Under threat of crippling trade sanctions by Russia, Ukraine announced Thursday that it had suspended its plans to sign far-reaching political and trade agreements with the European Union and said it would instead pursue new partnerships with a competing trade bloc of former Soviet states. The decision largely scuttles what had been the European Union’s most important foreign policy initiative: an ambitious effort to draw in former Soviet republics and lock them on a trajectory of changes based on Western political and economic sensibilities. The project, called the Eastern Partnership program, began more than four years ago. Ukraine’s decision not to sign the agreements at a major conference next week in Vilnius, Lithuania, is a victory for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. He had maneuvered forcefully to derail the plans, which he regarded as a serious threat, an economic version of the West’s effort to build military power by expanding NATO eastward. In September, similar pressure by Russia forced Armenia to abandon its talks with the Europeans. European leaders reacted with fury and regret, directed at Kiev and Moscow. “This is a disappointment not just for the E.U. but, we believe, for the people of Ukraine,” Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said in a statement. Calling the pact that Ukraine was walking away from “the most ambitious agreement the E.U. has ever offered to a partner country,” Ms. Ashton suggested the country would suffer financially. “It would have provided a unique opportunity to reverse the recent discouraging trend of decreasing foreign investment,” she said, “and would have given momentum” to negotiations for more financial aid from the International Monetary Fund. Ukraine faces a growing economic crisis, and it is widely expected to need a major aid package soon. Others were more pointed in blaming Russia. “Ukraine government suddenly bows deeply to the Kremlin,” the Swedish foreign minister, Carl Bildt, wrote on Twitter. “Politics of brutal pressure evidently works.” In Brussels, Stefan Fule, the European Commission’s senior official responsible for relations with neighboring countries, canceled a trip to Ukraine that he had announced just hours earlier, suggesting that officials saw little hope in reversing the decision. “Hard to overlook in reasoning for today’s decision impact of #Russia’s recent unjustified economic & trade measures,” he wrote on Twitter. Ukraine’s announcement came in the form of a decree issued by the cabinet of ministers ordering the government “to suspend” preparations for concluding the agreements with Europe and instead begin planning for new negotiations with the European Union and Russia.
21/11/13
At virtually the same time, President Viktor F. Yanukovich, who was on a visit to Vienna, issued a statement saying, “Ukraine has been and will continue to pursue the path to European integration.” In a move emblematic of Ukraine’s often inscrutable politics, Mr. Yanukovich barely acknowledged the developments in Kiev and, responding to a reporter’s question about the pacts with Europe, said, “Of course, there are difficulties on the path.” Because Mr. Yanukovich was supposed to sign the accords in Vilnius, some officials seemed to hold out the faint possibility he might find a way to resurrect the agreements. Those hopes seemed to fade Thursday night as the reactions in Europe grew angrier, and Russia said it would gladly join in negotiations if the accords were postponed. The decree by the cabinet of ministers followed the Ukrainian Parliament’s overwhelming rejection of legislation that would have freed the country’s jailed former prime minister, Yulia V. Tymoshenko, and allowed her to seek treatment in Germany for back problems. Ms. Tymoshenko is a bitter political rival of Mr. Yanukovich’s. The West has long criticized the conviction of Ms. Tymoshenko on abuse of authority charges and her seven-year prison sentence, saying they were a politically motivated effort to sideline her. Her release was widely viewed as a condition of signing the agreements, although the European Union never officially declared it to be a requirement. The Parliament, which is controlled by Mr. Yanukovich’s Party of Regions, defeated six different bills related to the treatment of prisoners that were intended to address Ms. Tymoshenko’s case. Opposition leaders in Parliament, including members of Ms. Tymoshenko’s Fatherland party and leaders of the nationalist Svoboda party, accused Mr. Yanukovich of torpedoing Ukraine’s chances for integration with Western Europe. “President Yanukovich is personally stopping Ukraine’s movement to Europe,” said Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, a former minister of economy and foreign minister, who is the leader of the Fatherland party in Parliament.
