe that Ukraine becoming a federation will ensure the security of the people. No one's going to teach us how to live, how to love our motherland or what political interests we defend".{{cite news|url=http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/20/ukrainian-love-split-between-motherland-and-eu/ |title=Ukrainian 'love' split between 'motherland' and EU |publisher=Euronews |date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/20/ukrainian-love-split-between-motherland-and-eu/ |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }}{{cite web|url=http://www.interfax.com.ua/eng/main/34467 |title=President appoints 14 regional governors |access-date=2 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523175943/http://www.interfax.com.ua/eng/main/34467/ |archive-date=23 May 2012 }}, Interfax-Ukraine (18 March 2010)|group=nb}} The chairman of the Supreme Council of Crimea, Vladimir Konstantinov, travelled to Moscow, where he announced that the Autonomous Republic of Crimea would secede from Ukraine if there were a change of power.{{cite web|url=http://krymtatar.in.ua/krimskij-spiker-u-moskvi-pogrozhuye-priyednannyam-krimu-do-rosiyi/ |title=Crimean speaker in Moscow threatens annexation of the Crimea to Russia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413130058/http://krymtatar.in.ua/krimskij-spiker-u-moskvi-pogrozhuye-priyednannyam-krimu-do-rosiyi/ |archive-date=13 April 2014 |website=Crimean Tatar question |date=21 February 2014}}{{cite web |url=http://nbnews.com.ua/ua/news/113617/ |title=Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea ready for separation of peninsula in the case of the collapse of Ukraine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413130652/http://nbnews.com.ua/ua/news/113617/ |archive-date=13 April 2014 |website=NB News |date=20 February 2014}}

Party of Regions MP Sergiy Tigipko called for the resignation of parliament chairman Volodymyr Rybak, his replacement with an opposition parliamentarian, and the urgent election of a prime minister supported by all factions. "The president, the parliament speaker, the acting prime minister, and opposition leaders have completely lost control of the situation in the country and do not offer any solutions to pacify the country," he said. "Their inaction is leading to increased confrontation and deaths. Immediate concrete steps, rather than negotiations, are needed to resolve the crisis in the country."{{cite web | title=Tigipko calls for Rybak's immediate resignation, urgent election of prime minister | website=Interfax-Ukraine | date=2014-02-20 | url=https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191308.html}} In the evening, Tigipko held talks with opposition politicians Yatsenyuk and Klitschko.{{cite web

|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/20/7015307/

|script-title=uk:Тігіпко знайшовся. Був на переговорах з Кличком та Яценюком

|trans-title=Tigipko found. He was in negotiations with Klitschko and Yatsenyuk

|language=uk

|newspaper=Ukrainska Pravda

|date=20 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/20/7015307/

|archive-date=1 December 2008

|url-status=live

}}

The head of the Kyiv City State Administration, Volodymyr Makeyenko, and 17 MPs resigned from the Party of Regions.{{cite web|author=Anastasia Forina |url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/politics/serhiy-klyuyev-condemns-violence-but-remains-loyal-to-yanukovych-337257.html |title=Serhiy Klyuyev condemns violence, but remains loyal to Yanukovych |newspaper=Kyiv Post |access-date=21 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/politics/serhiy-klyuyev-condemns-violence-but-remains-loyal-to-yanukovych-337257.html |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }} In Rivne and Zhytomyr, the Party of Regions formally disbanded, with all MPs from those regions leaving the party as well.{{cite news|url=http://www.theinsider.ua/politics/530629c0e500c/ |title=У Рівному саморозпустилася обласна фракція Партії регіонів |trans-title= |work=The Insider |date=20 February 2014 |access-date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221165557/http://www.theinsider.ua/politics/530629c0e500c/ |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live }}

Ten Party of Regions and two independent MPs{{#tag:ref|The MP's from the Party of Regions were Andriy Derkach, Volodymyr Zubyk, Hryhoriy Smitiukh, Oleksandr Kuzmuk, Volodymyr Pekhov, Volodymyr Prodyvus, Volodymyr Struk, Mykola Soroka, Viktor Bondar, Viktor Tykhonov, and two independent lawmakers were Oleksandr Tabalov and Andriy Tabalov.|group=nb}} called for a return to the parliamentary-presidential form of government.{{#tag:ref|On 4 February 2014 the opposition had unsuccessfully tried to push through an unconditional amnesty for all detained protesters, and the returning to the constitution as it was between 2004 and 2010 in the Ukrainian parliament.{{cite web | last=Balmforth | first=Richard | title=Ukrainian opposition seeks to cut president's powers | website=Reuters | date=2014-02-04 | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSDEEA1308L/ }}|group=nb}} They also called on security forces to "execute the oath they swore to the Ukrainian people, not to follow criminal orders to use firearms, not to allow the participation of law enforcers in provocations involving gangs against the peaceful public and protesters all over Ukraine".{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191365.html |title=Ten Regions Party MPs, two independent MPs express support for Ukrainian people |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191365.html |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }}

At 16:42, parliament convened for an emergency sitting.{{cite news|url=http://www.unian.info/politics/887239-emergency-sitting-of-verkhovna-rada-opens.html |title=Emergency sitting of Verkhovna Rada opens |work=UNIAN |date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.unian.info/politics/887239-emergency-sitting-of-verkhovna-rada-opens.html |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }} The Party of Regions did not take part.{{cite news|url=http://www.unian.info/politics/887109-pr-faction-not-to-take-part-in-todays-sitting-of-verkhovna-rada-oleynyk.html |title=PR faction not to take part in today's sitting of Verkhovna Rada – Oleynyk |work=Ukrainian Independent Information Agency |date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.unian.info/politics/887109-pr-faction-not-to-take-part-in-todays-sitting-of-verkhovna-rada-oleynyk.html |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }} According to a UNIAN correspondent, 227 MPs out of 450—mostly from the opposition, but some from the Party of Regions—were present.{{cite news

|url=http://www.unian.info/politics/887298-227-lawmakers-registered-in-vr-sitting-resumed.html

|title=227 lawmakers registered in VR, sitting resumed

|work=Ukrainian Independent Information Agency

|date=20 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.unian.info/politics/887298-227-lawmakers-registered-in-vr-sitting-resumed.html

|archive-date=1 December 2008

|url-status=live

}} Out of 238 deputies present, 236 voted to condemn the recent violence, ban the use of weapons against protesters, and withdraw troops and the police deployed against them.{{cite news

|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26269221

|title=LIVE Ukraine unrest: Clashes in central Kiev

|work=BBC News

|date=20 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26269221

|archive-date=1 December 2008

|url-status=live

}}{{cite news

|language=uk

|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/20/7015330/

|title=Members voted for ceasefire

|newspaper=Ukrainska Pravda

|date=20 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221014334/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/20/7015330/

|archive-date=21 February 2014

|url-status=live

}} The entire parliamentary faction of the Communist Party of Ukraine and some 80% of the Party of Regions chose to miss the session.{{cite web |url=http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/radan_gs09/ns_golos?g_id=3816 |title=Individual voting |website=Verkhovna Rada |date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302182748/http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/radan_gs09/ns_golos?g_id=3816 |archive-date=2 March 2014 }} Lawmakers barred chiefs and commanders of the Interior Troops, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the SBU, and other government agencies from carrying out any counter-terrorism operations because they violated the Constitution of Ukraine.{{cite news

|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191526.html

|title=Rada condemns use of force causing deaths, bans counter-terrorism operations in Ukraine

|work=Interfax-Ukraine

|date=20 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191526.html

|archive-date=1 December 2008

|url-status=live

}} They were also ordered to stop blocking roads and bridges, squares and streets in Kyiv and other cities and towns. The Party of Regions MPs at the sitting agreed to form an "anti-crisis group".{{cite news

|url=http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/20/ukraine-parliament-holds-debate-despite-kyiv-violence/

|title=Ukraine parliament holds debate despite Kyiv violence

|publisher=Euronews

|date=20 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/20/ukraine-parliament-holds-debate-despite-kyiv-violence/

|archive-date=1 December 2008

|url-status=live

}}

Late in the evening, it was announced that five more MPs had left the parliamentary faction of the Party of Regions.{{cite news

|language=uk

|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/20/7015339

|title=Five more MPs left faction PR

|newspaper=Ukrainska Pravda

|date=20 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221171433/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/20/7015339/

|archive-date=21 February 2014

|url-status=live

}}

The Parliament of Crimea called for an extraordinary session on 21 February. The leader of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People said he suspected that lawmakers would ask for Russian military intervention, stating, "Tomorrow may be a decision that will bring chaos and disaster to Crimea."{{cite news

|author=Uainfo Blogosphere

|url=http://news.bigmir.net/ukraine/788004-V-Ukraine-zahvatyvajut-oblastnye-gosadministracii--OBNOVLJaETSJa-

|title=Бои в регионах: во Львове в казарме Беркута нашли два трупа

|trans-title=

|publisher=Big Mir

|access-date=21 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140126020300/http://news.bigmir.net/ukraine/788004-V-Ukraine-zahvatyvajut-oblastnye-gosadministracii--OBNOVLJaETSJa-

|archive-date=26 January 2014

}} Several scholars discussed the possibility of Russian intervention in Crimea specifically, because of its unique geopolitical nature and demographics.{{cite web

|last=Babiak

|first=Mat

|url=http://ukrainianpolicy.com/is-russia-opening-a-crimean-front/

|title=Is Russia Opening a 'Crimean Front'?

