MOSCOW, April 25 (RIA Novosti), Daria Gerasina – Pro-federalization rallies have been raging in eastern Ukraine ever since locals refused to recognize the legitimacy of the coup-imposed Ukrainian government.
February 22. The Ukrainian parliament voted to oust President Viktor Yanukovych from power, hours after he abandoned his Kiev office. The Verkhovna Rada changed the constitution, replaced the leadership of parliament and the Interior Ministry and scheduled an early presidential election for May 25.
February 23. The Verkhovna Rada appointed speaker Olexander Turchynov as interim president.
February 27. An interim government was established in Ukraine, with Arseniy Yatseniuk appointed as its new prime minister.
Eastern Ukrainian regions announced they did not recognize the legitimacy of the new Kiev leadership and demand federalization of the country.
March 1. Pro-federalization protesters seized the regional administration building in Kharkiv. About 100 people were injured during the clashes.
Protesters in Donetsk raised the Russian flag over the regional administration building, elected Pavel Gubarev as a people’s governor.
March 5. Protesters in Donetsk retook the regional administration after losing control of the building earlier in the day.
Over 1,000 federalization supporters staged a rally in Kharkiv.
March 6. Ukrainian police and the National Security Service re-captured the administrative headquarters in Donetsk. Seventy people were arrested, including People’s Governor Pavel Gubarev.
March 9. Mass rallies were held in the city of Luhansk with protesters calling for a referendum on joining Russia on March 16. The municipal administration building was seized by the protesters.
March 10. Central authorities regained control of the Luhansk municipal building.
March 13. Violent clashes between supporters and opponents of the new Kiev authorities erupted in the city of Donetsk following mass rallies. One pro-Kiev protester from the far-right Svoboda party was killed and a further 26 injured.
March 15. Two people were killed and five injured in shooting in central Kharkiv. Thirty-eight people, including 32 members of the Right Sector, were detained during the clashes.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Donetsk to demand the release of arrested people’s governor Gubarev and a referendum on the status of the Donbass region.
March 16. On the same day that the republic of Crimea voted in a referendum to join Russia, protests took place in Donetsk, Kharkiv and Luhansk.
Over 4,000 people took part in mass pro-federalization rallies.
Protesters in the city of Donetsk urged the Ukrainian Parliament to dismiss the government.
April 6. Federalization supporters took control of the Kharkiv regional state administration. Donetsk activists managed to capture the whole building of the local administration.
April 7. Federalization supporters announced the formation of the People's Republic of Kharkiv.
April 10. The deputies of Lugansk Regional Council issued a statement in which they demanded to hold a national referendum on the federal structure of the country and legalize the status of the Russian language.
The leadership of the ‘Donetsk People's Republic’ decided to create its own ‘People's Army,’ Igor Khakimzyanov was chosen as its commander.
On the night of April 11, about a hundred activists blocked a military unit of the Interior Ministry in Lugansk, stating that they want to prevent casualties on both sides if the unit receives an order to storm the building of the regional administration of the Security Service of Ukraine, which is occupied by the protesters.
April 12. Former Berkut members came to the building of the Donetsk Regional Department of Internal Affairs, which is blocked by the supporters of the federalization meeting, in an attempt to negotiate. They supported the protesters’ demands and refused to obey their commanding officers.
Federalization supporters captured the administrative buildings in three cities of the Donetsk region: Slaviansk, Krasniy Liman and Kramatorsk.
April 12-13. A number of other cities of Donetsk Region joined the protest movement including Slaviansk, Krasniy Liman, Mariupol, Yenakievo, Kramatorsk, Makeyevka and others.
April 13. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov announced the beginning of the operation in Slaviansk, which would involve "forces of all law enforcement units of the country."
Fifty people were injured during the clashes between opponents and supporters of federalization in Kharkiv, 10 were hospitalized.
Acting Ukrainian President Olexander Turchinov set a deadline of early morning April 14 for protesters to lay down their arms and leave the occupied government buildings, promising to pardon them.
April 14. The deadline issued by the government expired with pro-federalization activists in the eastern regions choosing to ignore the demands.
Turchinov signed a decree to officially begin a “special anti-terrorist operation” in the east of the country.
April 15. Turchinov announced the launch of a special anti-terrorist operation in the north of the Donetsk region.
The Ukrainian army blocked access to the city of Slaviansk.
Ukrainian troops stormed and took control of an airfield in the eastern city of Kramatorsk. Several people were reported killed during the operation.
April 16. Federalization supporters retained control of administration buildings in eight cities of the Donetsk region.
Ukrainian protesters seized six armored vehicles of the Ukrainian army which entered the town of Kramatorsk to conduct an counterterrorist operation.
A convoy of military armored vehicles of the Ukrainian army entered the city of Slaviansk, the personnel of some of them later switched sides and joined the pro-federalist activists.
Clashes between anti-government protesters and soldiers erupted at a military unit in the Ukraine’s southeastern city of Mariupol. Three people were killed and thirteen more injured. Sixty-three people were detained.
April 17. Ukrainian armored vehicles blocked by pro-federalization protesters near the city of Kramatorsk returned to the site of their permanent deployment in the Dnepropetrovsk region.
Top diplomats from Russia, Ukraine, the United States and the European Union held talks in Geneva focused on the ongoing crisis in eastern Ukraine. The sides agreed on a series of immediate steps aimed at de-escalation of tensions including the disarmament of irregular militant groups and a dialogue on constitutional reforms.
Ukrainian military forces clashed with pro-federalization activists on the outskirts of Kramatorsk. One person was injured.
April 18. The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic refused to recognize the provisions of the Geneva agreement.
April 19. The situation in most parts of Ukraine except for Donetsk and Luhansk regions is stable and relatively calm, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reported.
April 20. Unknown attackers opened fire in downtown Slaviank, injuring two local citizens.
A group of unknown gunmen launched a deadly attack on a checkpoint near Slaviansk killing three people and injuring three others.
April 21. A curfew was announced in Slaviansk after the deadly shootout Sunday.
Protesters in Luhansk set up a joint headquarters for southwestern Ukraine, electing a people’s governor of the Luhansk region.
A pro-federalization rally was held in central Kharkiv.
Activists seized the office of the national security service and blocked access to a police department and a road to an airport in eastern Ukraine’s Kramatorsk.
April 22. An OSCE observer mission arrived in the Donetsk region.
Ukraine’s acting president Olexander Turchinov ordered security forces to resume a special operation in the country’s east.
April 23. An active phase of an anti-terrorist operation in the eastern Ukrainian regions resumed.
Opponents and supporters of federalization held demonstrations in Kharkiv.
April 24. Unknown attackers broke into the city council building in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, controlled by pro-federalization supporters. Several people were injured.
Two helicopters of the National Guard of Ukraine were shelled by unknown assailants near Slaviansk.
A special anti-terrorist operation resumed in the city of Slaviansk.
Five members of local self-defense forces were reported dead and one policeman injured during the operation in Slaviansk. Military vehicles blocked the access to the city.
