The University of Wisconsin - Platteville's Defense Intelligence and Counter Terrorism (DICT) Student Organization created this undergraduate research project to present at PACCE Poster Day.

1. November 30 – December 9th
, 2013
Policemen from Berkut forcefully cleared the remaining demonstrators at Independence
Square. Protestors were demanding an increased alliance with the EU. More than 30
injuries were reported. Thousands gather to defy the ban imposed by the Kiev government
on protesting. Protestors spoke of their desire for a government resignation and new
elections. Police used force to remove protestors that were demanding new presidential
elections. The unified protest gave Yanukovych 48 hours to dismiss the government. The
protestors were warned by Prosecutor-General Viktor Pshonka to stop causing “anarchy
and lawlessness” by blocking the administrative buildings. The culmination of these events
is now referenced as the “Euromaidan” incident.
The following joint statement was released by opposition leaders in condemnation of the Jan. 10 beating
by police of ex-Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko. President Yanukovych signs anti-protest law. The bill
was passed in parliament by MPs loyal to the president, rather than system of electronic voting. Banned
tents in public areas and placed criminal responsibility for slandering government officials. Opposition
said the ban was illegal. The US and several EU countries expressed deep concern over the new bills.
Yanukovych convenes with key opposition leaders. The meeting had been requested by the All-Ukraine
Council of Churches. After the first meeting, the opposition leaders refused to talk to reporters. The
second meeting had a negative reception when the opposition leaders announced their meeting on the
main site of demonstrations in Kiev. The opposition warned that it would step up its protests. Afterward,
protesters built new barricades and seized the building of the Agrarian Policy Ministry.
January 11 – 25, 2014
January 29 – February 20, 2014
Jan29: Despite pledging to honor agreements with Ukraine, Russia reestablished tight border controls and other restrictions at the border for
Ukrainian goods. Jan 31: Yanukovych signed a bill which grants amnesty to detained protesters on the condition that occupied buildings are
vacated and signed the repeal of the anti-protest laws. Feb 7: Andriy Parubiy, the security chief of EuroMaidan, instructed the protesters to
not accept objects from people they don't know, no matter how well-meaning they may seem, due to an explosion that left a young man and a
teenager crippled for life when they opened a box they thought were medical supplies. Feb 20: Seventy seven people were killed and over 600
were wounded in Kiev. It is unclear why the protests took such a violent turn, while both sides blame each other. The government was able
to make a deal with the protestors, who would gain amnesty for those arrested if the protestors would leave government buildings.
Police troops leave their position around the Ukrainian Parliament in Kiev. Ukraine's deputy
army chief resigned in protest over government attempts to involve the army to put down unrest
in the country. General Yuri Dumanski, deputy head of the army's general staff, says mass
civilian/military deaths will occur. Ukraine's parliament has voted to push President Viktor
Yanukovych out of office just hours after he fled the capital and denounced events in the country
as "a coup d'etat" in a television interview. Russia's parliament agreed to send troops to Crimea.
Putin sent thousands of soldiers into Crimea “to protect Russian people who live there.”
February 21- 28, 2014
ABANDONMENT OF NATO
Early in 2010, Ukraine elected Viktor Yanukovych for President, presenting a large swing in political
ideology amongst Ukrainians. President Yanukovych vowed to end Ukraine’s membership with NATO. He also
vowed to fix the relationship between Ukraine and Russia. President Yanukovych started reshaping Ukraine’s foreign
policy to reflect a more Moscow-friendly view. Opinion polls taken in Ukraine showed results that a majority of the
Ukrainian people were opposed to NATO membership. The law that was submitted by President Yanukovych
indicated Ukraine’s status as a military non-aligned country, which cannot have membership in any military bloc, but
will still co-operate with NATO. With Yanukovych in power, Ukraine takes a closer step to the soon to come crisis in
its internal split between NATO/EU powers and Russia.
2010
Petro Poroshenko was elected president of Ukraine in May of 2014,
possessing no political party backing. Poroshenko strongly supported the
Orange Revolution that took place in 2004, where he served as foreign
minister to Yulia Tymoshenko. He took over as president of Ukraine
when former president Viktor Yanukovych left the country. Poroshenko
worked with Yanukovych as a trade minister during his administration.
His ambitions to make Ukraine a more stable country is strongly
supported by both E.U. and the U.S., with Obama voicing his approval of
Poroshenko and speaking highly of him. Poroshenko, during his
campaign, said that he hoped to mend the relationship with Russia. He
ruled out any negotiations with the separatist insurgency.