|publisher=Ukrainian Policy

|access-date=21 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://ukrainianpolicy.com/is-russia-opening-a-crimean-front/

|archive-date=1 December 2008

|url-status=live

}}

File:2014-02-21 11-04 Euromaidan in Kiev.jpg

The Armed Forces' deputy chief of staff, Lieutenant-General Yuri Dumansky, resigned because he disagreed with the involvement of the army in the conflict.{{cite news

|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/21/7015381/

|title=Написав рапорт про звільнення Заступник начальника Генштабу

|trans-title=

|newspaper=Ukrainska Pravda

|date=21 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/21/7015381/

|archive-date=1 December 2008

|url-status=live

}} "Today the army is being involved in the civil conflict, which could lead to the mass deaths of civilians and soldiers," he said. At around midnight, journalist Artem Shevchenko, referring to his sources in the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, announced that 10 BTRs had departed from Kozacha Bay (Cossack Bay), where the Black Sea Fleet of Russia is based, escorted by DAI (Road Auto Inspection) vehicles.{{cite news

|url=http://ukr.lb.ua/news/2014/02/21/256370_kiev_edet_batalon_morpehov_dve.html

|script-title=uk:У Київ їдуть батальйон морських піхотинців і дві бригади десантників

|trans-title=To Kyiv are traveling a battalion of marines and two brigades of paratroopers

|publisher=LB

|language=uk

|date=21 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221172206/http://ukr.lb.ua/news/2014/02/21/256370_kiev_edet_batalon_morpehov_dve.html

|archive-date=21 February 2014

|url-status=live

}} According to Shevchenko, 1,500 airborne soldiers and 400 marines—including the 25th Airborne Brigade, the 1st Marine Brigade, the 831st Anti-sabotage Unit, and the 2nd Marine Spetsnaz—had been transferred on 20 February under the command of the SBU for the anti-terrorist operation.{{cite news

|url=http://ukr.lb.ua/news/2014/02/20/256354_kiev_styagivayut_15_tis_desantnikov.html

|title=До Києва стягують 1,5 тис. десантників і 400 морпіхів, – журналіст

|trans-title=To Kyiv are being pulled 1.5 thousand paratroopers and 400 Marines – journalist

|publisher=LB

|date=20 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://ukr.lb.ua/news/2014/02/20/256354_kiev_styagivayut_15_tis_desantnikov.html

|archive-date=1 December 2008

|url-status=live

}}

In the lead-up to the day's parliamentary session, it was reported that many members of the Party of Regions and their families had fled the capital,{{cite news

|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/21/7015369/

|title=Замість голосування в парламенті "регіонали" втікали зі столиці

|trans-title=

|newspaper=Ukrainska Pravda

|date=21 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/21/7015369/

|archive-date=1 December 2008

|url-status=live

}} including acting Interior Minister Zakharchenko and Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka.{{cite news|url=http://zik.ua/ua/news/2014/02/21/pshonka_i_zaharchenko_tikayut_z_ukrainy_463082 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221180925/http://zik.ua/ua/news/2014/02/21/pshonka_i_zaharchenko_tikayut_z_ukrainy_463082 |title=Пшонка і Захарченко тікають чартерами з України |publisher=Zik |date=21 February 2014 |archive-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live }}

Later, Maidan activists released the Interior Troops servicemen whom they had captured the previous day.{{cite news

|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191665.html

|title=Captured Interior Troops soldiers released, their condition satisfactory – Interior Ministry

|work=Interfax-Ukraine

|date=21 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191665.html

|archive-date=1 December 2008

|url-status=live

}} Meanwhile, the entire police force of Radekhiv joined the protesters in Kyiv.{{cite news

|url=http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/21/police-defectors-welcomed-to-independence-square-in-kyiv/

|title=Police defectors welcomed to Independence Square in Kyiv

|publisher=Euronews

|date=21 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/21/police-defectors-welcomed-to-independence-square-in-kyiv/

|archive-date=1 December 2008

|url-status=live

}}

The Security Service of Ukraine officially ended its "preparations for antiterrorist operation" introduced on 19 February.{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191796.html |title=Ukraine's Security Service stops preparations for anti-terrorist operation |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=21 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191796.html |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }}

{{Main|Agreement on settlement of political crisis in Ukraine}}

File:Yanukovych Capitulation.jpg

A compromise deal was agreed to on 21 February after hours of negotiations led by the European Union mediators and Foreign Ministers Radosław Sikorski of Poland, Laurent Fabius of France, and Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany.{{cite news

|url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/opposition-leaders-sign-deal-with-president-to-end-crisis-in-ukraine/

|title=Opposition leaders sign deal with president to end crisis in Ukraine

|publisher=Fox News Channel

|date=21 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/02/21/ukrainian-presidency-says-deal-reached-at-crisis-talks/

|archive-date=1 December 2008

|url-status=live

}}{{cite news

|url=http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/21/eu-foreign-ministers-praise-risk-taking-ukrainian-protagonists/

|title=EU foreign ministers praise "risk -taking" Ukrainian protagonists

|publisher=Euronews

|date=21 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/21/eu-foreign-ministers-praise-risk-taking-ukrainian-protagonists/

|archive-date=1 December 2008

|url-status=live

}} Officially called the Agreement on settlement of political crisis in Ukraine, but unofficially called the 21 February Agreement, it was signed by both opposition leaders and the president after overnight negotiations (read the full text of the agreement here).{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/21/agreement-on-the-settlement-of-crisis-in-ukraine-full-text |title=Agreement on the Settlement of Crisis in Ukraine - full text |work=The Guardian|date=22 February 2014 |access-date=12 March 2015}} The agreed-to provisions included a restoration of the constitution as it was between 2004 and 2010; constitutional reform to be completed by September; early presidential elections no later than December 2014; an investigation into the violence conducted under joint monitoring of the administration, the opposition, and the Council of Europe; a veto on imposing a state of emergency; amnesty for protesters arrested since 17 February; the surrender of public buildings occupied by protesters; the forfeiture of illegal weapons; "new electoral laws", and the formation of a new Central Election Commission.{{cite web

|title=Agreement on the Settlement of Crisis in Ukraine

|url=http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/cae/servlet/contentblob/671348/publicationFile/190025/140221-UKR_Erklaerung.pdf

|access-date=21 February 2014

|archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20140505194705/http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/cae/servlet/contentblob/671348/publicationFile/190025/140221-UKR_Erklaerung.pdf

|archive-date=5 May 2014

|url-status=live

}}{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10655129/Ukraine-peace-hopes-in-the-air-as-president-loses-his-powers.html |title=Ukraine: peace hopes in the air as president loses his powers |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=21 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10655129/Ukraine-peace-hopes-in-the-air-as-president-loses-his-powers.html |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }} The three EU foreign ministers signed the document as witnesses,{{cite news

|url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-ukraine-idUKBREA1H0EM20140221

|title=Ukraine peace deal signed, opens way for early election

|work=Reuters

|date=21 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/02/21/uk-ukraine-idUKBREA1H0EM20140221

|archive-date=1 December 2008

|url-status=dead

}} but not the Russian mediator Vladimir Lukin, because he had no mandate to sign an agreement on the crisis.{{cite web |url=http://www.ukrinform.ua/ukr/news/predstavnik_rf_ne_mav_mandatu_na_pidpisannya_ugodi_pro_krizu___klyue_v_1910494 |title=Представник РФ не мав мандату на підписання угоди про кризу – Клюєв | УКРІНФОРМ |publisher=Ukrinform.ua |date=21 February 2014 |access-date=12 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140312233704/http://www.ukrinform.ua/ukr/news/predstavnik_rf_ne_mav_mandatu_na_pidpisannya_ugodi_pro_krizu___klyue_v_1910494 |archive-date=12 March 2014 }}{{cite news|url=http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/tensions-high-at-kyiv-protest-camp-despite-ground-breaking-deal-1.1697154 |title=Tensions high at Kyiv protest camp despite ground-breaking deal |publisher=CTV News |date=21 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/tensions-high-at-kyiv-protest-camp-despite-ground-breaking-deal-1.1697154 |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }}

The 450-seat parliament voted unanimously, 386–0, to return to the 2004 constitution, and then it voted 332–0 to suspend acting Interior Minister Zakharchenko.{{cite news

|title=EuroMaidan rallies in Ukraine

|url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv/euromaidan-rallies-in-ukraine-feb-21-live-updates-337287.html

|newspaper=Kyiv Post

|date=21 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv/euromaidan-rallies-in-ukraine-feb-21-live-updates-337287.html

|archive-date=1 December 2008

|url-status=live

}} Another bill made changes to the Criminal Code, allowing for the release of Yulia Tymoshenko.{{cite news

|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191767.html

|title=Rada passes bill allowing Tymoshenko's release

|work=Interfax-Ukraine

|date=21 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191767.html

|archive-date=1 December 2008

|url-status=live

}} 310 MPs voted in favour of the measure, including 54 from the Party of Regions and 32 Communists.{{cite web |url=http://espreso.tv/new/2014/02/21/parlament_zvilnyv_tymoshenko |title=Парламент звільнив Тимошенко |publisher=Espreso TV |access-date=22 February 2014 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140221175019/http://espreso.tv/new/2014/02/21/parlament_zvilnyv_tymoshenko |archive-date=21 February 2014 }} Mykola Rudkovsky introduced a bill to impeach President Yanukovych.{{cite news

|url = http://www.interfax.ru/world/news/360314

|title = В Раду внесен законопроект об импичменте президенту

|date = 21 February 2014

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.interfax.ru/world/news/360314

|archive-date = 1 December 2008

}} Parliament also adopted a resolution late that evening that ordered all Interior Ministry troops and police officers to return to their barracks.

File:Euromaidan RSA occupations.png

Right Sector leader Dmytro Yarosh rejected the agreement, saying, "We have to state the obvious fact that the criminal regime had not yet realised either the gravity of its evil doing." He noted that the agreement did not include provisions for the arrest of Interior Minister Zakharchenko; the punishing of Berkut commanders alleged to have been involved in the murder of civilians; the removal of the general prosecutor and defence minister; a ban on the Party of Regions and Communist Party; and guarantees of safety for those involved in the opposition. He called for the "people's revolution" to continue until power had been completely removed from the governing authorities. Euromaidan leader Andriy Parubiy insisted that elections be held as soon as possible and reiterated that one of the main demands of protesters had been the resignation of President Yanukovych.{{cite news

|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/21/7015573/

|script-title=uk:Парубій: дострокові вибори президента мають відбутися якнайшвидше

|newspaper=Ukrainska Pravda

|language=uk

|date=21 February 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/21/7015573/

|archive-date=1 December 2008

|url-status=live

}} AutoMaidan also announced that it would not accept anything short of Yanukovych's resignation.{{cite web|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/21/7015575/ |title=Автомайдан: Не сприймаємо нічого, крім відставки Януковича |newspaper=Ukrainska Pravda |access-date=22 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/21/7015575/ |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }}