RIOT POLICE IN THE UKRANIAN CAPITAL KIEV HAVE FORCEFULLY DISPERSED H U N D R E D S O F P R OT E ST E R S, B E AT I N G S O M E W I T H T R U N C H E O N S
Protest organiser Sergei Milnichenko said tear gas had also been used UNCONFIRMED REPORTS SAID A NUMBER OF PEOPLE HAD BEEN HURT
More than 1,000 people, most of them students, w e r e i n t h e s q ua r e w h e n po l i c e m ov e d i n
“It was horrible. We were holding a peaceful d e m o n s t r at i o n a n d t h e y at tac k e d u s ”
“They threw us away like garbage” W itnesses said ambulances were on the scene and some demonstrators were seen bleeding from their heads and arms.
By morning, police had surrounded the square and barely any protesters remained Several hundred have now gathered at St Michael’s Cathedral in the capital, contemplating their next move.
27/11/13
Reuters news agency said the injured included one of its cameramen and a photographer, who was left bloodied by blows to the head
11/12/13
Ukraine’s ‘Euromaidan’ protests have now been going on for almost two months, since the original ‘Black Thursday’ on 21st November, when the government decided to suspend negotiations with the EU. The authorities have now chosen another Thursday, 16th January, to try and bring them to an end, not (yet) with the physical force that has failed in the past, but with a new law banning more or less everything. In farcical scenes in parliament, the bill was rammed through with ‘235’ votes in favour. Except there was no real voting. Normal voting procedures were disrupted; on several votes the tellers counted ‘235’ votes in a show of hands in just five seconds. Below are just some of the things the government has banned. Basically, with no logic or attempt at credibility, they have attempted to criminalise everything the opposition has been doing in the last two months. • • • • • • • • • • • •
Ukraine has copied the Russian law requiring NGOs that receive money from abroad to register as ‘foreign agents’ Also illegal is taking part in peaceful protests while wearing a hard hat, any uniform or carrying some type of flame As is setting up tents, a stage, or even a sound system, without the permission of the police – which is basically the modus operandi of the Maidan Driving in an organised group of more than five cars – this is because of ‘Automaidan’, the attempt to descend on government ministers’ houses in convoys of cars. Blocking the access to someone’s residence Slander Group disturbance of peace Organisisng mass disruptions or protests Collecting information about judges – i.e. exposing corruption The ‘government’ [exact agency not defined] can decide to ‘prohibit access’ to the internet MPs can be stripped of immunity immediately, without due process Denying crimes of fascism, or fascist accomplices is a crime – this presumably means celebrating war-time Ukrainian nationalists, as is the wont of the right-wing ‘Freedom’ Party
16/1/14
NO TENTS/SOUNDSYSTEMS
NO GROUPS OF 5 CARS
NO HARDHATS
NO SLANDER
Hrushevskoho protests 19.01.14
200,00 gather in central Kiev to protest the new anti-protest laws. Many protesters ignored the care concealment ban by wearing party masks, while others wore hard hats and gas masks. Clashes began as thousands descended upon parliament via Hrushevskoho Street, and were met Tensions eventually developed, and the sides exchanged projectiles as protesters attacked the police barricade armed with sticks, pipes, helmets, and gas masks. They were met with stun and smoke grenades.by police cordons, and a blockade of military cars, mini-vans and buses. Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko (who attempted to bring calm) was sprayed with a fire extinguisher by a protester from the crowd, and shouted down as a traitor. Following this, live TV pictures showed protesters attempting to overturn a bus used by police, which was later set on fire. At least three buses were overtaken by rioters. Water cannons used to douse the flames were also directed at protesters; an illegal use of force due to freezing temperatures. Later, rubber bullets were used against protesters as more police vehicles were set ablaze. Up to 10,000 rioters remained near the Valeriy Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium by 10 p.m. as rioting and clashes continued with smoke filling the air from the burning vehicles. The entire line of police buses used in the blockade was set on fire, and as midnight approached, nearly everything in the square by the Dynamo Stadium was burning. Commenting on the situation, opposition MP Lesya Orobets stated, “War has finally started, laws don’t apply anymore.”
