Crimea " during the seizure of
Perevalne military base, 9 March 2014 Following the removal of Ukrainian president
Viktor Yanukovych on 22 February 2014, various protests and counter-protests were held in
Crimea, including by anti-Maidan
Russian nationalists who sought the peninsula's annexation by Russia and by
Crimean Tatars who supported Ukrainian unity. Beginning on 26 February,
unidentified militants, subsequently confirmed to be Russian troops by
Vladimir Putin, began to gradually
take control of the Crimean Peninsula. During this time, the question of joining the Russian Federation was put to a referendum, which had an official turnout of 83 per cent and resulted in a 96% affirmative vote but has been condemned by European Union, American, Ukrainian and
Crimean Tatar officials and by the United Nations General Assembly as a violation of the Ukrainian constitution and international law. On 17 March, the Crimean Parliament declared independence from Ukraine and asked to join the Russian Federation. On 18 March, Russia and Crimea signed a
treaty of accession of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol into the Russian Federation. On 21 March, the
accession treaty was ratified and the establishment of two new constituent entities in the Russian Federation was marked by a 30 gun salute under an executive order of the Russian President. The
U.N. General Assembly passed a non-binding
resolution by 100 to 11 votes declaring that the referendum was invalid and that the incorporation of Crimea into Russia was illegal. Around 3,000 people had fled Crimea by 1 April, and 80% of them were Crimean Tatars. Teams from the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) assisted internally displaced persons who have resettled from Crimea in
western Ukraine in the
Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast and the
Chernivtsi Oblast.
Donetsk Oblast , the Russian Empire, and the
Eurasian Youth Union. Pro-Russian protesters occupied the Donetsk
regional state administration (RSA) building from 1 to 6 March, before being removed by the
Security Service of Ukraine. , 8 March 2014 13 March was marked by violent clashes between pro-Maidan and anti-Maidan protesters in Donetsk. A large group of anti-Maidan protesters broke through a police cordon and began to attack a smaller pro-Maidan demonstration. A report by the OSCE said that "police forces" failed "to take adequate measure to protect the pro-Maidan assembly", and "could be observed treating the anti-Maidan protesters in a favourable manner". A group of 1,000 protestors broke away from the crowd and stormed the RSA building, with the police offering little resistance. They then occupied the building and raised the Russian flag over it while the people outside chanted "Russia, Russia". The people who voted within the RSA were not elected to the positions they assumed. According to the
Information Telegraph Agency of Russia, the declaration was voted on by some regional legislators, however other reports say that neither the Donetsk city administration nor local district councils in city neighbourhoods delegated any representatives to the session. According to the Ukrainian government, the seizure of RSA buildings by pro-Russian forces was part of "a script" which was "written in the Russian Federation" to destabilize Ukraine, carried out by "about 1,500 radicals in each region who spoke with clear Russian accents". On 6 April, the leaders of the separatist group
Donetsk Republic announced that a referendum, on whether
Donetsk Oblast should "join the
Russian Federation", would take place "no later than 11 May 2014." Additionally, the group's leaders have appealed to Russian President
Vladimir Putin to send Russian peacekeeping forces to the region. The group has been banned in Ukraine since 2007. The group's leader, Andrei Purgin, had been arrested weeks prior on charges of separatism. The political leader of the state was the self-declared People's Governor
Pavel Gubarev, a former member of the
Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, who was also under arrest on charges of separatism. In response to these actions, acting Ukrainian President
Oleksandr Turchynov vowed to launch a major counter-terrorism operation against separatist movements in the country's eastern regions. Later that day, the SBU office in Donetsk was retaken by SBU Alpha Group. The Ukrainian special forces unit led by the Ukrainian vice prime minister for law enforcement,
Vitaliy Yarema, that was supposed to restore control over the Donetsk RSA building, however, refused to storm it and remove the separatists. Many in Donetsk expressed disapproval toward the actions of the separatists.
