February 19, 2014

After several days of quiet in Ukraine, violent clashes again erupted between security forces and antigovernment protesters attempting to storm the parliament in the capital, Kiev. At least 26 people were killed in the hours-long melee, with protesters, numbering in the tens of thousands, hurling cobblestones and Molotov cocktails at police who responded with rubber bullets and stun grenades. The enraged protesters reoccupied Kiev’s City Hall, which they had vacated just two days before. Militants also occupied and set fire to the headquarters of President Viktor Yanukovych’s ruling Party of Regions. The defense ministry ordered paratroopers into Kiev to defend government offices and military installations.

The latest mayhem broke out one day after it was revealed that Russia had purchased $2 billion in Ukrainian government bonds, providing yet another financial lifeline to Yanukovych’s government. In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged $15 billion to back Ukraine’s struggling economy.

The western half of Ukraine supports closer ties with the European Union. The eastern half, where most people speak Russian and are of Russian descent, continues to support Viktor Yanukovych's move to bind Ukraine closer to Russia. (World Book map; map data © MapQuest.com, Inc.)

The unrest in Ukraine began in November, when Yanukovych rejected a trade deal with the European Union (EU) in favor of closer ties with Russia. International affairs experts suggested that Yanukovych feared that moving Ukraine closer to the EU could trigger painful reprisals from Russia, Ukraine’s largest trading partner. During a natural gas price dispute in 2009, Vladimir Putin cut off the flow of natural gas to Ukraine, leaving the country without heat during a particularly bitter cold January. Russia has dominated Ukraine on and off  for more than 200 years. Because of its fertile soil, Ukraine was once described as Russia’s breadbasket.

Yanukovych’s move to bind Ukraine to Russia infuriated the residents of western Ukraine who want the country allied to the West with its tradition of democracy and capitalism. Yanukovych remains popular in the Russian-speaking eastern half of the country, where economic and cultural ties with Russia are strong.

Additional World Book articles:

• Kuchma, Leonid Danylovich
• Viktor Yushchenko
• Ukraine 2004 (a Back in Time article)
• Ukraine 2005 (a Back in Time article)
• Ukraine 2009 (a Back in Time article)
• Ukraine 2012 (a Back in Time article)