Vitali Klitschko apologised to the crowd on Independence Square after shaking hands with Yanukovych.{{cite web|url=http://tsn.ua/politika/klichko-vibachivsya-pered-maydanom-za-te-scho-potis-ruku-yanukovichu-335938.html |title=Кличко вибачився перед Майданом за те, що потис руку Януковичу |publisher=The Sports Network |access-date=22 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://tsn.ua/politika/klichko-vibachivsya-pered-maydanom-za-te-scho-potis-ruku-yanukovichu-335938.html |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }} Protesters there responded to the deal by booing opposition leaders. Activist Volodymyr Parasiuk warned from the stage that if Yanukovych did not resign by 10:00 the next day, an armed insurrection would be staged.{{cite web|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/21/7015590/ |script-title=uk:Люди Поставили Ультиматум: Відставка Януковича До Ранку |newspaper=Ukrainska Pravda |language=uk |access-date=22 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/21/7015590/ |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }} Outside of Kyiv, it was later discovered that the summer home of pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk had been set on fire.{{cite web|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/21/7015598/ |script-title=uk:У Київській області горить дача Медведчука |work=Ukrainska Pravda |language=uk |access-date=22 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/21/7015598/ |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }}

By late afternoon, hundreds of riot police officers guarding the presidential compound and nearby government buildings had vanished. Radosław Sikorski, the Polish foreign minister, described the withdrawal of forces as "astonishing", noting that it was not part of the agreement.{{cite web | last1=Higgins | first1=Andrew | last2=Kramer | first2=Andrew E. | last3=Erlanger | first3=Steven | title=As His Fortunes Fell in Ukraine, a President Clung to Illusions | website=The New York Times | date=2014-02-24 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/24/world/europe/as-his-fortunes-fell-in-ukraine-a-president-clung-to-illusions.html }} The riot police had begun withdrawing early in the morning because they feared that Yanukovych's government would pin the responsibility for the violence on them, and because they feared being attacked after protesters stole around 1,200 pistols and Kalashnikov rifles from the police on 18 February during the occupation of government buildings in Lviv. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry was left without leadership. Deputy Interior Minister Viktor Dubovik ordered the riot police to leave the city, but it is unclear where this order originated. Opposition member Serhiy Pashynsky arranged escorts out of the city for more than 5,000 officers, Interior Ministry forces, and other special forces. After the riot police vanished, Andriy Parubiy reported that Euromaidan self-defence had peacefully gained control over Kyiv and its government buildings,{{cite news|url=http://www.unian.net/politics/888104-verhovnaya-rada-administratsiya-prezidenta-kabmin-i-mvd-pereshli-pod-kontrol-maydana.html |script-title=ru:Верховная Рада, Администрация президента, Кабмин и МВД перешли под контроль Майдана |work=Ukrainian Independent Information Agency |language=ru |access-date=22 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.unian.net/politics/888104-verhovnaya-rada-administratsiya-prezidenta-kabmin-i-mvd-pereshli-pod-kontrol-maydana.html |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }} and that the military was standing with the opposition.{{cite web|last=Babiak |first=Mat |url=http://ukrainianpolicy.com/coup-on-the-horizon/ |title=Coup on the Horizon |work=Ukrainian Policy |access-date=22 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://ukrainianpolicy.com/coup-on-the-horizon/ |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }}

A new parliamentary coalition was created after 28 MPs left the Party of Regions' faction.{{cite web | title=28 MPs quit Party of Regions faction in Rada | website=Interfax-Ukraine | date=2014-02-21 | url=https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191768.html}} Within the remaining faction, a "group of 31 deputies with a special position" was formed by Sergiy Tigipko "to persuade other Party of Regions MPs to vote progressively".{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191677.html |title=Group of 31 deputies who 'have their own opinion' formed in Regions Party faction – Tigipko |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=21 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191677.html |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }}

On 21 February, President Yanukovych and parliament declared 22 and 23 February to be days of mourning "due to the loss of human life as a result of mass disturbances".{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191756.html |title=Yanukovych declares Feb 22–23 days of mourning victims |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=21 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-date=21 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221185710/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191756.html }}

File:Samooborona (Self Defence) guard and activists at the entrance to Verkhovna Rada. Euromaidan, Kyiv, Ukraine. Events of February 22, 2014.jpg

Despite signing an agreement to approve constitutional changes, president Yanukovych secretly fled Kyiv on the night of 21 February 2014. Parliament were not informed that he had left, or where he had went.{{cite book |last1=Wynnyckyj |first1=Mychailo |title=Ukraine's Maidan, Russia's War: A Chronicle and Analysis of the Revolution of Dignity |date=2019 |publisher=Columbia University Press |pages=132–135}} Also missing were acting Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov, and Interior Minister Zakharchenko, who reportedly fled to Belarus.{{cite news|url=http://glavcom.ua/news/186978.html |script-title=ru:Захарченко пересек украино-белорусскую границу |language=ru |publisher=Glavcom |date=22 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222225312/http://glavcom.ua/news/186978.html |archive-date=22 February 2014 |url-status=live }} Later, it was revealed that Yanukovych had begun preparing to leave Kyiv on 19 February, even before the worst of the violence and before he signed the agreement with the opposition.

On 22 February 2014, Ukraine's parliament held an emergency session. Parliament chairman Volodymyr Rybak resigned that morning, citing illness. Parliament then elected Oleksandr Turchynov as chairman.

Ukraine's parliament unanimously voted to remove Yanukovych from his post and to schedule an early presidential election for 25 May. The vote was 328–0 (about 73% of parliament's members).{{cite web | title=Rada removes Yanukovych from office, schedules new elections for May 25 | website=Interfax-Ukraine | date=2014-02-22 | url=https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/192030.html}}{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-26248275 |title=Ukraine protests timeline |work=BBC News |date=23 February 2014 |archive-date=19 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219200447/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-26248275 }}{{cite web | title=Ukraine President Yanukovich impeached | website=Al Jazeera | date=2014-02-22 | url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2014/2/22/ukraine-president-yanukovich-impeached }}{{cite web | title=Про уповноваження виконуючого обов'язки Президента України, Голову Верховної Ради України Турчинова О.В. на підписання законів України |trans-title=On withdrawal of the President of Ukraine from the implementation of constitutional powers and calling early presidential elections in Ukraine| website=Офіційний вебпортал парламенту України |date=2014-02-25| url=https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/788-VII | language=uk}} The resolution stated that Yanukovych had abandoned his constitutional duties, "which threatens the governance of the state, the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine", and cited "circumstances of extreme urgency". The resolution to remove Yanukovych was supported by all opposition parties: 86 deputies of Batkivshchyna (Fatherland Party), 41 deputies of the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR), 36 deputies of Svoboda (Freedom Party), 30 deputies of the Communist Party, as well as 99 independents. Furthermore, 36 deputies of Yanukovych's own Party of Regions voted for his removal. There were no votes against. Of the remaining deputies, 115 were absent and 6 did not vote.{{cite web |url=http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/radan_gs09/ns_golos?g_id=3863 |title=Parliamentary vote on the draft resolution on the withdrawal of President of Ukraine to fulfill constitutional powers (number 4193) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140312210622/http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/radan_gs09/ns_golos?g_id=3863 |archive-date=12 March 2014 |website= Verkhovna Rada}}

Parliament did not vote to impeach the president, which would have involved formally charging Yanukovych with a crime, a review of the charge by the Constitutional Court, and a three-fourths majority vote in parliament—at least 338 votes in favor.{{cite web |last=Sindelar|first=Daisy |url=http://www.rferl.org/content/was-yanukovychs-ouster-constitutional/25274346.html |title=Was Yanukovych's Ouster Constitutional? |publisher=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |date=23 February 2014 |access-date=25 February 2014 |quote=[I]t is not clear that the hasty February 22 vote upholds constitutional guidelines, which call for a review of the case by Ukraine's Constitutional Court and a three-fourths majority vote by the Verkhovna Rada – i.e., 338 lawmakers.}}

Under the 2004 constitution, which parliament had voted to reinstate, chairman Turchynov became acting president. Turchynov said Yanukovych had agreed to resign and had recorded a resignation statement, but had changed his mind after consulting with advisers. Yanukovych said he would not resign or leave the country and called parliament's decisions "illegal" and a "coup d'état", likening it to the rise of the Nazi Party in 1930s Germany.{{cite news |url=http://www.eleconomista.es/internacional/noticias/5564328/02/14/Ukraine-parliament-removes-Yanukovich-who-flees-Kiev-in-coup.html#.Kku8bannDf8VBH7 |title=Ukraine parliament removes Yanukovich, who flees Kiev in "coup" |date=14 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-date=22 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222174921/http://www.eleconomista.es/internacional/noticias/5564328/02/14/Ukraine-parliament-removes-Yanukovich-who-flees-Kiev-in-coup.html#.Kku8bannDf8VBH7 }}

Following the parliamentary procedures to transfer power to the new provisional government, General Prosecutor Pshonka and Minister of Revenues and Duties Oleksandr Klymenko were stopped at the Russian border while trying to flee the country. According to the State Border Service, Yanukovych also tried to flee via a charter flight from Donetsk, but was stopped by border guards. The guards were "met by a group of armed men who offered money for flying without the proper clearance". Yanukovych then left by armored car, and his subsequent whereabouts were unknown.{{cite news |url=http://zn.ua/POLITICS/pogranichniki-otkazalis-vypustit-samolet-yanukovicha-iz-donecka-139539_.html |script-title=ru:Пограничники отказались выпустить самолет Януковича из Донецка |trans-title=Border guards refused to release Yanukovich's plane in Donetsk |newspaper=Zerkalo Nedeli |date=22 February 2014 |archive-date=22 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222225800/http://zn.ua/POLITICS/pogranichniki-otkazalis-vypustit-samolet-yanukovicha-iz-donecka-139539_.html }} Former Interior Minister Zakharchenko also tried to fly out of Donetsk and was similarly turned back.{{cite news|url=http://zn.ua/POLITICS/eks-glava-mvd-zaharchenko-pytalsya-pokinut-ukrainu-139534_.html |title=Экс-глава МВД Захарченко пытался покинуть Украину |trans-title=Ex-Interior Minister Zaharchenko tried to leave Ukraine |newspaper=Zerkalo Nedeli |date=22 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-date=22 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222230120/http://zn.ua/POLITICS/eks-glava-mvd-zaharchenko-pytalsya-pokinut-ukrainu-139534_.html }}

