On February 24, 2022, Russian soldiers started invading Ukraine. As days passed, families were left holed up in their basements as soldiers surrounded, leaving the country soon became an unattainable dream. How did this come to be?
TIMELINE: Key Events
Revolution Dignity 2014 :
Protests erupted against President Yanukovych for not signing a deal with the EU.
In January and February 2014, clashes in Kyiv between protesters and Berkut special riot police resulted in the deaths of 108 protesters and 13 police officers.
After that protest, they began to occupy government buildings.
On 21 February, an agreement between President Yanukovych and the leaders of the parliamentary opposition was signed that called for the formation of an interim unity government, constitutional reforms, and early elections.
The next day, the president fled the country and was voted out of office by parliament 328 to 0 out of 450.
President said that the vote was illegal and coerced and asked Russia for help. (How this ties into the current war essentially). Russia does not see the interim government as the real government of russia.
As a result, protests escalated and eventually Russian soldiers intervened, and this led to the annexation of Crimea. The current war is largely focused on Crimea.
After all of these events, there was large proRussia unrest in Ukraine, especially due to the fact that the ex-president was very proRussia.
In August 2014, unmarked Russian military vehicles crossed the border into the Donetsk Republic. An undeclared war began between Ukrainian forces on one side and separatists intermingled with Russian troops on the other, although Russia attempted to hide its involvement.
This war ended up being a static conflict, with several attempts at a ceasefire.
In 2019 Russia was accused of planning an invasion by NATO, Russia denied.
