The Ukrainian revolution of February 2014 took place after a series of violent events in the capital of Kiev culminated with the ousting of the then-President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych. This was immediately followed by a series of changes in quick succession in Ukraine's sociopolitical system, including the installation of a new interim government, the restoration of an older version of the constitution, and the call to hold impromptu presidential elections within months.
After a first revolution, namely the "Orange Revolution" in 2004, Ukraine had been mired by years of corruption, mismanagement, lack of economic growth, currency devaluation, and an inability to secure funding from public markets. Because of this, Yanukovych sought to establish closer relations with the European Union (EU) and Russia in order to attract the capital necessary to maintain Ukraine's standard of living without affecting the local population significantly. One of these measures was an association agreement with the European Union which would provide Ukraine with funds contingent to several reforms in almost all aspects of Ukrainian society and break its economic ties with Russia. Yanukovych, at first, considered the contingencies to be fair but ultimately refused to sign the agreement considering it too austere and detrimental to Ukraine.Besides that, EU demanded the release of Tymoshenko, who was in jail, as an incidental condition of association agreement with the European Union. Therefore, Yanukovych signed a treaty with Russia instead, which sparked civil unrest in Kiev that ultimately led to violent clashes between protestors and law enforcement officers under unclear circumstances.As tensions rose, Yanukovych fled the country and has not returned.
The revolution was followed by protests in its south-eastern regions, a dispute with Russia regarding the annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by the Russian Federation, and the massing of Russian troops near Ukraine's borders.