On 23 February, parliament deputy Oleh Lyashko claimed that Yanukovych had been seen at the Russian naval base in Sevastopol, preparing to flee the country on board a Russian military vessel.{{cite news |script-title=ru:Янукович пытается сбежать из Севастополя на корабле, – депутат |trans-title=Yanukovych is trying to escape from Sevastopol on the ship - MP |date=24 February 2014 |url=http://an.crimea.ua/page/news/57889/ |newspaper=Argumenty Nedeli |access-date=24 February 2014 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140224032625/http://an.crimea.ua/page/news/57889/ |archive-date=24 February 2014 }} Journalist Tetyana Chornovol speculated that he was actually trying to flee on his private yacht, also in Sevastopol.{{cite news|work=Ukrainska Pravda|url= http://blogs.pravda.com.ua/authors/chornovol/530a5c1399ee2/|script-title=uk:Янукович тікає морем|trans-title=Yanukovych fleeing by sea|date=22 February 2014|access-date=24 February 2014|language=uk}} According to court testimony of a bodyguard, Yanukovych and his family flew from Kharkiv to Donetsk by helicopter, then drove to Berdiansk on the Azov Sea, from where they were flown by aircraft with Russian military markings, via two other airfields, to a Russian facility in Yalta, Crimea, then moved to Russian base in Sevastopol, and departed late on 23 February.{{Cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/478192.html|title=Russia, its military helped Yanukovych leave Ukraine in 2014 - former security guard|access-date=31 January 2018}}

On 24 February, acting Interior Minister Avakov announced that Yanukovych had been placed on the country's most wanted list and that "a criminal case on mass killings of civilians has been opened" for him and other officials.{{cite news|agency=Interfax-Ukraine |title=Avakov: Yanukovych put on wanted list |url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/avakov-yanukovych-put-on-wanted-list-337476.html |work=Kyiv Post |date=24 February 2014 |access-date=24 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140224120014/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/avakov-yanukovych-put-on-wanted-list-337476.html |url-status=live |archive-date=24 February 2014 }}{{cite news|title=Yanukovych declared wanted – Avakov |url=http://www.unian.net/politics/888892-yanukovich-obyyavlen-v-rozyisk-avakov.html |work=UNIAN |date=24 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226195704/http://www.unian.net/politics/888892-yanukovich-obyyavlen-v-rozyisk-avakov.html |url-status=live |archive-date=26 February 2014 }}

On 25 February, parliament asked the International Criminal Court to "establish and bring to justice senior Ukrainian officials including ... Yanukovych, for crimes against humanity during peaceful protests of citizens from 21 November 2013 to 22 February 2014".{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/192689.html |title=Rada asks Hague court to punish those responsible for crimes against humanity during peaceful protests in Ukraine |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=25 February 2014 |access-date=25 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-date=19 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019201551/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/192689.html }} On the same day, Yanukovych and Zakharchenko were declared internationally wanted.{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/193012.html |title=Yanukovych, Zakharchenko put on international wanted list, says prosecutor general |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=26 February 2014 |access-date=26 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-date=19 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019201548/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/193012.html }} Criminal proceedings were launched in 20 February killings of Euromaidan demonstrators. Yanukovych; the former head of the presidential administration, Andriy Kliuyev; former Prosecutor General Pshonka; former Interior Minister Zakharchenko; former SBU head Yakymenko; the commander of the Interior Troops, Stanislav Shuliak; and a number of others were declared suspects in the case.{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/192945.html |title=Yanukovych, Kliuyev, Pshonka, Zakharchenko, Yakymenko, Shuliak face murder charges – PGO |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=26 February 2014 |access-date=26 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-date=19 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019133923/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/192945.html }}

{{see also|First Yatsenyuk Government|Second Azarov government#Fall}}

On 22 February 2014, Yulia Tymoshenko was released from prison and addressed more than 100,000 people on Independence Square.{{cite web|author=Anastasia Vlasova |author-link=Anastasia Vlasova (journalist) |work=Kyiv Post |access-date=23 February 2014 |url=http://www.kyivpost.com/multimedia/photo/ukrainians-celebrate-euromaidans-triumph-337404.html |title=Ukrainians celebrate EuroMaidan's triumph |url-status=live |archive-date=23 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223213056/http://www.kyivpost.com/multimedia/photo/ukrainians-celebrate-euromaidans-triumph-337404.html }} The same day, parliament appointed Arsen Avakov as acting interior minister.{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191921.html |title=Parliament appoints Avakov acting interior minister |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=22 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-date=28 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228054428/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/191921.html }} Lawmakers also ousted Viktor Pshonka as general prosecutor of Ukraine in a no-confidence vote.{{cite news|url=http://en.trend.az/azerbaijan/politics/2245153.html |title=Ukrainian parliament expresses no-confidence to Viktor Pshonka |work=Trend News Agency |date=22 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141227195059/http://en.trend.az/azerbaijan/politics/2245153.html |url-status=live |archive-date=27 December 2014 }}

On 23 February, the second day of national mourning, parliament voted to abolish the law on language policies that had given the Russian, Romanian, and Hungarian languages the official status of regional languages in some areas.{{cite news|url=http://lenta.ru/news/2014/02/23/language/ |title=На Украине отменили закон о региональном статусе русского языка |website=Lenta.ru |access-date=23 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223224335/http://lenta.ru/news/2014/02/23/language/ |archive-date=23 February 2014 }} However, this measure was later vetoed by the acting president, who said he would not sign the bill until new legislation protecting minority languages was developed.{{cite news|script-title=ru:На отмену закона о региональных языках на Украине наложат вето |trans-title=The abolition of the law on regional languages in Ukraine veto |url=http://lenta.ru/news/2014/03/01/language/ |newspaper=Lenta |place=Russia |date=1 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301183333/http://lenta.ru/news/2014/03/01/language/ |archive-date=1 March 2014 |url-status=live |language=ru }} The same day, parliament dismissed Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara, Health Minister Raisa Bogatyrova, and Education Minister Dmytro Tabachnyk and nationalised Yanukovych's private estate Mezhyhirya.{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/192286.html |title=Ukrainian parliament dismisses foreign, health and education ministers, authorizes speaker to act as president |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=24 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228052617/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/192286.html |archive-date=28 February 2014 }} Warrants were issued for former Incomes Minister Oleksandr Klymenko and former Prosecutor General Pshonka. Parliament also passed amendments restoring its power to appoint and dismiss judges, which had belonged to the Supreme Council of Justice.{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/192321.html |title=Ukrainian parliament to appoint and dismiss judges |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=24 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228070322/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/192321.html |archive-date=28 February 2014 }}

Kyiv Metro became fully operational again, including the reopening of the Maidan Nezalezhnosti station, on 24 February.{{cite web | title=Київське метро повністю відновило роботу, і на Майдані теж |trans-title=Kyiv subway fully resumed, and in the street too| website=Українська правда | date=2014-02-24 | url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/24/7016014/ | language=uk }}

On 24 February, parliament dismissed Social Policies Minister Natalia Korolevska and Culture Minister Leonid Novokhatko;{{cite news|url=https://newdaynews.ru/kiev/486225.html |title=Верховная Рада продолжает увольнять людей Януковича |website=newdaynews.ru |date=30 May 2005 |access-date=12 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228033704/http://www.nr2.ru/kiev/486225.html |archive-date=28 February 2014 |url-status=live }} it also dismissed Ihor Sorkin as governor of the National Bank of Ukraine and replaced him with Stepan Kubiv.{{cite news|work=Reuters |url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/ukraine-crisis-cbank-idUKL6N0LT3JV20140224 |title=Ukraine's parliament appoints new central bank chief |date=24 February 2014 |archive-date=28 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228164704/http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/02/24/ukraine-crisis-cbank-idUKL6N0LT3JV20140224 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web | title=Депутати змінили голову Нацбанку |trans-title=MPs changed the head of the National Bank| website=Українська правда | date=2014-02-24 | url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/02/24/7016113/ | language=uk }} The same day, it appointed Valentyn Nalyvaichenko as head of the Security Service of Ukraine after dismissing Oleksandr Yakymenko from the post.{{cite news|date=24 February 2014 |url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/192522.html |title=Ukrainian parliament appoints Nalyvaichenko as security service chief |work=Interfax-Ukraine |archive-date=28 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228044634/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/192522.html |url-status=live }} Meanwhile, the leader of the Party of Regions faction, Oleksandr Yefremov, declared that the party was moving into the opposition. Seventy-seven of its MPs had left the faction over the past few days.{{cite news|url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/party-of-regions-faction-becomes-opposition-337488.html |title=Party of Regions faction becomes opposition |work=Kyiv Post |agency=Interfax-Ukraine |date=24 February 2014 |archive-date=1 March 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301071710/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/party-of-regions-faction-becomes-opposition-337488.html }}

On Tuesday, 25 February, acting President Turchynov called for the formation of a national unity government by Thursday.{{cite news|work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=25 February 2014 |url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/192624.html |title=Government should be approved on Thursday – Turchynov |archive-date=1 March 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301170410/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/192624.html }} (Two days earlier, he had asked for the formation of such a government by Tuesday.{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-urkaine-crisis-idUSBREA1M0AX20140223 |title=Ukraine seeks agreement on national unity government by Tuesday |work=Reuters |date=23 February 2014 |archive-date=1 March 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301094459/https://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/23/us-urkaine-crisis-idUSBREA1M0AX20140223 }}) Also on the 25th, Anatoliy Kinakh and 32 other deputies, mostly former Party of Regions members, created the Economic Development faction.{{cite news|url=http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/en/148/557077/ |title=Rada creates Group for Economic Development |work=Radio Ukraine |date=25 February 2014 |archive-date=30 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140530045305/http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/en/148/557077/ }}{{cite news|language=uk |url=http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/site2/p_fractions |script-title=uk:Депутатські фракції і групи VII скликання |trans-title=Deputy fractions and Groups VII convocation |publisher=Verkhovna Rada |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920051907/http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/site2/p_fractions |archive-date=20 September 2012 }}

On 26 February, Turchynov assumed the duties of the supreme commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/192848.html |title=Turchynov assumes duties of supreme commander-in-chief of Ukrainian Armed Forces |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=26 February 2014 |archive-date=15 April 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140415022832/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/192848.html }}{{Cite Ukrainian law|type=President of Ukraine decree|number=140/2014|law=140/2014|name=On the assumption of responsibilities of Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (Про прийняття обов'язків Верховного Головнокомандувача Збройних Сил України)|date=26 February 2014}}