Government building seizures city council under control of masked men armed with
Kalashnikov assault rifles and
RPG-26 rocket launchers As political scientist
Taras Kuzio writes, "Russia transformed protestors in the Donbas into armed insurgents; this was never an organic process." On 12 April, a group of masked militants, formed in Crimea and led by former officer of Russian security services
Igor Girkin, captured the executive committee building, the police department and SBU office in
Sloviansk, a city in the northern part of the Donetsk Oblast. Ukrainian Internal Affairs Minister
Arsen Avakov labelled the gunmen "terrorists", and swore to use the Ukrainian special forces to retake the building. Seizures of police stations and other government buildings by armed separatist groups also occurred in other cities in Donetsk Oblast, including
Donetsk City proper,
Kramatorsk,
Druzhkivka,
Horlivka,
Mariupol and
Yenakiieve. Ukrainian transitional president
Oleksandr Turchynov launched a full-scale 'anti-terror' military operation to reclaim the buildings. By 16 April, the 'anti-terror' operation being conducted by the Ukrainian government in Donetsk Oblast had hit some stumbling blocks. Protesters seized Ukrainian armoured vehicles in Kramatorsk, and
sent soldiers away in Sloviansk. Internal Affairs Minister
Arsen Avakov said that troops were forced to open fire, resulting in the killing of three of the attackers. The situation remained tense on 23 April, with occupation of government buildings ongoing throughout the region.
OSCE monitors observed that the city administration building, SBU building, and police station in Sloviansk remained heavily fortified by armed groups of men with masks and automatic weapons. The Ukrainian government then stated on 25 April that it would 'fully blockade the city of Sloviansk', and continue with the 'anti-terror' operation. Amid the increasing tensions, separatists in Sloviansk
detained seven international monitors on an OSCE military verification mission in Ukraine, who had been travelling into the city on a bus, along with the bus driver and five accompanying Ukrainian soldiers. The rally was swiftly and violently broken up by separatists armed with baseball bats, iron rods, firecrackers and shields. As a result, Ukrainian forces gained control of all separatist checkpoints, and of half the city. In the early morning on the next day, the counter-offensive then targeted to
Kramatorsk, and . Serious fighting resulted in the recapture of the occupied buildings in Kramatorsk by government forces, and at least ten separatists were said to have been killed in Andriivka. On the same day, protesters in the city of Donetsk stormed and occupied the chairman of the regional government's private business office and the SBU building, smashing windows and ransacking files as an act of revenge for the clashes in Odesa. Fierce fighting took place in
Mariupol starting 5 May. Posters plastered on the occupied city administration building read "OSCE get out" or "OSCE you cheat". The regional television broadcasting centre remained occupied by about thirty camouflaged insurgents with
AK-47s.
Denis Pushilin, the leader of the
Donetsk People's Republic, refused. In response, Ukrainian transitional prime minister
Arseniy Yatsenyuk referred to Putin's words "hot air", and vowed that the counter-offensive in Donetsk would continue.
Referendum The
disputed referendum on the status of Donetsk Oblast was held on 11 May. According to representatives of the Donetsk People's Republic, 89% voted in favour of self-rule, and 10% voted against. and
Mariupol. Steelworkers and security guards from
Metinvest, along with local police, began joint patrols in the city of Mariupol on 15 May. These groups forced the insurgents out of the buildings that they had been occupying. but a local commander of those insurgents who had been occupying the building said that "someone is trying to sow discord among us, someone has signed something, but we will continue our fight", and that "everyone ran away".
Rinat Akhmetov,
oligarch and owner of Metinvest, called for non-violent protests against the separatists in
Donbas on 19 May. In response to this call, cars gathered in front of the Donetsk RSA building and continually honked their horns. "
New Russia" () hearkens back to a term used by the
Russian Empire to refer to modern eastern and southern Ukraine. A few days later, on 26 May,
a heated battle broke out between separatist insurgents that had been in control of
Donetsk International Airport, and Ukrainian government forces. According to Artur Gasparian, a member of the insurgent unit that had been holding the airport, the majority of the separatists' losses were due to
friendly fire. Members of the Vostok battalion, the pro-Russian insurgent group that fought Ukrainian forces at the airport, took control over the Donetsk RSA building on 28 May, and removed the leaders of the Donetsk People's Republic. Participants in the action said that it was an "emergency measure" to halt "a sharp rise in looting and crime, as well as disorder within leadership". Heavy fighting continued in the following months, until the signing of the
Minsk Protocol in early September, which established a ceasefire.