June 7, 2014
On March 11th
, 2014, Sevastopol released a resolution with the Supreme Council of Crimea to unite as an independent
republic, with a potential referendum and union with Russia. On March 16th
, 2014, Autonomous Republic of Crimea
held a referendum to decide on whether to secede from Ukraine or to join with Russia. The secession from Ukraine
was unanimously enacted by the Crimean government. On March 27th
, 2014, the U.N. General Assembly passed a
non-binding resolution, which declared Crimea’s “Moscow-backed” referendum an invalid base for seceding from
Ukraine. The referendum held 100 votes in favor, 11 against, and 58 abstentions in the 193-national assembly.
March 11 – 27, 2014
RUSSIAN AIRLINER SHOT DOWN
The Ukrainian military shot down the Russian airliner Tu-154 over the Black Sea near the Russian city of
Sochi. It was flying from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk and there were 78 people on board- most of them recent Russian
immigrants to Israel, they were all killed. The pilot of an Armenian An-24 plane- Garik Ovanisian- flying near the
plane at a lower altitude reported seeing an explosion on the Russian airliner, upon which the plane fell into the sea,
where another explosion occurred. Russian investigators believe a warhead from an anti-aircraft missile exploded near
the plane and initially focused on the possibility of a terrorist attack. The chairman of Ukraine’s Security Council,
Evhen Marchuk, said it was probably brought down accidentally from an S-200 rocket fired during air defense
exercises on the Crimean peninsula.
Ukraine said they were aiming at a drone. Experts believe it is possible that- because of the larger surface
area of the plane- the missile redirected itself toward it. The Russian investigators did consider the theory of the
incident being an accident was more likely than the terrorist theory, over time, though President Vladimir Putin of
Russia didn’t believe that Ukraine presented enough adequate information. It took eight days for Ukraine to accept
responsibility after initially denying they were at fault.
October 4, 2001
BRIEF HISTORY OF UKRAINE
Ukrainian history starts in the sixth century with the settlement of Kiev by three
factions of a Slavic-Polian tribe. In 882 AD, Kiev was overrun by the Viking tribe Rus and it
became the capital of their nation, Kievan Rus. In 1024 AD, Baty Khan's army launched a
successful invasion of Kievan Rus and the land was split between Galicia, Volynia, and
Muscovy.
In the sixteenth century, a mass breakout of surfs, called Cossacks, lead to the
founding of Zaporozhskaya Sych in the southern steppes near the Dnipro River's delta, in the
Zaporozhia region of present-day Ukraine. Due to the ever present threats from the Tatars,
Polish, and Turks, the Cossack military quickly became well-trained and effective. In 1654,
Cossack leader Bogdan Khmelnitsky signed the Pereyaslav Agreement with Russia to unite
against the Polish. Though not the purpose of the treaty, the Russians used it to incorporate
Zaporozhskaya Sych into their empire. They upheld a democratic military administrative
governing system and a constitution was written in 1710. In an attempt to save his country, new
leader Ivan Mazepa signed an agreement with the Swiss to stand in opposition to Peter the
Great's Russian army. Peter destroyed both armies and by 1775 Zaporizhska Sych's lands had
been divided between Austria and Russia. With the downfall of the government came a new
spiritual resistance to Russia, only to fade in 1865 when the Ukrainian language was banned in
public.
Ukraine had a brief chance for independence after the fall of the Russian Empire in
1917, but due to conflict amongst many interior factions, its new government only lasted four
years before being split between the USSR and Poland. During the early 1930's, the Soviet
Union raised their grain quota by forty four percent resulting in an artificial famine, killing
about seven million Ukrainian citizens. In the years that followed, at least one million
Ukrainians, including 115 Soviet Ukrainian government members in 1938, were killed by
Soviet secret police. Between the Nazis and the Soviets, roughly eight million Ukrainians,
including one and a half million Jews, were killed during World War II. This has been regarded
as Europe's highest individual population loss due to war. After the war, Poland was overtaken
by the Soviet Union and all of Ukraine was under Soviet control.
Nationalist movements began in many of the Soviet Republics including Ukraine.
They fought for an independent and democratic Ukraine. This weakened the USSR Central
Government’s ability to control this regions as the new government leaders were now fighting
for independence.
The Crisis in UkraineThe Crisis in Ukraine
THE ORANGE REVOLUTION
The initiation of the Orange Revolution that started in Ukraine was election fraud. Nonpartisan exit polls
during the November 21 presidential runoff election had given Yushchenko a commanding lead, with 52 percent of
the votes, compared to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's 43 percent. Yet when the official results came in,
Yanukovych had supposedly beaten the challenger by 2.5 percent.
Domestic monitors sounded the alarm about the emerging fraud. Numerous reports indicated that thousands of
roving teams of voters were being transported in trains and buses between polling stations, each armed with multiple
absentee ballots. If each of these people cast ten ballots, this voter "carousel" would have padded the final result by at
least half a million votes. Viktor Yanukovych refused to resign and instead he appealed against the result. However,
on December 30th
the Supreme Court rejected his complaints and appeal. He finally resigned on December 31st
. The
final result, declared on January 11th
, gave 51.99% of the vote to Yushchenko and 44.2% to Yanukovych. Yushchenko
was sworn in on January 23rd
, 2005.