On 27 February 2014 the first Yatsenyuk government headed by Arseniy Yatsenyuk was formed.{{cite web | title=Maidan nominates Yatseniuk for prime minister | website=Interfax-Ukraine | date=2014-02-26 | url=https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/193035.html }}{{cite web | title=Ukrainian parliament endorses new cabinet | website=Interfax-Ukraine | date=2014-02-27 | url=https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/193222.html}} The cabinet was formed as a coalition of the parties Batkivschyna, UDAR and Svoboda and the parliamentary factions Economic Development and Sovereign European Ukraine and other independent MPs.{{cite web | title=250 MPs sign up to join coalition | website=Interfax-Ukraine | date=2014-02-27 | url=https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/193195.html}}

On 24 February, parliament decided to release all political prisoners, including the father and son in the Pavlichenko criminal case.{{cite news|work=Interfax-Ukraine |url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/192543.html |title=Rada decides to release political prisoners, including Pavlychenko family |date=24 February 2014 |archive-date=28 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228071901/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/192543.html }} Parliament also terminated the powers of five judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, appointed from parliament's quota, for violating their oath.{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/192520.html |title=Rada dismisses Constitutional Court judges appointed from its quota, proposes acting president and congress of judges dismiss the rest |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=24 February 2014 |archive-date=28 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228035452/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/192520.html }} Lawmakers also offered to dismiss, for the same reason, two judges appointed by the president of Ukraine, and called on the Council of Judges of Ukraine to convene an extraordinary congress within three days to consider dismissing five Constitutional Court judges appointed by the council. In the same resolution, parliament assigned the prosecutor general of Ukraine to begin criminal proceedings against all judges who, in the opinion of the People's Deputies of Ukraine, were guilty of adopting on 30 September 2010 a decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (No. 20-rp/2010) on the procedure of introducing constitutional amendments. On 27 February, judges of the Constitutional Court sent a letter to European organizations, international organizations, and human rights institutions questioning the constitutionality of the parliamentary resolution.{{cite web |url=http://www.ccu.gov.ua/en/publish/article/239275 |title=Address of judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine to European and international organisations and human rights institutions |date=27 February 2014 |publisher=Constitutional Court of Ukraine official web site |access-date=20 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019051816/http://www.ccu.gov.ua/en/publish/article/239275 |archive-date=19 October 2014 }}

On 27 February, Yanukovych was accused of having stolen $70 billion from the state budget.{{cite news|title=Yatseniuk, confirmed as prime minister, accuses Yanukovych administration robbing Ukraine of $70 billion; 'treasury is empty' |url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/politics/yatseniuk-yanukovych-administration-robbed-ukraine-of-70-billion-337772.html |newspaper=Kyiv Post |date=27 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227150740/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/politics/yatseniuk-yanukovych-administration-robbed-ukraine-of-70-billion-337772.html |url-status=live |archive-date=27 February 2014 }}

The Security Service of Ukraine arrested the former chief of its counterintelligence service, Volodymyr Byk.{{cite news|url=http://www.unian.info/society/1007171-sbu-arrests-deputy-of-ex-chief.html |title=SBU arrests deputy of ex-chief |work=UNIAN |date=10 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111003928/http://www.unian.info/society/1007171-sbu-arrests-deputy-of-ex-chief.html |archive-date=11 November 2014 |url-status=live }} On 3 July 2014, former Prime Minister Mykola Azarov was placed on the international wanted list for alleged abuse of power.{{cite web | title=Fugitive Yanukovych clan promises to return to Ukraine to "change its political course" | website=Euromaidan Press | date=2018-04-27 | url=https://euromaidanpress.com/2018/04/27/yanukovych-azarov-zakharchenko-promises-to-return-to-ukraine-to-change-its-political-course/}}

{{see also|Russia–Ukraine relations|Media portrayal of the Russo-Ukrainian War}}

On 28 February, Yanukovych attended a press conference in southern Russia and answered questions from mostly Russian reporters. He said that the early presidential elections scheduled for late May were illegal and that he "would not be participating in them". He also said that while 21 February agreement could have calmed the situation, the opposition had not agreed to it.{{cite news|url=http://tass.ru/politika/1011472 |script-title=ru:Основные высказывания Виктора Януковича на пресс-конференции в Ростове-на-Дону |trans-title=Basic statements of Viktor Yanukovych at a press conference in Rostov-on-Don |work=ITAR-TASS |access-date=12 March 2014 |language=ru |archive-date=12 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140312184832/http://itar-tass.com/politika/1011472 |url-status=live }}

Russian propaganda and government describe the removal of Yanukovych as a coup (echoing Putin calling it an "illegal coup" and a "military seizure of power"){{cite journal |last1=RICHTER |first1=ANDREI G. |journal=International Journal of Communication (19328036) |date=2015 |volume=9 |pages=3125–3126 |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=110802762&site=eds-live&scope=site}}{{cite journal |last1=Gerber |first1=Theodore P |last2=Zavisca |first2=Jane |title=Does Russian Propaganda Work? |journal=Washington Quarterly |date=Summer 2016 |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=79–98 |doi=10.1080/0163660X.2016.1204398 | issn = 0163-660X}}{{cite journal |last1=Tomkiw |first1=Lydia |title=For Ukraine's Wartime Fact-Checkers, the Battle Rages On. |journal=Wilson Quarterly |volume=Winter2018 |page=1 |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=31h&AN=128469796&site=eds-live&scope=site}} to legitimize their coming actions.{{Cite journal |last=Edinger |first=Harald |date=August 2023 |title=Hooked on a Feeling: Russia's Annexation of Crimea Through the Lens of Emotion |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pops.12889 |journal=Political Psychology |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=749–767 |doi=10.1111/pops.12889 |issn=0162-895X|hdl=10278/5028764 |hdl-access=free }}

Researchers consider the subsequent actions of Russia in Crimea to be a true military coup, because the Russian military seized Crimea's parliament and government buildings and instigated the replacement of its government with Russian proxies.{{cite web | title=Putin on Ukraine crisis: 'It is an unconstitutional coup' | website=BBC News | date=2014-03-04 | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-26436575}}

On 1 March, Russia's parliament approved a request from Putin to deploy Russian troops to Ukraine.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26400597 |title=Putin to deploy Russian troops in Ukraine |work=BBC News |date=1 March 2014 |access-date=1 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301173059/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26400597 |archive-date=1 March 2014 |url-status=live }}

On 24 March Putin stated, referring to the 2014 Ukrainian presidential election, "We will respect the choice of the Ukrainian people and will be working with the authorities formed on the basis of this election."{{cite web | author1=Alastair Macdonald | author2=Yannis Behrakis | title=Battle at Donetsk airport; new Ukraine leader says no talks with 'terrorists' | website=Reuters | date=2014-05-26 | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-idUSBREA4M05420140524/ }}

On 11 March the {{ill|Ukrainian National Council for TV and Radio Broadcasting|uk|Національна рада України з питань телебачення і радіомовлення|ru|Национальный совет Украины по вопросам телевидения и радиовещания}} instructed all cable operators to stop transmitting a number of Russian channels, including the international versions of the main state-controlled stations—Rossiya 1, Channel One, and NTV—as well as Rossiya 24.{{cite news|last=Ennis |first=Stephen |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26546083 |title=BBC News - Ukraine hits back at Russian TV onslaught |work=BBC News |date=12 March 2014 |access-date=19 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529201642/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26546083 |url-status=live |archive-date=29 May 2014 }}

{{see also|Lustration in Ukraine}}

On 26 February, Ehor Sobolev was nominated to lead the Committee on Lustration in the new Yatsenyuk government.{{cite news|url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/politics/on-kyivs-independence-square-tonight-arseniy-yatseniuk-nominated-as-prime-minister-to-lead-new-government-337700.html |title=Arseniy Yatseniuk nominated to lead new government as Ukraine prime minister |author=Oksana Grytsenko |work=Kyiv Post |date=27 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227150957/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/politics/on-kyivs-independence-square-tonight-arseniy-yatseniuk-nominated-as-prime-minister-to-lead-new-government-337700.html |url-status=live |archive-date=27 February 2014 }} Months later, on 14 August 2014, parliament adopted a bill that established "procedures for conducting checks of government officials and people nominated for government position with the purpose of deciding whether they meet certain criteria for occupying relevant post".{{cite news|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/218428.html |title=Rada passes bill on government lustration in first reading |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=14 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814193801/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/218428.html |url-status=live |archive-date=14 August 2014 }}{{cite news |url=http://english.cntv.cn/2014/08/12/ARTI1407846668923332.shtml |author=Bsai Yang |title=Ukraine OKs Malaysian experts' access to MH17 crash site |work=China Central Television |agency=Xinhua News Agency |date=12 August 2014 |archive-date=13 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140813114904/http://english.cntv.cn/2014/08/12/ARTI1407846668923332.shtml |access-date=10 November 2014 }}

The law on lustration, which excluded from government most officials who had worked in the Yanukovych administration, affected up to a million people.{{cite web | last=Zaks | first=Dmitry | title=Ukraine could sack up to million officials with ties to Russian past | website=news.yahoo.com | date=2014-12-18 | url=https://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-could-sack-million-officials-ties-russian-past-231947924.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013025446/https://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-could-sack-million-officials-ties-russian-past-231947924.html | archive-date=2014-10-13 | url-status=dead}} Volodymyr Yavorsky of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group called it "unreasonable" and a "serious, systematic violations of human rights"—among other reasons, because it meant too many people would lose their jobs, including officials who could not be easily replaced.{{cite news|url=https://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/op-ed/volodymyr-yavorsky-proposed-lustration-law-has-serious-defects-360593.html |title=Volodymyr Yavorsky: Proposed lustration law has serious defects |work=Kyiv Post |date=14 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814151603/https://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/op-ed/volodymyr-yavorsky-proposed-lustration-law-has-serious-defects-360593.html |archive-date=14 August 2014 |url-status=live }}

