Maidan Protests End in Ukrainian President's Removal

In late November 2013, public anger erupted across Ukraine after President Viktor Yanukovych abandoned a landmark association and trade agreement with the European Union in favour of closer ties with Russia. Demonstrators gathered in Kyiv's central Independence Square, known as Maidan Nezalezhnosti, to protest the abrupt shift. Over the following weeks, the encampment grew, fueled by wider grievances against official corruption, police abuses, and legislation introduced to curb public assembly.

The standoff intensified sharply in mid-February 2014. On February 18, thousands of protesters marched toward the parliament building to urge lawmakers to restore the 2004 constitution, which limited executive powers. The confrontation outside parliament turned into the deadliest violence in Ukraine's post-Soviet history. Overnight, as police tried to retake the Maidan, protesters hurled paving stones, fireworks and petrol bombs, police used water cannon, rubber bullets and stun grenades, and both sides accused the other of using live ammunition.