20.01.14
Clashes continued into the second day, with thousands remaining on Hrushevskoho Street, continuing to exchange explosives and rocks with police. Of the 5,000 protesters present in the conflict area at the gates of the Dynamo Stadium near Mariinsky Park, 200 were seen engaging the 500 riot police without stopping by the afternoon. Berkut riot police were filmed by Radio Liberty throwing rocks at protesters while making obscene gestures towards them. Later in the day, a group of protesters assembled an 8-foot high trebuchet to hurl rocks and other projectiles at police ranks. In retaliation, police lobbed flash grenades, rocks, and Molotov cocktails at protesters. Police snipers scattered over the rooftops in the area but were exposed with fireworks and lasers
21.01.14
In the twilight hours of 21 January, after the anti-protest laws had taken legal effect, President Yanukovych ordered a ‘bloody crackdown’, with police warning over loudspeakers that they may use weapons. Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko signed an executive order authorizing the use of physical force, special devices, and firearms. Hundreds of armed “titushky” were reported by eyewitnesses in the vicinity, attacking protesters and passers-by, as well as smashing vehicles. Soon thereafter, they occupied many of the streets of downtown Kiev. Activists detained some of the“titushky” in downtown Kiev who admitted they were promised a payment of UAH 220 ($27) to vandalize the city. A number of the titushky, who were apprehended by the protestors, were joined by political opposition leaders and brought to the opposition’s headquarters at the Trades Union Building. They were questioned on live television, confessing their actions and job for the government to incite violence and anarchy.
22.01.14
At 6 a.m. local time on Unity Day, police shot and killed 2 protesters with live ammunition. Following news of the deaths, protesters retreated and dispersed from the vicinity of Dynamo Stadium. This allowed police to advance and retake the area for a brief period, before being pushed back once more by protesters. In response to the escalating violence, police were permitted by the government to increase measures in stopping the riots and protests. Police were now able to block roads to restrict access to the city, and allowed the use of water cannons against rioters regardless of air temperature (−10 C at the time of the announcement). Police fired rubber rounds against journalists and cameramen that were present, and continued to throw molotov cocktails at protesters. Eyewitnesses said police were firing indiscriminately with rubber and regular bullets into the crowd periodically throughout the day, striking an unknown number of people. Hundreds were injured, and significant damage was done to cars on the scene that were set ablaze as in previous days. Journalists found numerous ammunition shells on the ground. Police and medics confirmed live rounds were used in the shooting deaths of two protesters earlier in the day. The prime minister denied that the police carried live ammunition.
19/1/14
23.01.14
Fire from the conflict zone spread and a shop was burned down on the first floor of the seven-story building, 40 square meters in area. Euromaidan activists documented police brutality with instances of sadism on multiple occasions from Berkut and servicemen of the Internal Troops of Ukraine, wherein officers assaulted activists and even random people and would humiliate them using excessive foul language, and force them to undress naked. BBC News interviewed another protester who was photographing the Hrushevskoho Street riots, and then beaten and stabbed by police. On 23 January reports surfaced that riot police were engaging in the use of improvised grenades, taping nails and other shrapnel to conventional stun grenades. On 23 January 2014, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine officially apologized for the “unacceptable actions of people in police uniform” who are in the scandalous video filming a naked detainee. Following peace talks with president Yanukovych, opposition leaders Klitschko and Tyahnybok addressed the crowd on Hrushevskoho Street to announce a proposed truce with the government in exchange for the release of all arrested or detained protesters. The news was poorly received with the crowd, who booed the leaders. Tyahnybok warned that the president stated his intentions to arrest 1,000 activists over the coming five days. Klitschko then called for a national strike, stating he was ready to sacrifice himself. A vote was then held with the crowd which resulted in cutting off talks with Yanukovych and enlarging the area of Euromaidan in Kiev to include Hrushevskoho Street.
