Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe that has seen difficult times

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe that has seen difficult times and has suffered due to government actions, which has lead to an intense conflict over the past 5 years that is still going on at the moment.The former president of Ukraine Viktor Fedorovich Yanukovich played a large role in the Euromaidan, a 4 month long pro EU protest that has resulted in the death of hundreds of civilians. Viktor Fedorovich Yanukovich experienced a complex presidency and political career which was most affected by the Euromaidan events.Viktor Yanukovich was born on July 9th, 1950, in a small village called Zhukovka in Donetsk Oblast in the USSR. He had a very hard childhood, and he was born in a poor family. His mother was a nurse and his dad worked as a locomotive-driver. He commented ‘My childhood was difficult and hungry. I grew up without my mother who died when I was two. I went around bare-footed on the streets. I had to fight for myself everyday’’. He stated that his grandmother had raised him and when she died it resulted in him going to an orphanage until the age of 17. In his late teens and early twenties, he had some problems with the law that resulted in a few jail terms. At the age of 17 he was sentenced to prison for three years for participating in robbery and assault but the prison let him free after 6 months for an outstanding behaviour. In 1968 he was arrested for manslaughter and sentenced to a juvenile colony and in 1970 he was arrested and sent to jail again for beating up a person. He wasn’t behaving well in jail the second time, he refused to eat food provided by jail and he only ate food packages that were sent to him. However he was punished for this, it resulted in him being sent in isolation 14 times in 40 days. He commented on his arrests as ‘Mistakes of youth’. In the beginning of 1969, Viktor worked at a heavy mining industry in his hometown. He worked there for 20 years. Over this time period, he rose from a mechanic to become an executive. In 1980, he earned a degree in mechanical engineering at Donetsk Polytechnic University and joined the Communist Party go the Soviet Union. In 2001 he received a Degree in International Law at the Ukrainian Academy of Foreign trade. He also has a PhD in Economics and is a member of the Academy of Economic Sciences.After Ukrainian independence Viktor enrolled in local government. Viktor’s political career began in 1996, he was appointed as a Vice-head of Donetsk oblast Administration and in 1997 he became a governor of Donetsk oblast.In 2002 on November 22, Leonid Kuchma, Ukrainian president at that time appointed Yanuvokych as a Prime minister. In 2003 he started representing ‘Party of Origins’ which moved him into one of the candidates for the presidential election, in the second round he has gained 2,6% more than Viktor Yushchenko however he was called out for cheating.People started a protest against his presidency called ‘Orange Revolution’,Orange Revolution was a series of protests that lasted for over two weeks in 2004 after Yanukovych won the election. Protestors clad in orange, Yushchenko’s campaign colour. The result of the revolution was Supreme Court ruled the election invalid and ordered a new runoff for December 26, after the re-voting Yushchenko was elected as the new president and he was inaugurated on January 23, 2005. Yanukovich was forced to leave his post as a Prime minister after the events. However Yanukovych didn’t give up and started rebuilding his power. In 2006 Yanukovych’s Party or Regions that he had established back in 2003 scored a victory in Parliament elections, and Yushchenko had to put Yanukovych back at a Prime Minister’s post but Yulia Timoshenko who was a major figure in Orange Revolution took this post in 2007.In January 2010 Yanukovych run for a president’s post for a second time, his campaign cost $100 to $150 million, the money was provided by Minister of Internal Affairs Yuriy Lutsenko. Yanukovych, Yushchenko and Tymoshenko were the 3 main figures. Yushchenko only scored 5 percent which resulted in Yanukovych and Tymoshenko competing against each other in a second round. Yanukovych got 3.48 percent more than Tymoshenko and even though Tymoshenko denied the validity of results, this time the election was judged free and fair by international observers.During his presidency demonstrated his pro-Russian views, in 2010 in April Viktor made a deal with Russia to extend Russia’s lease of the port in Sevastopol until 2014, and in exchange, Ukraine would get a reduction in price for Russian natural gas. There were some disagreement in the parliament about this deal but was resolved shortly after.In 2012 in October Yanukovych’s Party of Origins won the largest share of seats in the parliament.Yanukovych ordered the release of Lutsenko in order to sing the contract with EU.A few days before the contract was due, Yanukovych canceled the deal. Russia exerted a lot of pressure on him to stop him from signing it, Russia has made it clear that if this contract will be signed then Ukraine is going to lose CIS status, the border would go up and other consequences facing Ukraine, meaning a total disaster to Ukrainian economy.Once Ukrainian people heard about Yanukovych turning his back to EU, On the night of 21 November 2013, angry Ukrainians launched a peaceful protest on Maidan Square or in other worlds the square of independence in the capital of Ukraine, Kiev. The protest mostly consisted of young University students, journalists and activists that wanted a better future for themselves in the county. People brought Ukrainian symbols and EU flags. The protest has remained peaceful for 9 days since the beginning. The violence towards the protestants has only started on November 30 at 4 am. Berkut riot police attacked the people that were protesting in Kiev and as their excuse they said that they needed people to leave in order to put a christmas three up on the square.These actions resulted in the other way than the government expected, the government was hoping to scare people away but they caused even more anger and frustration towards the situation causing more people to come to the protest.On November 1st people have occupied the Maidan and since that time the protests did not stop, activists were demanding the resignation of the government an emergency re-election. On this day, near the building of the presidential administration, a clash with security forces occurred, resulting in injured civilians. Protesters occupied the premises of the Kiev city administration and set up a headquarters there.On December 8th, the ‘March of the Million’ was held all day in Kiev, and the same day people destroyed Lenin’s statue in Kiev.On December 11th, in the afternoon people have received the information about the preparations for the assault on the tent camp that were set by activists who slept on the square. In response to this activists fortified the barricades in anticipation of the assault.The information turned out to be true, at night the forces attacked the barricades on the Maidan, but were unable to capture them.On December 31 a lot of Ukrainian people were present on the Maidan.On January 16 the parliament of Ukraine, passed anti-democratic laws forbidding peaceful protests. This led to a new wave of confrontation, governments violentce against protestors continueds, disaperreance, torture and beatings towards civilians kept occuring. On January 19, a convoy of protesters marched on Grushevsky Street, protesters started responding with violence as well, they burned the buses of security forces. This day is called “Blood Baptism.””On the night of January 22