On 25 February, acting Interior Minister Avakov signed a decree dissolving the Berkut.{{Cite news |last=Balmforth |first=Richard |date=26 February 2014 |title=Ukraine's new rulers disband riot police |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-berkut-idUSBREA1P0AK20140226/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924194013/http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/26/us-ukraine-crisis-berkut-idUSBREA1P0AK20140226 |archive-date=24 September 2015 |access-date=18 February 2024 |work=Reuters}} In March, Russia announced that the Crimean Berkut unit would preserve its name as it was incorporated into the Russian Interior Ministry.{{cite web | title=Russian interior bodies created in Crimea and Sevastopol | website=en.itar-tass.com | url=http://en.itar-tass.com/accession-of-crimea-and-sevastopol-to-russia/725269 |date=March 25, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407081859/http://en.itar-tass.com/accession-of-crimea-and-sevastopol-to-russia/725269 | archive-date=2014-04-07 | url-status=dead }}{{#tag:ref|The status of Crimea and Sevastopol is currently under dispute by Ukraine and Russia; Ukraine and the majority of the international community consider Crimea an autonomous republic of Ukraine and Sevastopol one of Ukraine's cities with special status, while Russia, on the other hand, considers Crimea a federal subjects of Russia and Sevastopol one of its federal cities.{{cite news|last=Gutterman |first=Steve |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-idUSBREA1Q1E820140318 |title=Putin signs Crimea treaty, will not seize other Ukraine regions |work=Reuters |date=18 March 2014 |access-date=26 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329012404/https://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/18/us-ukraine-crisis-idUSBREA1Q1E820140318 |archive-date=29 March 2014 |url-status=live }} Both are completely under Russian control.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-26248275 |title=Ukraine protests timeline |work=BBC News |date=23 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223034428/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-26248275 |archive-date=23 February 2014 |url-status=live }}|group=nb}}

{{main|2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine}}

File:2014-03-01. Митинг в Донецке 0085.jpg, 1 March 2014]]

File:Odessa Russian Sring 20140330 07.JPG, 30 March 2014]]

Following the ousting of Yanukovych, pro-Russian, separatist and counter-revolutionary protests began in parts of southern in eastern Ukraine. These regions mostly consumed Russian-based media, which promoted the narrative that Ukraine's new government was an illegitimate "fascist junta" and that ethnic Russians were in imminent danger.{{Cite book |last=Kofman |first=Michael |url=https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1400/RR1498/RAND_RR1498.pdf |title=Lessons from Russia's Operations in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. |publisher=RAND Corporation |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-8330-9617-3 |oclc=990544142 |pages=xii, 12-13 |access-date=28 September 2021 |archive-date=17 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217091710/http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1400/RR1498/RAND_RR1498.pdf |url-status=live }} According to Cathy Young, protests against the revolution attacked the new government as a "Jewish clique" seeking to use Ukrainians to defend the interests of wealthy Jews, and depicted the revolution as a "Zionist coup".{{cite news|last=Young |first=Cathy |title=Fascism Comes to Ukraine -- From Russia |url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/05/21/fascism_comes_to_ukraine_--_from_russia_122700.html |date=21 May 2014 |archive-date=21 May 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140521232153/http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/05/21/fascism_comes_to_ukraine_--_from_russia_122700.html }}

On 23 February, Ukraine's parliament adopted a bill to revoke the status of Russian as an official state language. The bill was not enacted, but the proposal caused anger in the Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/23/ukraine-crisis-western-nations-eu-russia |title=Western nations scramble to contain fallout from Ukraine crisis |date=24 February 2014 |work=The Guardian |first=Ian |last=Traynor |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223185940/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/23/ukraine-crisis-western-nations-eu-russia |archive-date=23 February 2014 |url-status=live }}{{cite news|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2014/0228/Is-it-too-late-for-Kiev-to-woo-Russian-speaking-Ukraine |title=Is it too late for Kiev to woo Russian-speaking Ukraine? |date=28 February 2014 |work=CSM |first=Sabra |last=Ayres |archive-date=28 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228232412/http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2014/0228/Is-it-too-late-for-Kiev-to-woo-Russian-speaking-Ukraine |url-status=live }}

Also on 23 February, clashes erupted in Kharkiv between thousands of pro- and anti-government rallies, and Mayor Kernes was blocked from entering the City Council building.{{cite news|author=Mark Mackinnon |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/ukrainian-upheaval-widens-fractures-between-east-and-west/article17061187/ |title=Globe in Ukraine: Upheaval widens fractures between east and west |work=The Globe and Mail |date=23 February 2014 |access-date=24 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140316192838/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/ukrainian-upheaval-widens-fractures-between-east-and-west/article17061187/ |archive-date=16 March 2014 |url-status=live }} Pro-Russian protesters stood guard over the statue of Vladimir Lenin in the city center,{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26317218 |title=Ukraine conflict: 'Raw anger' in divided Kharkiv |work=BBC News |date=23 February 2014 |access-date=24 February 2014 |archive-date=25 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140225155235/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26317218 |url-status=live }} but the deputy head of the Regional State Administration announced that the city would dismantle the statue regardless on 25 February.{{cite news|url=http://www.ukrinform.ua/ukr/news/pamyatnik_leninu_u_harkovi_demontuyut_u_vivtorok_1910905|title=Пам'ятник Леніну у Харкові демонтують у вівторок | УКРІНФОРМ|publisher=Ukrinform.ua|date=21 August 2013|access-date=24 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302012343/http://www.ukrinform.ua/ukr/news/pamyatnik_leninu_u_harkovi_demontuyut_u_vivtorok_1910905|archive-date=2 March 2014}}

On 1 March, thousands of people in Kharkiv, Donetsk, Simferopol, Odesa, Luhansk, Melitopol, Yevpatoria, Kerch, and Mariupol protested against the new government.{{cite news|author=Елена Захаренкова |url=http://www.objectiv.tv/010314/93827.html |script-title=ru:На площади Свободы – митинг "патриотичных харьковчан" |website=Objectiv.tv |language=ru |access-date=12 March 2014 |archive-date=5 March 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305114128/http://www.objectiv.tv/010314/93827.html }}{{cite news|url=http://zn.ua/UKRAINE/v-donecke-prorossiyskie-aktivisty-shturmuyut-obladministraciyu-140110_.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140307150014/http://zn.ua/UKRAINE/v-donecke-prorossiyskie-aktivisty-shturmuyut-obladministraciyu-140110_.html |archive-date=7 March 2014 |title=В Донецке пророссийские активисты штурмовали обладминистрацию |work=Zerkalo Nedeli |date=7 March 2014 |access-date=12 March 2014 |url-status=live }}{{cite news|date=3 March 2014 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/04/world/europe/russias-hand-can-be-seen-in-the-protests.html |author=Andrew Roth |title=From Russia, 'Tourists' Stir the Protests |work=The New York Times |archive-date=4 March 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304074020/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/04/world/europe/russias-hand-can-be-seen-in-the-protests.html }}

Public surveys in April revealed that most people in Ukraine's eastern regions considered all levels of the government illegitimate. Half of respondents believed that Acting President Turchynov was "illegally occupying his post". Roughly half held the same opinion about Prime Minister Yatsenyuk.{{cite news|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2014/0429/Why-Ukraine-is-dialing-back-its-military-offensive-in-anarchic-east-video|title=Why Ukraine is dialing back its military offensive in anarchic east (+video)|date=29 April 2014|access-date=30 April 2014}} However, nearly 70% agreed that Yanukovych was also not the legal president of the country.{{cite news|url=http://ukrainianpolicy.com/southeast-statistics-of-ukraine-april-2014/ |title=Southeast Statistics |work=Kyiv International Institute of Sociology; Ukrainian Policy |date=19 April 2014 |access-date=20 April 2014 |last=Babiak |first=Mat |location=Kyiv |archive-date=5 March 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305065533/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-04/russia-calls-ukraine-intervention-legal-citing-yanukovych-letter.html }}

Leaked e-mails and telephone calls later revealed that the Russian state had funded the separatists and had organized separatist protests, mainly through Kremlin advisers Vladislav Surkov and Sergey Glazyev.{{cite web |last1=Umland |first1=Andreas |title=The Glazyev Tapes: Getting to the root of the conflict in Ukraine |url=https://ecfr.eu/article/commentary_the_glazyev_tapes_getting_to_the_root_of_the_conflict_in_7165/ |website=European Council on Foreign Relations |date=1 November 2016}}{{cite book |author=David R. Marples |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NxdXEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22We+now+know+that+Kremlin+advisors+Vladislav+Surkov+and+Sergei+Glazyev+had+directed+efforts+to+coordinate+and+organize+these+protests+at+the+beginning+of+March+2014%22&pg=PA26 |title=The War in Ukraine's Donbas: Origins, Contexts, and the Future |date=2021 |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn=978-963-386-420-3 |pages=26 |quote=The Russian Spring was not exactly a spontaneous uprising. We now know that Kremlin advisors Vladislav Surkov and Sergei Glazyev had directed efforts to coordinate and organize these protests at the beginning of March 2014, turning them into a pro-Russian separatist movement.}}{{cite web |last1=Shandra |first1=Alya |last2=Seely |first2=Robert |title=The Surkov Leaks: The Inner Workings of Russia's Hybrid War in Ukraine |url=https://static.rusi.org/201907_op_surkov_leaks_web_final.pdf |publisher=Royal United Services Institute |date=2019}}

File:VOA-armed men 01-03-14.jpg

{{main|Russian occupation of Crimea|Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation}}

While Russian propaganda characterizes Euromaidan as a coup, the actual military coup was performed by Russia in Ukrainian Crimea on the 27th February 2014, when Russian military seized Crimean parliament and government buildings and replaced Ukrainian elected officials with Russian-controlled figures.{{cite book| author = Maria Popova, Oxana Shevel | chapter = | chapter-url = | format = | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=MmTiEAAAQBAJ&dq=Aksyonov+Mohyliov+crimea&pg=PT123 | title = Russia and Ukraine: Entangled Histories, Diverging States | orig-year = | agency = | edition = |location= |date = 2023-11-08 |publisher= John Wiley & Sons |at= |volume= | pages = | page = | series = | isbn = 978-1-5095-5738-7}}{{cite book| last = Wilson| first = Andrew | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NMK2BAAAQBAJ&dq=Fast-forward+to+2014,+and+there+was+a+coup+in+Ukraine,+involving+masked+men+with+guns&pg=PA108 | title = Ukraine Crisis: What It Means for the West | date = 2014-11-18 |publisher= Yale University Press |pages = VI, 108, 110| quote=Except that the coup was not in Kiev, as Russian propaganda claimed, but in Crimea a week later.| isbn = 978-0-300-21292-1}}{{cite book| author = Mychailo Wynnyckyj | chapter = | chapter-url = | format = | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9TFVEAAAQBAJ&dq=Republic+of+Crimea+and+supervised+an+illegitimate+and+falsified&pg=PA25 | title = Ukraine's Maidan, Russia's War | orig-year = | agency = | edition = |location= |date = 2019-04-30 |publisher= BoD – Books on Demand |volume= | pages = 28| series = | isbn = 978-3-8382-1327-9}}

