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Rebel advance in Ukraine




Ukraine became gripped by unrest when President Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign an association agreement with the European Union on 21 November 2013. An organized political movement known as 'Euromaidan' demanded closer ties with the European Union, and the ousting of Yanukovych. This movement was ultimately successful, culminating in theFebruary 2014 revolution, which removed Yanukovych and his government. However, some people in largely Russophoneeastern and southern Ukraine, the traditional bases of support for Yanukovych and his Party of the Regions, did not approve of the revolution, and began to protest in favour of closer ties with Russia. Various demonstrations were held in Crimea in favour of leaving Ukraine and accession to the Russian Federation, leading to the 2014 Crimean crisis.

On 1 March, regional state administration buildings (RSAs) in various eastern Ukrainian oblasts were briefly occupied by pro-Russian activists. By 11 March, all occupations had ended, after units of the local police and the Security Service of Ukraine(SBU) re-took the buildings. In Donetsk, protests escalated into violence on multiple occasions, including on 13 March, when a pro-Ukrainian protester was stabbed to death. In Kharkiv, Patriots of Ukraine militants killed an anti-Maidan protester and a passer-by on the night of 15 March, when anti-Maidan protesters attacked the Right Sector headquarters in the city.
The attendees of the protests included some Russian citizens from across the border who came to support the efforts of pro-Russian activists in Ukraine. Donetsk oblast governor Serhiy Taruta said that rallies in Donetsk contained ex-convicts and others who travelled from Crimea.Ukraine's police and border guards had denied more than 8,200 Russians entry into Ukraine between 4 and 25 March. On 27 March, National Security and Defence Council Secretary Andriy Parubiy said that between 500 and 700 Russians were being denied entry daily.

On 17 April, during the twelfth Direct Line with Vladimir Putin programme, the use of the Russian Armed Forces in Crimea, along with Crimean self-defence troops, was avowed by the Russian president, but he denied claims by the Ukrainian government, the European Union, and the United States, that Russian Special Forces were fomenting unrest in eastern Ukraine.

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