The Maidan Uprising

Ukrainians fight and win a bloody months-long revolution against a Russian-backed Ukrainian government that had ignored their democratically declared wish to integrate with Europe instead of coming under permanent Russian control Hundreds lose their lives in the clashes with government forces who use brutal force to try to crush the unrest. But in dramatic and tragic scenes the tenacious Ukrainians prevail. Just hours after his heavily armed forces retreat Yanukovych escapes to Russia as Moscow sends thousands of Russian soldiers alongside well-paid mercenaries in a pre-planned invasion and occupation of Crimea and Ukraine's poor eastern industrial region of Donbas