File:Falling of Lenin in Khmelnytskyi park.jpg, 21 February 2014]]

{{see also|Decommunization in Ukraine}}

The monument to the Russian field marshal Mikhail Kutuzov was demolished in the city of Brody in western Ukraine.{{cite web | last=Gover | first=Dominic | title=Ukraine: Russia Angry as Another Soviet Hero Statue Toppled | website=International Business Times UK | date=2014-02-25 | url=https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ukraine-russia-angry-another-soviet-hero-statue-toppled-1437914 }} In addition, a statue honouring Soviet soldiers was removed from the western Ukrainian city of Stryi.{{cite news|url=http://www.segodnya.ua/regions/lvov/vo-lvovskoy-oblasti-demontirovali-pamyatnik-sovetskomu-soldatu-498015.html |script-title=ru:Во Львовской области демонтировали памятник советскому солдату (фото) |trans-title=In the Lviv region the monument to Soviet soldier got dismantled (Photo) |website=segodnya.ua |date=23 February 2014 |access-date=22 April 2014 |archive-date=1 March 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301062149/http://www.segodnya.ua/regions/lvov/vo-lvovskoy-oblasti-demontirovali-pamyatnik-sovetskomu-soldatu-498015.html |language=ru }}{{cite news |url=http://www.stryi.com.ua/news/2649-demontuvaly-pamiatnyk |script-title=uk:Демонтували пам'ятник "Солдату" (фото, відео) |trans-title=Soviet soldier monument got dismantled (Photo, video) |website=Stryi.com.ua |date=15 May 2014 |access-date=19 May 2014 |archive-date=27 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327030722/http://www.stryi.com.ua/news/2649-demontuvaly-pamiatnyk |language=uk }}

In early December 2013, unknown activists partially painted in red and black (similar to the flag of the nationalistic Ukrainian Insurgent Army) a statue honouring the workers of the Arsenal factory in Kyiv who died in 1918.{{cite news|url=http://dumskaya.net/news/v-kieve-evromajdanschiki-oskvernili-bratskuyu-mo-031281/|title=В Киеве "евромайданщики" осквернили братскую могилу рабочих "Арсенала" (фото) | Новости Одессы|website=Dumskaya.net|date=9 December 2013|access-date=19 May 2014}}

On 28 February, a monument dedicated to Soviet forces who fought in World War II and one dedicated to Soviet soldiers who fought in Afghanistan, both in the city of Dnipropetrovsk, were vandalized and painted with nationalistic slogans.

{{cite web|url=http://kp.ua/politics/441297-v-dnepropetrovske-oskvernyly-pamiatnyky-slavy-afhantsam-y-heneralu-pushkynu |script-title=ru:В Днепропетровске осквернили памятники Славы, афганцам и генералу Пушкину |trans-title=In Dnipropetrovsk desecrated monuments of Glory, Afghans and General Pushkin |work=Komsomolskaya Pravda |date=28 February 2014 |access-date=19 May 2014 |archive-date=6 May 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140506080340/http://kp.ua/politics/441297-v-dnepropetrovske-oskvernyly-pamiatnyky-slavy-afhantsam-y-heneralu-pushkynu }}

On its English-language Twitter account, the Russian Foreign Ministry described the targeting of Russian- and Soviet-built monuments as "Russophobic vandalism" and an "outrage", and demanded that it be stopped.{{cite tweet|user=mfa_russia |number=438282715105083392|title=Another Russophobic vandalism act took place in Lvov Region: monument to Russian army commander Kutuzov was pulled down. Stop this outrage|access-date=25 February 2014}}

On 19 February 2014, UEFA announced that it had decided to change the venue of the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League Round of 32 match between Dynamo Kyiv and Valencia from Olympic Stadium in Kyiv to GSP Stadium, in Nicosia, Cyprus, because of the riots in Kyiv.{{cite news

|url=https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/news/0212-0e157017b055-705c391226f4-1000--dynamo-to-play-valencia-in-cyprus/

|title=Dynamo to play Valencia in Cyprus

|publisher=UEFA

|date=19 February 2014

|archive-date=27 February 2014

|url-status=live

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227063544/http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/news/newsid%3D2058174.html

}}{{cite news|url=https://news.yahoo.com/soccer-dynamo-kiev-game-against-valencia-moved-cyprus-133002556--sow.html|title=Soccer-Dynamo Kiev game against Valencia moved to Cyprus|date=19 February 2014|access-date=19 February 2014|agency=Reuters|work=Yahoo!}}{{cite news|url=http://www.champion.com.ua/football/2014/02/19/564612/|title=Officially. Match "Dynamo" – "Valencia" will be held in Cyprus|work=Ukrainska Pravda|publisher=Champion|date=19 February 2014|access-date=19 February 2014|archive-date=1 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/http://www.champion.com.ua/football/2014/02/19/564612/|url-status=dead}}

Dynamo Kyiv and the other clubs competing in the Round of 32 held a minute of silence for the victims in Kyiv before the match, and the athletes played wearing mourning armbands.{{cite news|url=http://bostonherald.com/sports/revolution_soccer/soccer/2014/02/dnipro_spurs_honor_ukraine_protests_victims |title=Dnipro, Spurs honor Ukraine protests victims |newspaper=Boston Herald |date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220224626/http://bostonherald.com/sports/revolution_soccer/soccer/2014/02/dnipro_spurs_honor_ukraine_protests_victims |archive-date=20 February 2014 |url-status=live }}{{cite news|url=http://shakhtar.com/en/news/?id=30602 |title=Viktoria vs Shakhtar: full house, player kit, respect |publisher=FC Shakhtar Donetsk |date=20 February 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220224845/http://shakhtar.com/en/news/?id=30602 |archive-date=20 February 2014 }}{{cite news|publisher=Sky Sports |date=20 February 2014 |url=http://www1.skysports.com/football/live/match/306087/report |title=Europa League: Valencia claim 2–0 win over Dynamo Kyiv in Cyprus |archive-date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220225132/http://www1.skysports.com/football/live/match/306087/report |url-status=live }}

On 25 February, subsequent games of the 2013–14 Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague were postponed.{{cite news |url=http://www.superleague.ua/news/49080.htm |title=Частину матчів Чемпіонату України "Суперліга" перенесено |publisher=Superleague.ua |date=25 February 2014 |access-date=12 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018122919/http://www.superleague.ua/news/49080.htm |archive-date=18 October 2014 }}{{cite web|url=http://rupaper.com/post/20920 |title=The basketball championship of Ukraine suspended |website=Rupaper.com |access-date=12 March 2014 |date=25 February 2014 |archive-date=3 March 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303082716/http://rupaper.com/post/20920 }} On 26 February, the second part of the 2013–14 Ukrainian Premier League was suspended because of the situation in the country.{{cite web |url=http://fpl.ua/ukr/news/news_fpl/5400/ |title=Початок весняної частини змагань перенесено |website=Fpl.ua |access-date=12 March 2014 |archive-date=10 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140310200921/http://fpl.ua/ukr/news/news_fpl/5400/ }}

On 3 March, a scheduled friendly match between the United States and Ukraine in Kharkiv was moved to Nicosia because of safety concerns regarding potential instability in Kharkiv Oblast.{{cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/soccer/world/2014/03/03/usmnt-us-soccer-roster-ukraine-cypress/5994039/ |title=USA-Ukraine soccer friendly moved to Cyprus|first=Nate|last=Scott|date=3 March 2014|work=USA Today|access-date=23 October 2014}}

Three HC Donbass home KHL playoff games were moved from Donetsk's Druzhba Arena to Slovnaft Arena in Bratislava, Slovakia.{{cite news |script-title=ru:Донбасс прибыл в Братиславу |trans-title="Donbass" arrived to Bratislava |url=https://hcdonbass.com/news/klub/donbass_pribyl_v_bratislavu/ |website=HCDonbass.com |date=16 March 2014 |access-date=29 March 2014 |language=ru |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140330023132/https://hcdonbass.com/news/klub/donbass_pribyl_v_bratislavu/ |archive-date=30 March 2014 }}

A December 2016 survey of 2,040 Ukrainians by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found that 56 percent of respondents throughout Ukraine regarded the events as a "popular revolution", while 34 percent saw it as an "illegal armed coup".{{Cite web |url=https://news.liga.net/society/news/v_ukraine_rastet_dezorientatsiya_grazhdan_sotsiologicheskiy_opros |title = В Украине растет дезориентация граждан: социологический опрос |website=news.liga.net |date = 13 February 2017}}

The First Yatsenyuk Government signed on 21 March 2014 the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement{{cite web|url=http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/documents-publications/agreements-conventions/agreement/?aid=2013005|title=Agreement details|publisher=Council of the European Union|access-date=27 March 2014}}
{{cite web|url=http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/documents-publications/agreements-conventions/agreement/?aid=2014045|title=Agreement details|publisher=Council of the European Union|access-date=4 July 2014}}{{Cite web|url=http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/ukraine/documents/association_agreement/aa_en.pdf|title=eeas.europa.eu: "Signatures of the political provisions of the Association Agreement" 21 Mar 2014}} with the DCFTA to be signed after the presidential election in May 2014.{{cite web|url=https://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-sign-political-aspects-eu-pact-friday-165605035.html|title=Ukraine to sign political aspects of EU pact on Friday|agency=Reuters |work=Yahoo! |date=17 March 2014|access-date=19 March 2014}}{{cite news|last=Croft|first=Adrian|title=European Union signs landmark association agreement with Ukraine|date=21 March 2014|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-eu-agreement-idUSBREA2K0JY20140321|work=Reuters}}

In May 2014, the International Monetary Fund disbursed US$3.2 billion to stabilise Ukraine. The European Union required Ukraine to secure this aid package from the IMF in order to obtain about 1.6 billion euros pledged under the recently signed Ukraine-EU Association Agreement.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-26758788 |title=Ukraine agrees to 50% gas price hike amid IMF talks |date=26 March 2014 |access-date=26 March 2014 |work=BBC News |archive-date=27 March 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327035248/http://www.bbc.com/news/business-26758788 }}

After Euromaidan, eight former officials tied to Yanukovych's Party of Regions were found to have committed suicide. When Newsweek in summer 2015 approached the General Prosecutor's Office about the deaths, the office initially replied that all information about them was a state secret. The prosecutor's office later said that four of the deaths were being investigated as murders; a suspect was also charged with murder in a fifth case, the death of prosecutor Sergei Melnychuk.{{cite news |title=Mystery of Ukraine's Richest Man and a Series of Unlikely Suicides |first=Maxim |last=Tucker |newspaper=Newsweek |date=8 April 2015 |access-date=11 April 2015 |url=http://www.newsweek.com/2015/04/17/ukraine-plagued-succession-unlikely-suicides-former-ruling-party-320584.html?piano_t=1}}

{{main|Maidan casualties}}

File:The way of the Euromaidan Heavenly Hundred. Institutska st. Kiev. 24.02.2014.JPG

Altogether, 108 civilian protesters and 13 police officers were killed. Most of the deaths occurred on 18–20 February, and most of the victims were anti-government protesters and activists killed by police snipers around Instytutska Street in Kyiv. By June 2016, 55 people had been charged in relation to the killings, including 29 former members of the Berkut special police force, ten titushky, and ten former government officials. The Office of the Prosecutor General said efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice has been hindered because many suspects fled the country and evidence has been lost or destroyed.

