Four months of pro-Russian insurgency in Ukraine
KYIV, Aug 05, 2014 (AFP) – Here are the key dates in Ukraine since pro-Moscow separatists launched an insurgency in the east of the former Soviet republic four months ago:
The civil war has claimed over 1,150 lives since April 6. The United Nations says at least 285,000 people have fled their homes because of the conflict.
— APRIL 2014 —
– 6: Two weeks after Crimea is annexed by Russia, pro-Moscow demonstrators seize government buildings in several cities in Ukraine’s Russian-speaking east, including Donetsk and Lugansk.
Tensions had been high in the heavily Russified region since a pro-Western government took over in Kyiv on February 22.
– 7: Separatists in Donetsk declare an “independent republic”.
– 13: Kyiv announces the launch of an “anti-terrorist” operation in the east.
— MAY —
– 11: Voters call for independence in referendums held in Lugansk and Donetsk. The polls are rejected as illegitimate by Kyiv and the West.
– 25: Most polling stations in eastern Ukraine remain closed during the country’s presidential election, which is won by Petro Poroshenko.
— JUNE —
– 27: Poroshenko signs a delayed association accord with the EU — pulling the country decisively out of Moscow’s sphere of influence.
— JULY —
– 5: Insurgents abandon their bastion Slavyansk and move south after a shelling onslaught by resurgent government forces.
– 17: A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 carrying 298 people from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur is shot down in rebel-held territory, close to the Russian border. Western nations blame the rebels, saying they had support from Russia. Kyiv accused Russia of earlier shooting down a Ukrainian warplane in the region. Moscow says the claim is “absurd”.
– 21: Intense clashes as Kyiv’s forces push on with their “anti-terrorist” offensive around Donetsk and in the region of Lugansk. A day later they wrest back control of the strategically-important town of Severodonetsk.
– 23: Two Ukrainian Sukhoi military jets are shot down over rebel-held territory.
The Red Cross, the watchdog for the Geneva Conventions, declares it considers Ukraine to be in a civil war — a distinction that means warring sides can be prosecuted for war crimes in international courts.
– 29: The European Union and United States broaden sanctions on Russia, accused of destabilising eastern Ukraine.
— AUGUST —
– 1: Dozens of international investigators finally manage to comb the scattered wreckage in the fields where the Malaysia Airlines plane was downed, collecting the bodies of the victims.
– 5: Intense fighting erupts in a western suburb of the main rebel bastion of Donetsk, where Ukrainian forces have been trying to advance over the past few days. At least two civilians are killed.
President Poroshenko says that government forces have retaken three quarters of rebel territory in two months.