24.01.14 - 25.01.14
Over night, clashes flared at times but both sides held their positions and by 5 a.m. a temporary truce was made, and by morning the scene was relatively calm. However, the truce did not last long and by 10:30 a.m. fighting broke out. Fires from burning tires stretched 70 meters across the street, and flames 5 meters high divided the sides. Berkut police were reported to be firing on protesters once again blindly through the smoke, and using search lights to peer through. Closing in on midnight, word spread that Internal Troops were occupying nearby Ukrainian House, strategically between Maidan and the Hrushevskoho barricades, and that they intended to flank their position. Protesters launched a pre-emptive strike on the building, in order to wrest control of the position. The strike saw protesters storm the building, smashing windows, and lighting parts of the premises on fire.Protesters outside created a corridor for police to evacuate the building on their own volition, and the stand-off lasted for 6 hours until finally police surrendered the building after a peace was brokered by Vitali Klitschko.Anti-government protesters who occupied the building claim to have discovered spent cartridges on the roof, and alleged that police who occupied the building until this morning might have used the rooftop to shoot on demonstrators on 22 January.
28.01.14
On 28 January, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov turned in his resignation to President Viktor Yanukovych, hours before a vote of confidence could have removed Azarov from power. The resignation also removes Azarov’s entire administration from power, which President Yanukovych confirmed by signing a decree dismissing the rest of Azarov’s cabinet. However, Azarov and his government will remain in their offices until a new election can be held. Pro-government lawmakers joined with the opposition in Parliament to repeal 9 of the 11 anti-protest laws, which had triggered the violence. Yanukovych also proposed offering amnesty to the protesters if they abandoned their positions and dispersed. In addition, he promised the formation of a committee which would propose revisions to the Ukrainian constitution that would weaken the powers of the president. Most spectators did not expect these concessions to be sufficient to satisfy protesters, many of whom are still demanding Yanukovych’s resignation.
Ukrainian protesters have evacuated Kiev city hall and reopened barricaded roads to traffic as part of an amnesty deal with the government that could finally defuse tensions on the city’s streets. Opposition leaders partially dismantled vast barricades on Grushevskogo Street and several other roads in central Kiev to allow road traffic to pass on Sunday morning. The move effectively brings to an end a month-long stand-off between police and protesters. Reopening blocked streets was a key condition of an amnesty law passed by the Ukrainian government at the end of January. The law led to the release of 236 arrested protesters last week. But in a surprise move, protesters said they had also evacuated several key government buildings that they have held since protests began in December, in what they called a “gesture of good will”. However, protest leaders have warned that they will reoccupy buildings and close streets again if the government does not keep its side of the bargain and drop some 2000 criminal charges filed against the released prisoners and others being held under house arrest. “This morning all the formal conditions for the law on exempting from criminal responsibility participants of mass protests in January and February have been met, “ Arsen Avakov, an MP from the opposition Fatherland party wrote in a blog post on Sunday morning. “Authorities should be aware that if they fail to meet the requirements of the [amnesty] law immediately, the headquarters of the national resistance reserves the right to return to what ever form of protest and reaction we consider appropriate,” he added. Protesters converted the building’s grand central hall into a medical facility and command centre, and it became a key symbol of resistance after protesters saw off a police attempt to retake the building on December 11. Reports from the scene described protesters relocating equipment and supplies before launching a cleanup of the building on Sunday morning. Photographs released by the EuroMaidan press service early on Sunday afternoon showed the main hall of Kiev’s city administration looking pristine after being evacuated and cleaned up. Earlier Viktor Pshonka, Ukraine’s prosecutor general, promised to close all criminal cases against EuroMaidan activists by March 18 if they kept their part of the bargain by Monday. The move has apparently been endorsed by all the key players in the disparate opposition movement, including Pravy Sektor, the radical right-wing group that played a key part in the fighting on Grushevskogo in January. However, it was met by derision by some activists who have manned barricades for weeks in the expectation of a police attack. Tires were burnt on the barricades for the first time in weeks after the deal was announced on Friday, apparently set alight by disgruntled protesters. “The opposition has capitulated. There will be a new waves of repression against opposition activists,” one disgruntled commenter wrote under Mr Avakov’s announcement. Leaders have done their best to play down such criticism however, insisting that they retain both the will and the means to return to the offensive if necessary. “To those crying ‘capitulation’ – how long to think it would take us to restore the status quo if the authorities attempt to stymie the process of releasing our comrades? That’s right, 30 minutes,” he wrote.