Attacks on journalists There were a number of attacks on members of the press by members of the separatists in Donetsk. On 10 April, protesters outside the Donetsk RSA attacked Belarusian journalists for speaking the
Belarusian language, and not Russian; Ukrainian journalists were forced to speak Russian to avoid angering pro-Russian protesters. According to
Kyiv Post, they also attacked reporters from
Russia Today, but RT did not carry the story. Days later on 12 April, a group of 150 people supported armed militants outside the police station in Sloviansk who were hostile to journalists, telling them to "go back to Kyiv." An unknown man set the car of the editor-in-chief of the
News of Donbas on fire. The editor had been receiving anonymous threats from the separatists. On 19 April, the offices of local newspaper
Pro Gorod in
Torez, south-east of Donetsk, were set on fire. Separatists torched the offices of the newspaper
Provintsia in
Kostiantynivka on 23 April, after previously harassing newspaper staff and labeling them members of the '
Right Sector movement'. Stepan Chirich, a Belarusian reporter with the Russian
NTV channel disappeared in
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. A report by
Human Rights Watch criticized the Ukrainian government for "the serial arrests of Russian journalists in Ukraine".
Luhansk Oblast on Heroes Square in
Luhansk, waving both Russian and Ukrainian flags, 1 March 2014 In protest against the proposed cancelling of the
regional language law, the regional administration of
Luhansk Oblast voted to demand that the Russian language be given official language status. They also demanded the stopping of the persecution of former Berkut officers, the disarming of Maidan self-defence units, and the banning of a number of far-right political organizations, like
Svoboda and
UNA-UNSO. In the event that the authorities failed to comply with the demands, the Oblast administration reserved the "right to ask for help from the brotherly people of the Russian Federation". Government buildings in Luhansk have been occupied multiple times. A peaceful pro-Maidan demonstration on Heroes Square, outside the Luhansk city administration building, was attacked by anti-Maidan counter-demonstrators on 9 March. The
Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) local headquarters was occupied on 6 April, along with the SBU's armoury of over 300 machine guns. Pro-Russian activists discussed plans for a "Luhansk Parliamentary Republic" on 8 April 2014. 1,500 were involved in the building's occupation. The occupiers referred to themselves as the
Army of the South-East (). According to
The Guardian, the personnel include former members of the
Berkut special police. At the rally, protesters called for an 11 May referendum on the status of Luhansk Oblast with three options: be part of a Ukrainian Federation, join the Russian Federation or remain part of a unitary Ukraine. Around 1,500 participants were observed at the peak of the rally. They demanded that Ukrainian government provide amnesty for all protesters, enshrine Russian as an official language, and hold a referendum on the status of the region. As these demands were not met, 2,000 to 3,000 protestors stormed the Luhansk RSA building on 29 April. Previously, only the SBU building had been targeted. The building was unprotected on the exterior, but a group of riot police confronted the protesters in an inner courtyard of the building. A brief standoff resulted, but the police did nothing to stop the protesters. President
Oleksander Turchynov responded to the loss of the buildings by demanding the immediate resignation of police chiefs in Donetsk and Luhansk. The next day, however, separatist leader and self-proclaimed mayor of Luhansk
Valeriy Bolotov announced the formation of a "South-Eastern Army" to march on Kyiv. In a video statement, he said "In case of not following this, you will be announced traitors of people of Luhansk and wartime measures will be taken against you". A
GAZ Tigr heavy armoured vehicle emblazoned with the emblem of the
Liberal Democratic Party of Russia was seen parked outside the RSA building on 8 May, along with men in military gear and assault rifles. Whilst speaking to OSCE monitors, the Deputy Governor of Luhansk Oblast said that the "security situation in the region is deteriorating due to activities of the separatists and criminal gangs".
Referendum The disputed referendum on the status of Luhansk Oblast was held on 11 May.
