1-EU proposal's rejection

The conflict arising in Ukraine today stems from the Ukrainian president's
rejection of a single economic deal with the European Union regarding an
association agreement. The EU sought more Eastern European economies to enter
into their trade agreements, while Ukrainians yearned for further involvement
with Western Europe's more modern and productive economies.
A few days later, after the rejection of this deal, Ukrainian president accepts
a new deal from Russia in the form of $15 billion in aid and other economic
benefits.
Ukrainians have sought economic reform that would bring the country's economy
back in line, but rejection of the EU's deal not only ignored the views of
majority of Ukrainians but signaled the government's strengthened alignment with
Russia.
These factors spawned a serious uproar among the Ukrainian people in which they
condemned their governments corruption and denounced the legitimacy of their
presidents patriotism. So within hours of EU proposal's rejection, thousands of
protesters stormed the streets of Kiev and calling for the immediate resignation
of their president.
In response to the protesters, the Ukrainian government began to carry out
aggressive actions to shut down the opposition. But the protesters have
persisted and slowly escalated.
The EU have offered new deals to Ukraine, providing it's government with several
last chances to come round and respect the decisions of mobilized public.
But neither the resolution between the opposition leaders nor the protests seem
to work and finally the protesters overtook the capital and President's
residence.
In February, anti-government protests toppled the government and ran Yanukovych
out of the country
Fearing for his life, Ukrainian Presidents quickly fled to Russia, facing
charges of killing the protesters.
Russia, however, has viewed the protests as an illegitimate threat to the
Ukrainian president's power that must be quashed.

2-RUSSIA INTERVENTION
(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_military_intervention_in_Ukraine_(2014%
E2%80%93present)?fbclid=IwAR2s6jHIohQSSHYH6cQqSJ-
k7OD2YdMUF9dGkVgC4vQ1CG4IIAKYR9lvYrM)
unmarked guards began appearing on the Ukrainian-Russian border. Russian
President Vladimir Putin also called for a military drill involving over
100,000 troops, many of whom were situated by the Ukrainian border. President
Putin's deliberate show of force sent the message that Russia was prepared to
go to war with Ukraine.
Following the initial movements of Russian aggression, the unmarked soldiers
quickly began to enter the Ukrainian province of Crimea. Crimea is an
autonomous republic within Ukraine that contains a large Russophone population
and generally identifies more closely with Russia.
The possible Russian annexation of Crimea has moved Russian and Ukrainian
forces closer and closer to violent conflict.
IN SIMPLE WORDS
*It is commonly accepted that Russia has supplied arms and supplies to both of
the militias or separatist terrorist groups
• In addition there is strong evidence that Russia is providing aid and
government assistance in addition to what Western foreign aid is reaching the
civilian populations in affected areas
• However most controversially there is significant evidence that Russian
‘volunteer troops’ are fighting in the regions and that potentially even special
forces have trained the ‘terrorists’ or militiamen of both self proclaimed
republics
• However these facts have all been disputed by Russian authorities at different
times

3-Malaysian Airlines flight 17 ( https://www.vox.com/2014/9/3/18088560/ukraine-

everything-you-need-to-
know?fbclid=IwAR2etkhNiz1cMNfdu52ctoajusAH0ICSfy0h8t64yOei1rahopwXhWjpInk )
On Thursday, July 17, Malaysia Airlines flight 17 was shot down while flying
over an area of eastern Ukraine where Russian-backed separatist rebels are
active, killing all 298 people on board.Russia had recently supplied the rebels
with a sophisticated, long-range surface-to-air missile system known as Buk or
SA-11. The rebels had shot down two other high-flying airplanes — both
Ukrainian military planes — in the previous week. It appears most likely that
the rebels misidentified flight 17 as a military craft and shot it down.
The conflict had already been worsening, as Ukraine had recently retaken several
rebel-held towns and Russia had been supplying weapons to Ukrainian rebels. The
shoot-down led the US and Europe to impose even tougher sanctions on Russia and
led the Ukrainian military to accelerate its campaign to finally defeat the
rebels. When it looked like the rebels would be overrun, Russia responded in
mid-August by overtly invading in support of the rebels.

4-WAR IN EASTERN UKRAINE ( https://www.thespec.com/news-story/9050499-russia-s-

conflict-with-ukraine-explained/?fbclid=iwar2zawuwnf-
vv4puauidbxpnzo1a486ln0nwrk-gvv4alfq4sdoi3iwwcjs )
Emboldened by the annexation of Crimea, local activists, propped by Russian
operatives like Girkin, began taking over towns and villages in the east and
taking down Ukrainian flags. Separatist leaders in the cities of Donetsk and
Luhansk held contested votes in May 2014 supporting a motion to break away from
Ukraine.

Sporadic outbursts of violence and clashes between Ukrainian troops and the
separatists spilled over into a full-blown war in May 2014, when Ukraine
launched an airstrike on Donetsk airport which was overrun by Russian Chechen
fighters.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine has since killed more than 10,000 people and
displaced over 1 million. Large swathes of this area remain under separatist
control.

The Kremlin never admitted its role in the war, portraying it as a civil
conflict. But overwhelming evidence suggests that Russia has been sending a
sizeable number of troops and advisers as well as weapons to the rebels, helping
to tip the conflict in their favour. Media including The Associated Press
reported a massive stream of heavy weaponry and tanks crossing in from Russia.

Ukraine signed peace accords with the separatists in 2015, calling for a
ceasefire and political settlement in the east. While it helped to decrease the
intensity of fighting, the accords did nothing to resolve the region's political
stalemate.