The people of Ukraine have faced more than their fair share of challenges and turmoil
since the country gained independence from the Soviet Union. The Cold War may have ended,
but the emergent Russia, first ruled by Boris Yeltsin and then Vladimir Putin, remained Western
Europe’s primary opponent. Ukraine was caught in the middle; the country remained tied to Russia in
many ways, but much of its population yearned for the economic growth and opportunities afforded by
the European Union. In 2014, the issue hit boiling point, bubbling over into regional conflict and,
at the time of the video’s production, an ongoing war for national survival. This is the recent
history of Ukraine and the bloody war that is still claiming the lives of its people today.
Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union on December 1st
1991, after 84% of Ukrainians voted for it in a national referendum.
The county quickly became politically separate from Russia, and people were optimistic about
the future. Economists across Europe believed Ukraine was the strongest
contender for economic growth and European integration under capitalism. They were wrong.
Between 1991 and 1999, Ukrainians saw their once-bustling economy deteriorate
and their industries disappear. During the Soviet era, Ukrainian factories had produced
much of the Union’s consumer goods and most of its weapons. Once the iron curtain was lifted,
these industries collapsed. The global market for consumer goods was suddenly opened to citizens of
the ex-Soviet republics, and Ukrainian goods weren’t selling. Uncompetitive factories were
closed, and entrepreneurs bought up much of the disused Soviet machinery to sell for scrap. They
made a quick Hryvna, but only served to undermine the Ukrainian economy further.
In those nine years, the light industrial output fell by 95%. Machine manufacturing,
one of Ukraine’s major industries, fell by 90%. Even steel and coal production, a traditionally
secure fallback industry, declined by over 50%. Old Soviet supply chains were in disarray.
The consumer market had evaporated. And the supply of essentially free energy,
in the form of Russian gas, had dried up. Hope for the future had become a scarce commodity.
Economic woes exacerbated political tensions, and a split formed down the middle of Ukraine.
Russian-speaking Ukrainians of the urbanised eastern regions, particularly Donbas and Crimea,
felt that protections afforded to them under the Soviet regime were evaporating.
Culturally distinct Ukrainians of the predominantly rural western regions saw
the fall of the USSR as a golden opportunity to reignite Ukrainian
nationalism. Each side consolidated their supporters behind political candidates,
and a clear split between pro-Western and pro-Russian politicians emerged.
Leonid Kuchma held the reins of power from 1994 to 2005. During his second term as president,
his tax reforms kickstarted economic recovery. But Kuchma wasn’t perfect. From 1998 to 2000,
his bodyguard secretly recorded him agreeing to sell military tech to Saddam Hussein
and sanctioning a journalist’s execution. The bodyguard released the recordings
when the police discovered the journalist’s headless corpse.
Kuchma’s alleged involvement in the murder was dubbed “Kuchmagate” by the press
and effectively put him out of the running for the next election. Viktor Yanukovych ran in his
place on a pro-Russia platform. He was endorsed by Kuchma and sponsored by Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Against him ran Viktor Yushchenko, who represented the interests of Ukraine’s western
regions and supported closer ties with NATO. Yushchenko was also strongly anti-corruption.
Yanukovych won the election by a small margin, but many international observers and Ukrainian
citizens believed the election had been rigged. Thousands of protesters massed
in the streets and demanded a second vote in what became known as the Orange Revolution.
Ukraine’s parliament passed a vote of no confidence in the cabinet, but Yanukovych
refused to cooperate. The Ukrainian Supreme Court was forced to break the deadlock and ordered
another vote. This was heavily scrutinised by international observers and declared to
be “free and fair.” Yushchenko won, alienating many in Ukraine’s east. They didn’t see the
Orange Revolution as a return to democracy but a usurpation of power by a western bloc
backed by the EU. Legitimate or not, the result was the same. Ukraine grew closer to the EU,
and the easterners felt marginalised. Their resentment towards the government in Kyiv grew.
In 2008, the global financial crisis hit, and it had massive ramifications. One of these was
a drop in the demand for steel, which at the time, was one of Ukraine’s primary exports.
Prices fell and investors pulled out, causing the Ukrainian economy to tank for the second time in
20 years. Reports of corruption circulated in the press, and Yushchenko’s credibility plummeted.
In 2010, Yanukovych made a comeback and won the presidency on a platform of Russian-aligned
economic growth and stability. Allegations abounded that the election was fraudulent,
but it wasn’t overturned. Over the next few years, Yanukovych pulled Ukraine closer to Russia,
but revolution was brewing, and this decision proved to be his undoing.
On November 21st 2013, the Ukrainian government made an abrupt about-face and refused to sign the
European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement, which had been in the works for years.
In response, 2,000 protestors appeared on Maidan Square in Kyiv. On November 26th, Moscow admitted
that they had deliberately stalled the deal to keep Ukraine within their sphere of influence.
