On this day in 2013, Ukrainians first came out to protest in Kyiv's Independence Square.

They disagreed with the government suspending the process of European integration. 

The protests grew into something much bigger - a nationwide movement for dignity, freedom, justice. It was a real test for Ukrainian society.

People of all ages, professions, and from different regions united in the fight for a better future for their country.

Then, on November 30, 2013, at around 4 AM, special forces of the Berkut violently disrupted the protesters.

It was mostly students who remained on Maidan Nezalezhnosti that night, 94 officially injured.

This effectively ended the Euromaidan period and launched the Revolution of Dignity.

On December 1, 2013, an estimated 500,000 to 1 million protesters stormed the streets of Kyiv with a large assembly in Independence Square.

The Maidan protesters also moved into the Trade Union and the Kyiv City Administration buildings.

In the evening, there were confrontations on Bankova Street near the Office of the President. Again Berkut riot police severely beat unarmed protesters.

112 activists and 45 journalists were injured.

The protests culminated in a tragic incident on Instytutska Street opposite the Khreshchatyk subway exit in Kyiv.

On February 20, 2014, security forces opened massive fire on protestors.

This resulted in 48 deaths and more than 80 people with gunshot wounds.

Protests spread across Ukraine. That same evening the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, passed resolutions to the end the violence against civilians.

...to end what the Russia-backed officials called their “anti-terrorist operation.”

On February 22, 2014 President Viktor Yanukovych was officially ousted from office. He fled to eastern Ukraine and then to Russia.

On the backdrop of what happened in Kyiv, the Kremlin began its long-planned special operation to occupy the Crimean peninsula.

In Sevastopol and Simferopol, the special services organized anti-Ukrainian actions under separatist slogans and St. George's ribbons.

They imported Russian citizens to play the leading role of “outraged Crimeans.”

These Russians were tasked to provoke conflicts and destabilize the situation in all ways possible.  

On February 27, 2014, “unknown” armed men in unmarked uniforms seized the buildings of the Government of Crimea and hung up Russian flags. As established later, it was Russian airborne troops who carried this out.

At the same time, the Russian military seized the Simferopol airport, the Kerch ferry crossing and other strategic facilities, and blocked the actions of Ukrainian troops.

The Verkhovna Rada of Crimea, at the request of the invaders, announced a “referendum” on joining the Russian Federation.  

On April 12, 2014, Russian diversionary units forcibly took control of the Interior Ministry offices in Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, launching a similar offensive in Donbas.

Then, on April 13, 2014, Ukraine's goverment responded with the start of the anti-terrorist operation in Donbas, without imposing martial law.

Finally, on February 24, 2022, at around 4 AM., Putin announces the start of a “special military operation” to “demilitarize and denazify Ukraine.”

From 2014 to 2024, Russia has waged war against Ukraine. It is now in a new hot phase. Slava Ukraine. Glory to our heroes.