The civilians killed in the revolution are known in Ukraine as the 'Heavenly Hundred' or 'Heavenly Company' ({{langx|uk|Небесна сотня}}, Nebesna sotnya). They are commemorated each year on 20 February, which is the 'Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes'.{{cite web | title=February 20 to be commemorated as Heavenly Hundred Heroes Day– decree | website=Interfax-Ukraine | date=2015-02-12 | url=https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/250245.html }}

File:Signing 17 December 2013 Ukrainian-Russian action plan.jpg]]

{{see also|Russia–Ukraine relations}}

The perception that Yanukovych was trying to establish closer ties with Putin's Russia played a major role in the protests. Yanukovych accepted "bail-out" money—$2 billion out of a $15 billion package—from Russia.{{cite news|last=Fisher|first=Max|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/02/18/the-three-big-reasons-that-protests-reignited-in-ukraine/|title=The three big reasons that protests reignited in Ukraine|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=18 February 2014|access-date=18 February 2014}} Russian officials had been pressuring the Ukrainian administration to take decisive action to crush the protests, and the police assault on Euromaidan protesters was ordered hours after the $2 billion from Russia was transferred.{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-19/ukraine-protests-worst-day-of-violence/5268448|title=Ukraine protests: 14 dead in worst day of violence|work=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|date=19 February 2014|access-date=18 February 2014|quote=They moved in hours after Moscow gave Ukraine $2 billion in aid which it had been holding back to demand decisive action to crush the protests.}}{{cite news|last= MacKinnon|first=Mark|title=How Putin's Sochi dream was shattered by Ukraine's nightmare|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/how-putins-dream-of-sochi-was-shattered-by-the-nightmare-of-ukraine/article17042500/|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=22 February 2014|quote=the Kremlin unsubtly pushing Mr. Yanukovych to use force to clear the fortified tent city on Independence Square [...] shortly before the fighting began, Moscow announced it would pay the next $2-billion tranche.}} Several government ministers from across Europe blamed Russia for exacerbating the violence.{{cite web|author=Matt Clinch |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2014/02/19/eu-moves-towards-ukraine-sanctions-amid-bloodshed.html |title=EU moves toward Ukraine sanctions amid bloodshed |publisher=CNBC |access-date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201194141/https://www.cnbc.com/id/101426862 |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }}

According to government documents released by Ukrainian former Deputy Interior Minister Hennadiy Moskal, Russian advisers were involved in the crackdown on protesters. The operations, code-named "Wave" and "Boomerang", involved the use of snipers to disperse crowds and capture the protesters' headquarters in the House of Trade Unions. Before some police officers defected, the plans included the deployment of 22,000 security troops in Kyiv.{{cite news|title=Ukraine averted greater bloodbath, Moskal alleges

|url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv/ukraine-averted-greater-bloodbath-moskal-alleges-337526.html|newspaper=Kyiv Post|date=24 February 2014}} According to the documents, the former first deputy of the Russian GRU stayed at the Kyiv Hotel, played a major role in planning the crackdown, and was paid by the Security Services of Ukraine.{{cite news|title=Arrest warrants issued for Yanukovych, other former Ukraine officials on suspicion of mass murder|url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/arrest-warrant-issued-for-yanukovych-and-other-former-officials-337482.html|newspaper=Kyiv Post|date=24 February 2014}} According to Reuters, the authenticity of the documents could not be confirmed.{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-documents-idUSBREA1N1Z520140224|title=Yanukovich planned harsh clampdown on protesters: Ukraine deputy|work=Reuters|access-date=23 October 2014}} Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said that the conflict had been provoked by a "non-Ukrainian" third party and that an investigation was ongoing.{{cite web|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/03/4/7017541/ |title=У кривавому побоїщі в Києві брала участь неукраїнська третя сила – Аваков|work=Ukrainska Pravda|date=4 March 2014|access-date=12 March 2014}}

On 21 February, after the failed crackdown killed almost 100 people, Yanukovych made concessions to the opposition. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that Yanukovych needed to stop behaving like a "doormat", and that further loan installments would be withheld. A Russian political adviser, Sergey Markov, said, "Russia will do everything allowable by law to stop [the opposition] from coming to power."{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/analysis-russia-blaming-west-for-ukraine-upheaval/article17010518/|title=Analysis: Russia blaming West for Ukraine upheaval|author=Mark Mackinnon|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|access-date=22 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222190810/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/try-it-now/?articleId=17010518|archive-date=22 February 2014|url-status=live}} On 24 February, Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement urging Ukrainians to "crack down on the extremists who are trying to get established in power",{{cite news|url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/moscow-urges-crackdown-in-ukraine-on-extremists-in-government-337514.html |title=Moscow urges crackdown in Ukraine on 'extremists' in government |work=Kyiv Post |date=24 February 2014 |access-date=24 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140224234437/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/moscow-urges-crackdown-in-ukraine-on-extremists-in-government-337514.html |archive-date=24 February 2014 |url-status=live }} and Medvedev refused to recognize Ukraine's provisional government.{{cite news|url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/medvedev-ukrainian-authorities-legitimacy-in-doubt-337500.html |title=Medvedev: Ukrainian authorities' legitimacy in doubt |work=Kyiv Post |date=24 February 2014 |access-date=24 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140224234547/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/medvedev-ukrainian-authorities-legitimacy-in-doubt-337500.html |archive-date=24 February 2014 |url-status=live }}

During a press conference on 3 April 2014, Ukraine's new interior minister, chief prosecutor, and top security chief implicated more than 30 Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agents in the crackdown on protesters, saying the agents had helped plan the crackdown and had flown large quantities of explosives into an airport near Kyiv. Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, the interim head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), said the Russian agents had been based at an SBU compound in Kyiv throughout the Maidan protests, had been provided with "state telecommunications", and had been in regular contact with Yanukovych's security officials. Furthermore, Yanukovych's SBU chief, Oleksandr Yakymenko, who later fled the country, held several briefings with the agents. The FSB answered that these were "groundless accusations".{{cite news|last=Olearchyk|first=Roman|title=Ukraine implicates Russian agents in deadly protester crackdown|url=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/396ba808-bb28-11e3-b2b7-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=intl#axzz2xpllfvcF|newspaper=Financial Times|date=3 April 2014}}

Russian propaganda portrayed the revolution as a US-organized coup.{{Cite book|title=The Conflict in Ukraine|last=Yekelchyk|first=Serhy|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2015|isbn=978-0190237288|pages=113}}{{cite book |last=Kappeler |first=Andreas |author-link=Andreas Kappeler |date=2023 |title=Ungleiche Brüder: Russen und Ukrainer vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9DCnEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA222 |language=de |location=Munich |publisher=C. H. Beck |isbn=978-3-406-80042-9 |page=222}}

In December 2013, Victoria Nuland, the US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, said in a speech to the US–Ukraine Foundation that the US had spent about $5 billion on democracy-building programs in Ukraine since 1991. The Russian government seized on this statement, claiming it was evidence the US was orchestrating a revolution.{{cite book |last1=DeBenedictis |first1=Kent |title=Russian 'Hybrid Warfare' and the Annexation of Crimea |date=2022 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |pages=40–41}} In February 2014, a phone conversation between Nuland and US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt was leaked. Nuland and Pyatt discuss who they think should or should not be in Ukraine's new government and give their opinion of some Ukrainian political figures.{{cite web | title=Amid US-Russia tussle over Ukraine, a leaked tape of Victoria Nuland | website=The Christian Science Monitor | date=2014-02-06 | url=https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/Backchannels/2014/0206/Amid-US-Russia-tussle-over-Ukraine-a-leaked-tape-of-Victoria-Nuland}} US Department of State spokesperson Jen Psaki said the discussion was not evidence of any plan to influence the political outcome, saying "It shouldn't be a surprise" that politicians would discuss the revolution and Ukraine's future leadership.{{cite news | last=Gearan | first=Anne | title=In recording of U.S. diplomat, blunt talk on Ukraine | newspaper=Washington Post | date=2014-02-06 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-purported-recording-of-us-diplomat-blunt-talk-on-ukraine/2014/02/06/518240a4-8f4b-11e3-84e1-27626c5ef5fb_story.html }}{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26079957|title=Ukraine crisis: Transcript of leaked Nuland-Pyatt call|work=BBC News|date=7 February 2014}} Yale University professor Timothy Snyder said, "Imagine just how much evidence the Russians have of what the U.S. was doing in Ukraine, given that they had access to that telephone call. That was the best bit they could come up with. And in the context of the time, what that telephone conversation showed was that the Americans were, A, not up to date about what was happening in Ukraine and, B, unable to influence events happening in Ukraine."{{cite news|url=https://www.democracynow.org/2014/3/3/who_is_provoking_the_unrest_in|title=Who Is Provoking the Unrest in Ukraine? A Debate on Role of Russia, United States in Regional Crisis|access-date=4 June 2024|newspaper=Democracy Now!|date=4 March 2014}}

• {{annotated link|Orange Revolution}}

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