Valeriy Bolotov, leader of the Republic, declared "
martial law" on 22 May. OSCE monitors said that around 70% of "shops, cafés and banks" were closed in Luhansk city centre. Russian media reported that the explosions were caused by an airstrike by Ukrainian government forces. Ukrainian government officials denied this, and said that the insurgents had fired an anti-aircraft missile at themselves. A CNN investigation found clear evidence that the detonations came from the air and the pattern of the craters suggested use of standard equipment on the
Su-25, a ground-attack fighter, and the Su-27—both combat aircraft operated by Ukraine. Analysis by RadioLiberty also concluded that "
Despite Denials, All Evidence For Deadly Explosion Points To Kyiv". Heavy fighting in the region continued over the following months, until the signing of the
Minsk Protocol in early September, which established a ceasefire. They set up a perimeter fence around it. Then governor of
Kharkiv Oblast Mykhailo Dobkin made a speech to the defenders of the statue, saying that the statue was "a symbol of our city... we will leave it here and we will defend it". On that day, pro-Russian activists stormed the RSA building, assaulted the Euromaidan activists who had been occupying it, and raised the
Russian flag over the building. Some of the protesters were Russian citizens who had travelled to Kharkiv from Russia. According to the local media, 2,000 Russians were brought by buses with Russian
number plates to Kharkiv to take part in the storming of the RSA building. Russian activist organizations confirmed that they sent Russians to "peacefully protest" in Kharkiv. Police regained control of the building by evening on the same day, and replaced the Russian flag with that of Ukraine. Demonstrations by pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian activists in Kharkiv continued throughout the month of March. These included pro-Russian gatherings of up to 5,000 people. Despite this, the city remained relatively calm until 15 March, when two people were killed in a shootout between Ukrainian nationalists and pro-Russian activists. On the next day, pro-Russian activists broke into a Ukrainian cultural centre in Kharkiv, removed books written in the
Ukrainian language, and burned them on the street outside. Pro-Russian protesters stormed and occupied the RSA building on 6 April. The next day, protesters in the occupied RSA building unilaterally declared independence from Ukraine as the "Kharkiv People's Republic". Doubts arose about the local origin of the protesters after they initially stormed an opera and ballet theatre believing it was the city hall. By 8 April, the RSA building had been retaken by Ukrainian special forces, and seventy protesters had been arrested. 1,000 pro-Russian protesters returned to the RSA building on 13 April, and rallied around it, with some entering. These protesters then holed up inside the building with Kharkiv mayor
Hennadiy Kernes. Later in the day, Kernes declared his support for an autonomy referendum and amnesty for the arrested Kharkiv separatists. At least fifty pro-government protesters, who had been holding concurrent demonstrations, were severely beaten in attacks by pro-Russian protesters. Gunshots and grenade explosions were heard. Videos showed three people covered with blood being held on the
metro station stairs, and separatists coming up to them, kicking them and shouting "they are not humans!" Sentences for another 16 were changed to house arrest. Three detainees were released on bail, whereas the three remaining had been earlier sentenced to house arrest. Demonstrations continued on Freedom Square, with 500 people gathering on 21 April to elect a so-called "people's government". Worsening economic conditions in Ukraine were cited by participants as an impetus for the demonstrations. Each rally was attended by around 400 people. The situation overall in Kharkiv remained calm, though police remained on high alert. Rival demonstrations by supporters and opponents of a unitary Ukrainian state occurred on 27 April in Kharkiv city. This resulted in clashes between around 400 opponents and 500 to 600 supporters of the Ukrainian government. Police attempts to quell the unrest were not successful. He was said to be in "grave, but stable" condition, but later recovered, according to
Televiziyna Sluzhba Novyn on 10 May 2014. Kernes was known as a staunch opponent of the Euromaidan. However, he had also stated that he did not support the pro-Russian insurgency, and backed a united Ukraine. These demonstrators initiated petitions that they said were signed by 1,500 people from Kharkiv, which called on the EU and Russia not to recognise the results of the 25 May
Ukrainian presidential election. They also voiced opposition to the Ukrainian government's military operations against pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk Oblast. Some of the people participating in this rally approached the location of the aforementioned pro-Russian demonstration. A verbal confrontation ensued, involving participants of both rallies. He also said that police intervention on 22 June had managed to "prevent slaughter", and that both Euromaidan and Anti-Maidan activists had been trying to "destabilize the situation". Another protest by about 300 Ukrainian unity activists took place on 22 July. They gathered outside the RSA building with European Union,
