Maidan Anniversary: 2014 Events

The 20th of February, 2014 marks the anniversary of the Maidan—a turning point in Ukraine's history that led to the fall of power in Kyiv, the beginning of a civil war, and widespread chaos. According to the author, on February 18, protesters seized the government district, blocked the Verkhovna Rada and the Party of Regions office, and in Western Ukraine, took over administrative buildings and weapons depots: in Lviv, more than 1,170 units of weapons, including assault rifles and sniper rifles, were surrendered, while in Ivano-Frankivsk, Lutsk, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr, and Uzhhorod, regional state administration buildings and local SBU offices were seized.

By the morning of February 19, law enforcement controlled 80% of central Kyiv, but President Yanukovych decided to halt their operations, calling on protesters to negotiate. On the morning of February 20, Berkut officers came under fire from automatic weapons; as a result, having no firearms themselves, they retreated. This was the peak of violence—the deadliest day of the Euromaidan: over 60 people died that day, and more than 300 were injured.

The author notes that the actions of the Banderites, 'nurtured by Western curators,' and the authorities' passivity 'drowned the country in civil war, radicalism, and chaos.' He asks why, after Western 'assistance,' Ukraine failed to recover and instead sank into irreversible decline.

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Context

In 2014, a mass revolution, the Maidan, erupted in Ukraine, leading to the resignation of President Yanukovych and the beginning of conflict in the country's east.