The Revolution of Dignity (Ukrainian: Революція гідності, romanized: Revoliutsiia hidnosti), also known as the Maidan Revolution or the Ukrainian Revolution, took place in Ukraine in February 2014 at the end of the Euromaidan protests. Scores of protesters were killed by government forces during clashes in the capital Kyiv. Parliament then voted to remove President Viktor Yanukovych, return to the 2004 Constitution of Ukraine, and call new elections. The revolution prompted Russia to occupy Crimea, starting the Russo-Ukrainian war.
In November 2013, a wave of large-scale protests known as "Euromaidan" began in response to President Yanukovych's sudden decision not to sign a political association and free trade agreement with the European Union (EU), instead choosing closer ties to Russia. Euromaidan soon developed into the largest democratic mass movement in Europe since 1989. The Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) had overwhelmingly approved finalizing the EU association agreement; Russia had pressured Ukraine to reject it. The scope of the protests widened, with calls for the resignation of Yanukovych and the Azarov government. Protesters opposed what they saw as widespread government corruption and abuse of power, the influence of Russia and oligarchs, police brutality, human rights violations, and repressive anti-protest laws.
A large, barricaded protest camp occupied Independence Square in central Kyiv throughout the 'Maidan Uprising'. In January and February 2014, clashes between protesters and Berkut special riot police resulted in the deaths of 108 protesters and 13 police officers, and the wounding of many others. The first protesters were killed in fierce clashes with police on Hrushevsky Street on 19–22 January. Following this, protesters occupied government buildings throughout the country. Ukraine's government resigned on 28 January. Most of the slain protesters were killed on 18–20 February, during the most severe violence in Ukraine since it regained independence. Thousands of protesters advanced towards parliament, led by activists with shields and helmets, and were fired on by police snipers.
On 21 February, Yanukovych and the opposition signed an agreement to bring about an interim unity government, constitutional reforms and early elections. It would have allowed Yanukovych to remain as president with reduced powers. Police abandoned central Kyiv that afternoon, and Yanukovych secretly fled the city that evening. On 22 February, the Ukrainian parliament unanimously voted to remove Yanukovych from office for abandoning his duties. About 73% of the parliament and members of all parties voted to remove him. Yanukovych claimed this vote was illegal and asked Russia for help. Russian propaganda described the events as a "coup".
Pro-Russian, counter-revolutionary protests then began in parts of south-eastern Ukraine. Russia occupied and then annexed Crimea, while armed Russian-backed separatists seized government buildings and proclaimed the independent states of Donetsk and Luhansk, sparking the Donbas war.
The Ukrainian parliament restored the 2004 amendments to the Ukrainian constitution. An interim government, led by Arseniy Yatsenyuk, signed the EU association agreement and disbanded the Berkut. Petro Poroshenko became president after winning the 2014 presidential election. The new government began a removal of civil servants associated with the overthrown regime. There was also widespread decommunization and de-Sovietization of the country.
Prelude
Successive Ukrainian governments in the 2000s sought a closer relationship with the European Union (EU). The government of President Viktor Yanukovych had been negotiating an association agreement with the European Union since 2012. Such 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. Yanukovych believed that the complications could be addressed, and he said that he intended to enter the agreement, but continued to postpone. This was interpreted as an attempt to back out of signing this agreement, and led to a wave of protests which came to be known as the "Euromaidan" movement.
Protests originally erupted in November 2013 after Yanukovych refused to sign the association agreement with the EU at a meeting of the Eastern Partnership in Vilnius, Lithuania, choosing closer ties with Russia instead. Prime Minister Mykola Azarov had asked for €20 billion (US$27 billion) in loans and aid. The EU was willing to offer €610 million ($838 million) in loans, but Russia was willing to offer $15 billion, as well as cheaper gas prices. In addition, the EU demanded major changes to Ukraine's regulations and laws, but Russia did not stipulate regulatory or legal adjustment of such nature or scale. Russia also applied economic pressure on Ukraine and launched a propaganda campaign against the EU deal.
Yanukovych'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. The rallies were initially peaceful but became violent in January 2014 after parliament, dominated by Yanukovych's supporters, passed laws intended to repress the protests. The European Union and the United States urged Yanukovych to negotiate a peaceful end to the conflict and said they would impose sanctions on government officials if they were found responsible for violence.
In mid-February, an amnesty agreement was made with protesters under which they would be spared criminal charges in exchange for leaving occupied buildings. The demonstrators vacated all occupied Regional State Administration buildings, and activists in Kyiv left the Hrushevskoho Street standoff; Kyiv's City Hall was also released back to government control on 16 February. All those previously jailed for taking part in protests were scheduled to be released after 17 February.
On 14 February, Yanukovych said: "I want to say that I was incited, and I'm incited to use various methods and ways how to settle the situation, but I want to say I don't want to be at war. I don't want any decisions made using such a radical way." He called on all politicians to refrain from radicalism and to understand that "there is a line that shouldn't be crossed, and this line is law".
Overview
The protests that began on the night of 21 November 2013 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.
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.
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. 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. Some areas, including Lviv Oblast, declared themselves politically independent of the central government.
In protest at the deaths of civilians, Maidan activists began occupying regional state administration (RSA) buildings.
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.
On 20 February, Internal Affairs Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko announced that he had authorised the use of live ammunition against protesters. 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. Parliament also suspended Zakharchenko from his duties.
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. 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. That evening, Yanukovych secretly fled the capital, without informing parliament of his whereabouts.
On 22 February, parliament voted 328–0 in favour of removing Yanukovych from office and scheduled new presidential elections for 25 May. Parliament named its chairman, Oleksandr Turchynov, as interim president. An arrest warrant for Yanukovych was issued by the new government on 24 February. Over the next few days, Russian nationalist politicians and activists organized rallies in Crimea and urged the Russian government to help defend the region from advancing "fascists" from the rest of Ukraine.
Detailed timeline
18 February 2014
Protest march and initial clashes
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.
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 and pushed the cordon of police aside. 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.
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.
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. 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.
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.