Nov. 21: President Viktor Yanukovych’s government announces it is abandoning an agreement that would strengthen ties with the European Union and instead seeks closer cooperation with Moscow. Protesters take to the streets.
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Nov. 30: Police attack a group of protesters, detaining 35. Images of protesters bloodied by police truncheons spread quickly and galvanize public support for the demonstrations. A protest on Dec. 1 attracts about 300,000 people, the largest in Kiev since the Orange Revolution in 2004. Activists seize Kiev City Hall.
Dec. 17: Russian President Vladimir Putin announces that Moscow will buy $15 billion worth of Ukrainian government bonds and allow for a sharp cut in the price Ukrainians pay for Russian natural gas. Putin and Yanukovych say there are no conditions attached.
Jan. 22: Two protesters die after being hit with live ammunition and a third after a fall during a confrontation between police and demonstrators manning barricades, the first protest deaths.
Jan. 28: The prime minister resigns and parliament repeals anti-protest laws that set off the violence. Both are concessions to the opposition aimed at defusing the crisis.
Jan. 31: Opposition activist Dmytro Bulatov, missing since Jan. 22, resurfaces badly bruised and with part of his right ear cut off. He says he believes a pro-Russia group was behind his kidnapping and torture, raising fears among the opposition that extrajudicial squads are being deployed to intimidate protesters.
Last Sunday: Opposition activists end their occupation of City Hall in exchange for the release of all 234 jailed protesters, in what is seen as a sign of progress toward resolving the crisis peacefully.
Tuesday: Street clashes leave at least 26 people, including 10 police officers, dead and hundreds injured. The violence begins when protesters attack police lines and set fires outside parliament after it stalls on taking up a constitutional change to limit presidential powers. Russia’s offer the day before to resume payments under the bailout deal also feeds opposition suspicions that Yanukovych has made a deal with Moscow to stand firm against the protesters. Riot police respond to the violence by trying to push protesters off Independence Square.
Thursday: Hours after a truce is announced, fierce clashes break out between protesters and police, with numerous casualties.
Friday: Under a European-mediated plan, protest leaders and Yanukovych agree to form a new government and hold an early election. Parliament slashes his powers and votes to free his rival, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, from prison.
Saturday: Protesters take control of Kiev, seizing the president’s office as parliament votes to remove him and hold new elections. Yanukovych describes the events as a coup and insists he will not step down. Tymoshenko is freed from prison and promises to run for president.
Front Section, Pages 11 on 02/23/2014