In a treaty called the Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine agrees to trade away its intercontinental ballistic missiles, warheads and other nuclear infrastructure in exchange for guarantees that the three other treaty signatories - the U.S., the U.K. NATO's secretary-general visits Kyiv, and Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk visits NATO headquarters in Brussels.Īfter the Soviet Union's collapse, Ukraine is left with the world's third-largest nuclear stockpile. 25, 1991, the day after Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union.Īs NATO allies contemplate adding central and Eastern European members for the first time, Ukraine formally establishes relations with the alliance, though it does not join. Ukrainians demonstrate in front of the Communist Party's Central Committee headquarters in Kyiv on Aug. Since the illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, many Ukrainians have turned away from Moscow and toward the West, with popular support on the rise for joining Western alliances such as NATO and the European Union. Now it faces its biggest test as Russia threatens its very existence as an independent country. Since breaking from the Soviet Union, Ukraine has wavered between the influences of Moscow and the West, surviving scandal and conflict with its democracy intact. and its European allies to head off conflict, the situation for Kyiv is the most high-stakes in the country's 30-year history. Police said the crowd swelled to around 10,000 people.Īs Russian forces begin an all-out assault on Ukraine after months of troop buildup and failed diplomatic efforts by the U.S. Protesters chanted, 'No to surrender!' and some held placards critical of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 6, 2019, to protest against broader autonomy for separatist territories. Demonstrators wave Ukrainian flags as they gather in central Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, on Oct.

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