16/2/14
70 Protesters killed, 500 wounded in Kiev Protesters tossed firebombs and advanced upon police lines Thursday in Ukraine’s embattled capital. Government snipers shot back, killing at least 70 people and wounding hundreds of others, according to a protest doctor.
The Kremlin issued a statement with Putin blaming radical protesters and voicing “extreme concern about the escalation of armed confrontation in Ukraine.”
Video footage on Ukrainian television showed shocking scenes Thursday of protesters being cut down by gunfire, lying on the pavement as comrades rushed to their aid. Trying to protect themselves with shields, teams of protesters carried bodies away on sheets of plastic or planks of wood.
The Russian leader called for an immediate end to bloodshed and for steps “to stabilize the situation and stop extremist and terrorist actions.” He also sent former Russian ombudsman Vladimir Lukin to Ukraine to act as a mediator.
“The price of freedom is too high but Ukrainians are paying it,” said Viktor Danilyuk, a 30-year-old protester. “We have no choice, the government isn’t hearing us.”
Although the first weeks of the protests were determinedly peaceful, radical elements have become more influential as impatience with the lack of progress grows. In their battles Thursday, those hard-hatted protesters with bats and other makeshift weapons regained some of the territory on the Maidan’s fringes that police had seized earlier in the week.
Protesters were also seen leading policemen with their hands held high around the sprawling protest camp in central Kiev. Ukraine’s Interior ministry says 67 police were captured in all. An opposition lawmaker said they were being held in Kiev’s occupied city hall. President Viktor Yanukovych and the opposition protesters who are demanding his resignation are locked in an epic battle over the identity of Ukraine, a nation of 46 million that has divided loyalties between Russia and the West. Parts of the country – mostly in its western cities – are in open revolt against Yanukovych’s central government, while many in eastern Ukraine back the president and favor strong ties with Russia, their former Soviet ruler. Protesters across the country are also upset over corruption in Ukraine, the lack of democratic rights and the country’s ailing economy, which just barely avoided bankruptcy with a $15 billion loan from Russia. At least 101 people have died this week in the clashes in Kiev, according to protesters and Ukrainian authorities, a sharp reversal in three months of mostly peaceful protests. Now neither side appears willing to compromise or in control of the streets. The opposition is insisting on Yanukovych’s resignation and an early election while the embattled president is apparently prepared to fight until the end. Thursday was the deadliest day yet at the sprawling protest camp on Kiev’s Independence Square, also called the Maidan. Snipers were seen shooting at protesters there – and video footage showed at least one sniper wearing a Ukraine riot police uniform. One of the wounded, volunteer medic Olesya Zhukovskaya, sent out a brief Twitter message – “I’m dying” – after being shot in the neck. Dr. Oleh Musiy, the medical coordinator for the protesters, said she was in serious condition after being operated on. Musiy, the protest doctor, told the AP that at least 70 protesters were killed Thursday and more than 500 were wounded in the clashes – and that the death toll could well rise further. In addition, three policemen were killed Thursday and 28 suffered gunshot wounds, Interior Ministry spokesman Serhiy Burlakov told the AP. There was no way to immediately verify any of the death tolls. Earlier in the day, an Associated Press reporter saw the bodies of 21 protesters laid out near Kiev’s protest camp. In Brussels, the 28-nation European Union decided in an emergency meeting Thursday to impose sanctions against those behind the violence in Ukraine, including a travel ban and an asset freeze against some officials. German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and President Barack Obama about the crisis in Ukraine on Thursday evening. She briefed them about the trip of the three EU foreign ministers to Kiev, and all three leaders agreed that a political solution needs to be found as soon as possible to prevent further bloodshed. Saying the U.S. was outraged by the violence, Obama urged Yanukovych in a statement to withdraw his forces from downtown Kiev immediately. He also said Ukraine should respect the right of protest and that protesters must be peaceful.
