Aleksey Ivanov/UNIAN
Verkhovna Rada Chair Oleksander Turchynov, also the acting president of Ukraine, addresses the Maidan on February 26. That night the nominations of members of the interim government were announced.
Freedom House, in a statement released on February 18, condemned the violence and called on President Yanukovych to step down. “Legitimate democratic leaders do not order riot police to attack protesters asking for a more open government,” said Freedom House President David Kramer. “Yanukovych has forfeited his legitimacy and needs to step down. In the meantime, the United States and the European Union should immediately urge him to end the use of force. It is also vital for the United States and the EU to impose visa and financial sanctions, to speed meaningful political change. Such a step is long overdue.”
At least 105 civilians died in the Kyiv conflict between February 18 and 20, many of them by gunfire. The deadliest day was February 20, with more than 70 reportedly killed. More than 1,000 were injured. The Internal Affairs Ministry reported 10 dead law enforcement officers, killed by gunfire, and more than 445 injured. “This is no longer simply a revolution. It’s a war against brutes, fascists with their punitive detachments,” thundered Maidan master of ceremonies Yevhen Nyshchuk from the stage on the evening of February 19.
The violence – unprecedented in independent Ukraine’s history – erased any progress towards a political compromise made during the weekend when protesters reluctantly freed several state buildings, including the Kyiv City Council. Instead, they retook those buildings and took control of new ones, setting up new headquarters in the Post Office and State Television and Radio Committee offices. Reacting to the violence in the capital, activists turned many of the nation’s oblast centers into battle zones on February 19 as they captured state buildings, including seven in Lviv.
The violence drew the first serious actions from Western leaders. The U.S. State Department declared visa bans on February 19 against nearly 20 leaders whom it identified as responsible for the violence. The next day, European Council President von Rompuy declared the EU was imposing both visa and financial sanctions against those Ukrainian leaders determined to be responsible for the excessive use of violence against Ukrainian citizens. He also called for immediate elections for a new Parliament and president.
His announcement came after exasperated EU diplomats – including Polish Foreign Affairs Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, German Foreign Affairs Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and French Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius – spent more than four hours negotiating with President Yanukovych on the afternoon of February 20 as shooting and fighting continued throughout central Kyiv, only to leave with gloomy expressions and no comments for reporters.
The next day, things came to a head. Mr. Yanukovych and the opposition leaders, Mr. Klitschko, Oleh Tiahnybok and Mr. Yatsenyuk, signed an Agreement on the Settlement of Crisis in Ukraine. Negotiations on the agreement were held with the participation of the aforementioned EU representatives and Vladimir Lukin, special envoy of the president of the Russian Federation. According to the agreement, within 48 hours after the signing of the agreement a special law that would restore the Ukrainian Constitution of 2004 had to be adopted by the Verkhovna Rada, signed by the president and made public. The parties also agreed on early presidential elections to be held immediately after the adoption of the new Constitution of Ukraine, but no later than December 2014.
However, President Yanukovych and his entourage fled Ukraine, and Mr. Yanukovych renounced the agreement. The collapse of the Yanukovych administration ignited conflicts nationally as pro-Russian forces took over the Crimean Parliament and shot at Euro-Maidan activists in eastern cities.
The Verkhovna Rada, which remained as the only legitimate authority in Ukraine, then removed Mr. Yanukovych as president, announced the date of pre-term presidential elections as May 25, and assumed political responsibility for the situation in Ukraine. Oleksander Turchynov, who was elected Rada chair on February 22, also became the acting president of Ukraine.
A prime concern was the catastrophic condition of the economy left behind by Mr. Yanukovych and his cronies, who reportedly embezzled $70 billion offshore in their three years in power while bleeding the nation’s financial reserves dry. Interim officials warned of economic collapse if the West didn’t offer aid. “The state treasury has been plundered and the country has been brought to bankruptcy,” Mr. Yatsenyuk told a February 24 meeting of state officials, three days before he was elected prime minister to lead the the interim government that would serve until the next government was formed after the presidential elections.
Upon his election as prime minister, Mr. Yatsenyuk declared it “the government of political kamikazes,” noting, “We stand before inconceivable economic challenges and in order to conquer them I declare from this high tribune: we don’t have any other way out besides making extremely unpopular decisions.”
On February 25 the Verkhovna Rada overwhelmingly backed a resolution saying Mr. Yanukovych, former Internal Affairs Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko, former Procurator General Viktor Pshonka and others should be tried at the ICC for “crimes against humanity” committed during the brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters. That same day marked the beginning of the presidential election campaign.
Speaking at a news conference in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on February 28, the ousted Mr. Yanukovych stated: “The time has come for me to say that I intend to continue the fight for the future of Ukraine against those who are trying, through terror and fear, to take charge over it.” He denied that he had been removed from power, maintaining that he had been forced to leave because of direct threats to his safety. “I was forced to leave Ukraine because of an immediate threat to my life and the life of my loved ones,” he claimed, vowing to return once he received guarantees of his safety.