ABSTRACT
In November 2013, the Ukrainian government suspended an association agreement with the European Union. The suspension acted to forestall the development of closer ties with Ukraine’s European neighbours and triggered a series of domestic protests, the so-called Euromaidan. These protests culminated in the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych a couple of months later. In the aftermath of Euromaidan, civil unrest unfolded across Ukraine, in particular in the eastern and southern regions where Yanukovych had his political base. Eventually, negotiations between Ukraine and the EU were resumed, and the new head of state Petro Poroshenko signed the association agreement in June 2014. The events surrounding the Ukrainian revolution – characterised, for instance, by the annexation of the Crimean peninsula by the Russian Federation, the downing of a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane, as well as the armed conflict in the Donbass region of Ukraine – led to a prolonged international crisis.
