Under the agreement, Ukraine, the world's third-largest nuclear power at the time, said it would turn all its strategic nuclear arms over to Russia for destruction. President Bill Clinton (from left), Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk join hands in 1994 after signing a nuclear disarmament agreement. 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.

Ukraine-nato 2020