This timeline is directly extracted from BBC News.
Source:
Ukraine crisis: Timeline. (2014, November 13). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26248275
Ukraine crisis: Timeline. (2014, November 13). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26248275
1991
August: Ukrainian parliament declares independence from USSR following attempted coup in Moscow. In a nationwide referendum in December, 90% vote for independence.
2010
February: Viktor Yanukovych is declared the winner in a presidential election judged free and fair by observers. His main rival, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, is arrested for abuse of powers and eventually jailed in October 2011.
November 2013
Late November: Protests gather pace, as 100,000 people attend a demonstration in Kiev.
21 November: President Yanukovych's cabinet abandons an agreement on closer trade ties with EU, instead seeking closer co-operation with Russia. Small protests start.
December 2013
17 December: Vladimir Putin throws President Yanukovych an economic lifeline, agreeing to buy $15bn of Ukrainian debt and reduce the price of Russian gas supplies by about a third.
February 2014
20 February: Kiev sees its worst day of violence for almost 70 years. At least 88 people are killed in 48 hours. Video shows uniformed snipers firing at protesters holding makeshift shields.
21 February: President Yanukovych signs compromise deal with opposition leaders.
22 February:
- President Yanukovych disappears
- Protesters take control of presidential administration buildings
- Parliament votes to remove president from power with elections set for 25 May
- Mr Yanukovych appears on TV to denounce "coup"
- His arch-rival Yulia Tymoshenko is freed from jail
23-26 February:
- Parliament votes to ban Russian as the second official language, causing a wave of anger in Russian-speaking regions; the vote is later overturned
- Parliament names speaker Olexander Turchynov as interim president
- An arrest warrant is issued for Mr Yanukovych
- Arseniy Yatsenyuk is nominated prime minister.
- The elite Berkut police unit, blamed for deaths of protesters, is disbanded
March 2014
28 March: US President Barack Obama urges Moscow to "move back its troops" and lower tensions.
18 March: President Putin signs a bill to absorb Crimea into the Russian Federation.
17 March: The EU and US impose travel bans and asset freezes on several officials from Russia and Ukraine over the Crimea referendum.
16 March: Crimea's secession referendum on joining Russia is backed by 97% of voters, organisers say, but vote condemned by West as a sham
1 March: Russia's parliament approves President Vladimir Putin's request to use force in Ukraine to protect Russian interests.
April 2014
22 April: Ukraine's acting president orders the relaunch of military operations against pro-Russian militants in the east.
17 April: Russia, Ukraine, the US and the EU say they have agreed at talks in Geneva on steps to "de-escalate" the crisis in eastern Ukraine. Three people are killed when Ukrainian security forces fend off a raid on a base in Mariupol - the first violent deaths in the east.
15 April: Ukraine's acting President, Olexander Turchynov, announces the start of an "anti-terrorist operation" against pro-Russian separatists. It quickly stalls.
May 2014
25 May: Ukraine elects Petro Poroshenko as president in an election not held in much of the east.
11 May: Pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk declare independence after unrecognised referendums.
2 May: Clashes in the Black Sea city of Odessa, leave 42 people dead, most of them pro-Russian activists. Most die when they are trapped in a burning building.
July 2014
30 July: The EU and US announce new sanctions against Russia.
October 2014
31 October: Russia agrees to resume gas supplies to Ukraine over the winter in a deal brokered by the EU.
26 October: Pro-Western parties win Ukraine's parliamentary elections.
21 October: Human Rights Watch says it has strong evidence Ukraine attacked populated areas of Donetsk with cluster bombs, banned by many other states.
12 October: President Putin orders thousands of troops stationed near the Ukrainian border to return to their bases.
November 2014
12 November: Nato commander Gen Philip Breedlove says Russian military equipment and Russian combat troops have been seen entering Ukraine in columns over several days.