Timeline of the Euromaidan

'Euro Square'[nb 1], Russian: Евромайдан, Jevromajdán) was a wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on the night of 21 November 2013 with large public protests demanding closer European integration.

[7] After he heard of the Ukrainian government decree to suspend preparations for signing of the Association Agreement on 21 November 2013,[8][9] opposition party Batkivshchyna faction leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk called, via Twitter, for protests (which he dubbed #Euromaidan) on Maidan Nezalezhnosti.

[11] Approximately 2,000 people converged in the evening of 22 November on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) to protest the decision of the Ukrainian government to suspend the process of integration of Ukraine into the European Union.

[19] On 25 November jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko began a hunger strike in protest of "President Yanukovych's reluctance to sign the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement".

[22] According to Kyiv Post this was part of a "Ukrainian authorities' attempt to portray themselves as allies with the demonstrators who, in many cases, are calling for the government to resign if it doesn't sign an association agreement with the European Union this week".

[31] On the night of 30 November 2013 at 04:00, armed with batons, stun grenades, and tear gas, Berkut special police units attacked and dispersed all protesters from Maidan Nezalezhnosti while suppressing mobile phone communications.

[32] The police attacked not only the protesters (most of whom failed to put up resistance) but also other civilians in the vicinity of Maidan Nezalezhnosti, when the Berkut forces chased unarmed people several hundreds of meters and continued to beat them with batons and feet.

[48] David M. Herszenhorn of The New York Times described the square as "oddly festive" and added that "Protest leaders, sensing that momentum had turned to their advantage, continued to add infrastructure to their operation, bringing in television monitors and erecting the small tent city".

[62] Meanwhile, several hundred supporters of the Party of Regions and President Yanukovych pitched a camp (encircled by a metal fence) on the square in Mariinskyi park (in front of the main entrance to the Verkhovna Rada).

"[64][nb 5] The same day the Director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights within the OSCE Janez Lenarčič stated that the government's demand that protesters unblock governmental buildings was "lawful" and "fully consistent with the acceptable restrictions on the freedom of assembly".

"[75] Later, The Economist's senior editor Edward Lucas, citing his own diplomatic sources, reported on his Twitter that Yanukovych had allegedly signed a pact with Russia which included terms whereby Ukraine would receive $5 billion and a natural gas price reduction in exchange for an agreement to join their Customs Union at a later date.

[105] In the early morning of 9 December, some 730 Tiger and Leopard special forces, whose base of operations had previously been blocked by a motorcade of protesters in Vasylkiv (outside Kyiv), broke through the cordone with support from Berkut troops to travel into the city.

[109] Svoboda leader Oleh Tyahnybok warned that the government was planning to cut off electricity before an attack on the Euromaidan rallies in central Kyiv "But we are preparing to use alternative ways to continue the existence of our camp".

[172] On 14 December President Yanukovych suspended the Head of Kyiv City Administration Oleksandr Popov, Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Volodymyr Sivkovych.

[182] According to President Putin and Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov this deal was "not tied to any conditions" and Ukraine's possible accession to the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia was not addressed.

[191] The opposition leaders vowed to continue their protests, if necessary through New Year and Orthodox Christmas (celebrated on 7 January annually), they repeated their demands for the firing of the second Azarov Government, early presidential and parliamentary elections.

[207] On 21 December, Volodymyr Maralov, a member of the activist anti-corruption group Road Control was shot and his car burned at approximately 11 p.m. on Shevchenko Square in Kyiv while being attacked by two men and one accomplice.

[215][216] In the early morning of 25 December Tetiana Chornovol, a well known Ukrayinska Pravda journalist, Euromaidan social-activist, and Batkivshchyna party member was brutally assaulted near Boryspil International Airport.

[250] According to the Financial Times, the 11 new laws were approved while opposition lawmakers were occupying the main session hall and voted in by MPs by means of show of hands that "were too rapid to actually be counted,[250] and in some cases done in five seconds.

[248] EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton criticism (among others) was "The changes that seem to seriously curtail the activities of civil society organizations in Ukraine and simplify procedures for revocation of mandates of members of parliament are equally worrying".

On 21 January, the first death occurred after a 22-year-old man fell from atop the 13-metre high colonnade in front of Dynamo Stadium while confronted by Berkut police, and suffered fractures to his spine's cervical vertebrae.

[293][294] In a video leaked to YouTube, Interior Ministry troops tortured and humiliated a Euromaidan activist in Kyiv's Pechersk region; where he was stripped naked in the cold after being beaten, and photographed by officers.

[307] The same day Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko claimed "According to information received by law enforces, firearms being piled up at House of Trade Unions and Kyiv City State Administration" and "The opposition leaders don't want to disassociate themselves from radical forces, but are no longer capable of controlling them, exposing Ukrainians to danger".

[311] A third meeting since the start of the Hrushevskoho Street riots between President Yanukovych and the three main opposition leaders Yatseniuk, Klitschko and Tiahnybok took place on 25 January as requested by the All-Ukraine Council of Churches and Religious Organizations.

[320] On 27 January, the Ministry of Defense announced sharp pay raises for military personnel,[321] and the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a secret resolution to increase the size of the Berkut & Gryffon force sixfold to 30,000; they would also be given more power and a reserve fund would be set aside for additional ammunition.

[362] On 6 February 2014 an explosive device in a package labeled "Medicine" exploded in the Trade Unions Building near Maidan Nezalezhnosti injuring two activists from Lviv Oblast: 20-year-old Roman Dzvinivskiy with a severed hand, and 16-year-old Nazar Derzhilo, who lost an eye.

[367] Batkivshchyna MP Olesya Orobets, citing 3 inside sources, said she believed that the whole operation was an attempt to set up the Right Sector as an extremist organization that was preparing explosive materials against the government in its headquarters.

[363] The next day interior minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko suggested that the explosion had occurred "...while a bomb was being made" because "...right-wing radicalized groups are preparing to disturb the peace and they will stop at nothing, even a terror attack.

[371][nb 17] On 7 February 2014 Victoria Nuland told a press conference in Kyiv that the U.S. was ready to provide support to Ukraine "if it moves quickly in the direction of the protection of human rights, dignity, conflict de-escalation, and political reform.

[404] On 22 February Yanukovych, prosecutor general Victor Pshonka and minister of revenues and duties Aleksandr Klimenko attempted to fly to Moscow from Donetsk Airport on a private jet, but were stopped by Ukrainian border force.