After the initial vote-fraud and prior to the re-count, Ukraine had been plunged into a bitter political crisis
over the elections.
The onset of the
Orange Revolution
2004
April, 2014-May 17, 2014 September 5, 2014
The Ukrainian government and the pro-Russian rebels meet in
Minsk, and agreed to stop fighting. This became known as the first
Minsk Agreement/Protocol. Russia was included in the talks. With
almost 8,000 people killed since fighting began in April 2014,
pressure was building to have both sides close a deal and see to the
withdrawal of heavy weapons from the frontline. Ukraine is due to
hold its elections on 25 October, while rebel-controlled Donetsk
and Luhansk regions said they would hold their own votes on 18
October and 1 November. The U.S. refuses to call Russian
intervention an invasion.
Team: Bryant Etherton, Kendra Hendricks, Ashley Morales, Gina
Nordigian, Kathryn Schmitt, Kathryn Bartels, Michelle Lindloff,
Michelle Gottschalk, Megan Freitag
Faculty Mentor: Professor Burton
April - May 17 2014: Pro-Russian protesters
take over government buildings in parts of
eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian troops are sent to try
and remove them. The U.S. and European
Union (EU) add asset freezes and travel bans in
addition to other sanctions in an effort to get
Ukraine and Russia to cooperate and deescalate
the violence and tension caused by both sides.
The sanctions will be removed only if Russia
backs away from the conflict.
January 15, 2015
Russia was economically pressured to sign the Minsk agreement
due to falling oil prices. The Minsk Accords consisted of two
separate documents, the Minsk Protocol, the original cease-fire
agreement from September 2014 and “Minsk 2.” Putin, Merkel,
Hollande and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko set out a
sequence of measures, starting with a phased-in ceasefire, greater
autonomy for the Donbas region, the withdrawal of Russian troops,
local elections, and the restoration of Kiev’s control over the
border with Russia. These proposals comprised the Minsk 2
agreement. Due to not having a lasting cease-fire, all sides agreed
to extend the Minsk process into 2016. Additionally, Poroshenko
doesn’t have the necessary 300 votes in Ukrainian parliament to
pass the amendment.
May 16, 2015
Two Russians who claim to be Russian special forces members
are captured in Eastern Ukraine fighting with separatists.
Moscow refuses the claim that they are active servicemen,
resulting in Ukraine not treating them as captured enemy
military and instead labeled them terrorists. Kiev claims that
they are Russian special forces, while one of the men captured
claimed his unit consisted of 200 men and were forced to give
up military ID and their uniforms before entering Ukraine. As
of April 18th
, 2016, they have both received a conviction and
been sentenced to 14 years in prison on charges of
waging war against Ukraine, committing terrorism, and
using weapons to provoke an armed conflict.
October 7, 2014
Many Ukrainians flee their homes and move to Russia where some
have been welcomed by offering the immigrants food, goods and
accommodations. Russian sentiment varies between acceptance
and complete disdain, with some reported instances of violence.
Some Ukrainians, who have been disillusioned by the violence and
economic failures in Ukraine, do not plan on leaving Russia
anytime soon. Putin states that he welcomes the Ukrainians “as
brothers”, and encourages the immigrants to qualify for skilled
labor, a statement that increases sentiment about the immigration
benefiting the Russian economy. The UN claims more than 1
million people have been displaced by the current conflict.
With almost 8,000 people killed since fighting began
in April 2014, pressure was building to have the
warring sides close a deal that would see the
withdrawal of heavy weapons from the frontline.
Ukraine is due to hold its elections on 25 October,
while pro-Russian rebel-controlled Donetsk and
Luhansk regions said they would hold their own votes
on 18 October and 1 November. Ukrainian Defense
Minister Stepan Poltorak says fighting has fallen
to its lowest level since the conflict started.
September 13, 2015
After pushing back elections to October, voting was
halted in several Ukrainian cities after ballots were
found to be inaccurate. An investigation is launched
into the misprints and November 15th
is given as a
tentative re-election day. It was reported that the
November elections satisfied the qualifications of the
Council of Europe, OSCE, and European Network
of Election Monitoring Organizations.
October, 2015
Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko stated
today that he is nearing an agreement with
Russian president Vladimir Putin over a
prisoner exchange that would return
Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko to
Ukraine in exchange for two Russian
soldiers who were recently sentenced to
prison terms in Ukraine. However, Russia
continues to assert that it has no military
presence in Ukraine and has yet to
acknowledge either of the prisoners as
Russian military.
April 19, 2016