NATO, and Ukrainian flags, and said that they wanted to prevent the war in the Donbas region from spreading to Kharkiv Oblast. They demanded that gatherings of separatists and communists within Kharkiv city be prohibited. The bridge was not damaged in the attempt, but Kharkiv RSA said that there were other plots to carry out "terrorist attacks" in Kharkiv Oblast. The mayor of Kharkiv,
Hennadiy Kernes, granted
freedom of the city to two Russian citizens at a session of the
Kharkiv City Council on 6 August. This concerned some people in the city, causing about one-hundred people to protest outside city administration building. Police restrained the protesters, who attempted to force their way into the building. Protesters and the police negotiated, and eventually five protestors were allowed into the city administration to voice their grievances. On that day, about 150 people gathered outside the city administration and demanded an end to the
government military operation in the
Donbas region. A counter-protest was also held, with about 300 people voicing their support for the government military opposition, calling for the dissolution of the city administration, and the dismissal of the mayor. One of the speakers at the protest said that the best way to fight corruption was to create a "local regional government", as they said this would eliminate the need to "bribe the
ministers in
Kyiv". A concurrent protest in the same square saw 250 pro-
Euromaidan demonstrators voice their support for
lustration and against
oligarchy. "South-East" itself was banned on 20 August, because it was deemed to be "a threat to the sovereignty of Ukraine and the security of its people" by a Kharkiv court. About 500 people marched on 23 August in commemoration of the
Day of the National Flag and the
European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism; one of their demands was the dissolution of the city administration. A peaceful gathering of Ukrainian unity activists was held outside the Russian consulate in Kharkiv on 28 August. Around 400 people attended the demonstration. Participants said they were concerned about Russia's intervention in the
war in Donbas. The demonstration was later dispersed by the police after
stun grenades were thrown at the consulate. At about 14:30, a diverse crowd of 2,000 people met in front of the Opera House. The demonstration was led by the
Azov paramilitary battalion. From early November until mid-December, Kharkiv was struck by seven non-lethal bomb blasts. Targets of these attacks included a rock pub known for raising money for Ukrainian forces, a hospital for Ukrainian forces, a military recruiting centre, and a
National Guard base. According to
SBU investigator
Vasyliy Vovk,
Russian covert forces were behind the attacks, and had intended to destabilize the otherwise calm city of Kharkiv.
Odesa Oblast Beginning on 1 March, demonstrations began in
Odesa Oblast. Police reported that 5,000 participated in a pro-Russian demonstration in the city of
Odesa on that day. Rolling demonstrations continued, and on 3 March 2014, 200–500 demonstrators with Russian flags attempted to seize the
Odesa Regional State Administration building. They demanded that a referendum on the establishment of an "Odesa
Autonomous Republic" be held. Members of the Odesa
anti-Maidan protest group later swore that they made no such declaration, and the leaders of the group said they had only heard about it through the media. The
OSCE monitoring mission in Ukraine later confirmed that the situation in Odesa remained calm.
City centre clashes and further events A week later, on 2 May, a rally by about 2,000 pro-government demonstrators, including football
ultras, was attacked by about 300 anti-Maidan militants with batons and helmets. Both sides clashed in the streets of central Odesa, building barricades, throwing petrol bombs, and firing automatic weapons at each other. The anti-Maidan protesters were later overwhelmed by the much larger group of Ukrainian unity protesters, forcing them to retreat to and occupy the Trade Unions House. From the building, militants on the roof shot at, tossed rocks and petrol bombs at the protesters below, who responded in kind with petrol bombs of their own. The building then caught fire. In total, 43 people died during the clashes. Thirty-one died whilst trapped in the burning Trade Unions House. Police said at least three people were shot dead. In the aftermath of the clashes, on 4 May, the main
Internal Affairs Ministry office in Odesa was attacked by pro-Russian protesters. They demanded the release of their "comrades" who had participated in the clashes. The police complied, resulting in the freeing of 67 of those arrested. About sixty people gathered on Kulikovo Field to commemorate the 2 May fire on 13 July. The demonstration was peaceful. Another demonstration on the field on the same day drew about 120 people. They chanted "Donbas, we are with you", in reference to the ongoing
War in Donbas. Internal Affairs Ministry advisor
Zorian Shkiryak said on 25 December that Odesa and Kharkiv had become "cities which are being used to escalate tensions" in Ukraine. Shkiryak said that he suspected that these cities were singled out because of their "geographic position". == Largest protests by date and attendance ==