This was not what many in Kyiv wanted, and the protest swelled to 200,000 people,
many of whom were students. They chanted “Ukraine is Europe” and waved EU flags.
A Twitter hashtag associated with the protest soon became its official name: Euromaidan.
Yanukovych tried appeasement, but the movement grew. It was soon no longer about a simple
trade deal. Euromaidan became a rally against corruption, oligarchy, and Russian dominion.
In Kyiv, at least. In Donbas, people had a markedly different view.
Yet again, they saw a foreign elite trying to usurp power in the capital. Division in Ukraine
was deepening, and the easterners began to feel their country was slipping away.
As Euromaidan wore on, Yanukovych deployed increasingly aggressive measures to break it up.
On November 30th, he sent in special riot police, who hospitalised scores of protestors.
The organisers’ phones were also hacked and communications blacked out. Determined to resist,
the protestors dug in. They erected impressive barricades and crafted ad-hoc suits of armour.
The police were extremely heavy-handed, and the protestors often fought back fiercely.
Euromaidan continued to escalate for three months, until, on February 18th, it reached a crescendo.
Behind a vanguard of armoured shield-bearers, the protestors advanced on the capitol building.
Police snipers were deployed on the rooftops and poured live
rounds into the crowd. Over a hundred civilians were killed.
As footage from peoples’ phones spread over social media, the world bore witness to the atrocity.
On February 21st, Yanukovych signed an agreement with the leaders of the opposition.
Observers from the EU and Russia were present and expressed their support
and outrage. Yanukovych fled to Russia, and the protestors took control of
the presidential buildings as well as Yanukovych’s luxurious private estate.
Euromaidan achieved its goals and became known by many as the Revolution of Dignity.
But it represented nothing less than a slap in the face for Russia
and the many Russian-aligned Ukrainians living in Crimea and the eastern regions.
Lest he be shown up by a bunch of students with homemade armour in Kyiv, Putin had to act.
He had an all-night meeting with his security staff on February 22nd and 23rd,
after which he remarked, “We must start working on returning Crimea to Russia.”
Hours later, pro-Russian demonstrations began in Sevastopol, Crimea’s main city. In Kerch,
demonstrators got into a fistfight with the mayor when they tried to replace the
Crimean flag with a Russian one. Pro-Russian demonstrations popped up across the peninsula,
and those in power declared that they would ignore the new regime in Kyiv.
On February 27th, Russian soldiers and associated paramilitary units marched into
Crimea. The soldiers had removed their patches and wore no flags but were clearly Russian.
The media dubbed them “Little Green Men.” They captured Crimea’s parliament that day,
installing the Russian politician Sergey Aksyonov as Prime Minister of the region.
Soon after, there was a media blackout and Aksyonov requested Putin’s help in
restoring order to Crimea. He got it, and by March 26th, the annexation was complete.
While technically a military invasion, the takeover of Crimea didn’t carry the
same connotations as later Russian invasions of Ukraine. For starters,
most people in Crimea felt they were Russian. Russian was spoken in place of Ukrainian,
and cultural links to Moscow were often tighter than links to Kyiv. Day to day, people’s lives
changed little after the annexation of Crimea. The EU responded with economic sanctions,
but effectively let Putin off the hook when demonstrations in Crimea settled down.
But things were different in Donbas. People who had voted for Yanukovych to bring them closer
to Russia could only watch as their political power was stripped away by a revolution they were
firmly against. When the Russian language lost its status as an official language of Ukraine,
these same people were appalled. Grassroots protests held against the pro-EU regime
appeared across the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. The authorities cracked down and
arrested the organisers. This left a power vacuum that was quickly filled by people with
genuine links to the Russian military, Russian businesses, and Russian politics. By April,
Russians controlled the pro-Russian movement in eastern Ukraine and were receiving volunteers,
weapons, and intelligence from their allies just across the border.
On April 7th, protestors marched on the central administration buildings in Donetsk and Luhansk.
They demanded independence from the Kyiv regime under the threat of war.
Days later, on May 11th, the secessionist leadership organised a referendum.
Unsurprisingly, the results turned out wildly in their favour.
But Ukraine was not willing to lose even more territory to Russia.
The Ukrainian Army was mobilised and conscription reinstated. Troops massed
at key points around the breakaway region, and planners envisioned a swift and brutal assault.
Putin responded with his “Hybrid Approach.” Russian-made weapons flowed into Ukraine,
and regular and irregular pro-Russian soldiers began popping up everywhere.
The stage was set. The soldiers were armed and ready. In April-May 2014,
the war between Russia and Ukraine began.
But what do YOU think? Do YOU think the EU should have responded more harshly to the
annexation of Crimea? Do YOU think the conflict would have happened without the Orange Revolution?
Do YOU think the war in Ukraine was inevitable,
or could better planning have prevented the situation? Let us know in the comments!