Ukrainian upheaval: key events of the past year

November 21st, 2013 About 2,000 Ukrainians protest on Independence Square in Kiev against their government's decision to freeze talks on a trade and political pact with the European Union.

November 30th, 2013 A day after President Viktor Yanukovich refuses to sign the pact at an EU summit, riot police attack student protesters on the square, also called Maidan.

December 1st, 2013 Hundreds of thousands of people mass in central Kiev to condemn corruption, police brutality and Yanukovich's rejection of the EU deal and turn back towards Russia.

February 18th-20th, 2014 More than 100 protesters and more than a dozen police officers are killed in clashes and shooting around Maidan.

February 21st, 2014 Crowds on Maidan boo and whistle when political leaders tell them a compromise deal has been reached with Yanukovich. That night the president, his family and his closest allies flee Kiev; they find refuge in Russia.

February 27th, 2014 Pro-Russian gunmen seize Crimea's parliament.

March 18th, 2014 After a local referendum – rejected as a farce by Kiev and the West – backs unification with Russia, the Kremlin formally annexes Crimea.

April-May 2014 Russian-backed separatists in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions form "people's republics" and declare independence from Ukraine.

May 25th, 2014 The confectionary billionaire Petro Poroshenko wins Ukraine's presidential election.

July 17th, 2014 Kiev and the US accuse the rebels of shooting down a Malaysia Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 people on board. The separatists and Russia blame Ukraine.

October 26th, 2014 Pro-western parties dominate Ukraine's snap parliamentary election.

November 2014 Nato says Russia is sending reinforcements to the rebels and massing troops on Ukraine's border, amid fears of another escalation in fighting that has killed more than 4,100 people and displaced a million.