20/2/14
One camp commander, Oleh Mykhnyuk, told the AP that protesters threw firebombs at riot police on the square overnight. As the sun rose, police pulled back, protesters followed them and police then began shooting at them, he said. The Interior Ministry warned Kiev residents to stay indoors Thursday because of the “armed and aggressive mood of the people.” Yanukovych claimed Thursday that police were not armed and “all measures to stop bloodshed and confrontation are being taken.” But the Interior Ministry later contradicted that, saying law enforcers were armed as part of an “anti-terrorist” operation. Some signs emerged that Yanukovych is losing loyalists. The chief of Kiev’s city administration, Volodymyr Makeyenko, announced Thursday he was leaving Yanukovych’s Party of Regions. “We must be guided only by the interests of the people, this is our only chance to save people’s lives,” he said, adding he would continue to fulfill his duties as long as he had the people’s trust. Another influential member of the ruling party, Serhiy Tyhipko, said both Yanukovych and opposition leaders had “completely lost control of the situation.” “Their inaction is leading to the strengthening of opposition and human victims,” the Interfax news agency reported. The parliament building was evacuated Thursday because of fears that protesters would storm it, as were the government office in Kiev and the Foreign Ministry buildings. But parliament convened in the afternoon, with some pro-government lawmakers heeding the opposition’s call to work out a solution to the political stalemate. As the violence exploded Thursday morning and heavy smoke from burning barricades at the encampment belched into the sky, the foreign ministers of three EU countries – France, Germany and Poland – met with Yanukovych for five hours after speaking with the opposition leaders. The EU ministers then returned to speak again with opposition leaders. Prior to the clashes Thursday, the Ukrainian Health Ministry said 28 people have died and 287 have been hospitalized this week. But protesters who have set up a medical facility in a downtown cathedral so that wounded colleagues would not be snatched away by police say the number of wounded is significantly higher – possibly double or triple that. The Caritas Ukraine aid group said many of the wounded will need long-term care, including prosthetics.
Ukraine’s beleaguered President Viktor Yanukovych fled Kiev Saturday as protestors took full control of Ukraine’s capital, signaling a dramatic turn in the three-month crisis just hours after the signing of an European Unionsponsored peace deal. As police abandoned their posts across the capital, the opposition established control over key intersections and captured the presidential palace, setting up a perimeter around Yanukovych’s former residence, reports the Associated Press. Ukraine’s parliament passed a resolution stating Yanukovych “is removing himself [from power] because he is not fulfilling his obligations,” and voted to hold early presidential elections on May 25. Yanukovych fled to the eastern city of Kharkiv where he traditionally has a more solid base of support, and announced on television he would not resign. “I am not leaving the country for anywhere. I do not intend to resign. I am the legitimately elected president,” Yanukovych said, in a televised speech. Thousands of anti-Yanukovych protestors took to streets in Kharkiv, chanting “Ukraine is not Russia!” In Kiev, the parliament also voted to release opposition leader and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko from jail, where she had been serving a bitterly contested sentence for abuse of power. Tymoshenko emerged from a prison hospital where she had been treated for a back injury to cheers from supporters. Russia, the president’s staunchest ally, condemned the opposition’s moves. “The opposition has not only failed to meet a single one of its obligations, but is also pushing new demands, submitting itself to armed extremists and looters whose actions pose a direct threat to the sovereignty and constitutional order of Ukraine,” said a statement from the Russian foreign ministry. After fears during this week’s violence that Yanukovych would call a state of emergency and mobilize the military against anti-government protestors, the Army announced Saturday “it will in no way become involved in the political conflict,” according to the Agence France-Presse. Police said earlier that they were “at the service of the people” and “completely shares its aspirations for rapid changes.” As part of the Western-brokered agreement some opposition leaders signed Friday, elections in Ukraine would be moved up from March 2015 to December 2014 at the latest, but many protestors said they wanted nothing short of Yanukovych’s immediate resignation. The agreement arose out of the worst violence in Ukraine’s post-Soviet history, when over a hundred died in Kiev’s streets in pitched battles between protestors and police.
20/2/14