On 22 February 2014 Ukraine's parliament voted to remove President Viktor Yanukovych from office at the climax of the Euromaidan protests, also called the Revolution of Dignity, after he fled the capital. The protests had begun in November 2013 when Yanukovych, under Russian pressure, abruptly refused to sign an association agreement with the European Union, and they grew into a broad movement against corruption and authoritarianism after violent crackdowns. The bloodiest days came on 18 to 20 February 2014, when clashes in Kyiv, including police snipers firing on protesters, killed around a hundred people.
On 21 February Yanukovych and opposition leaders signed a European brokered deal for early elections and a return to the 2004 constitution, but police withdrew from central Kyiv and that night Yanukovych secretly left the capital, fleeing first to Kharkiv, then Crimea, and eventually to Russia. On 22 February parliament, after his departure, elected a new speaker and voted 328 to 0 to remove Yanukovych, stating he had abandoned his constitutional duties, and set an early presidential election for 25 May. It named Oleksandr Turchynov interim president.
The framing is sharply contested: supporters and much of the West call it a popular revolution and a parliamentary removal, while Yanukovych and Russia call it an illegal, unconstitutional coup, a dispute bound up with Russia's subsequent annexation of Crimea and the war that followed.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled the capital and then the country to Russia; parliament voted to remove him
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Viktor Yanukovych (president who fled and was removed)
Oleksandr Turchynov (parliament speaker named interim president)
Arseniy Yatsenyuk (made interim prime minister)
Yulia Tymoshenko (opposition leader freed from prison)
Sources
Despite signing an agreement to approve constitutional changes, President Yanukovych secretly fled Kyiv on the night of 21 February 2014; on 22 February parliament held an emergency session, elected Oleksandr Turchynov as chairman, and unanimously voted 328 to 0 to remove Yanukovych, stating he had abandoned his constitutional duties, and scheduled an early presidential election for 25 May.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, Revolution of Dignityopen source ↗
The uprising climaxed on 18 to 20 February when fierce fighting in Kyiv killed almost 100 protesters and 13 police; police abandoned central Kyiv on 21 February and Yanukovych and other ministers fled the city that evening, after which parliament removed him from office and named its chairman Turchynov interim president, with an arrest warrant issued on 24 February.
On the night of 21 to 22 February Viktor Yanukovych fled, initially to Kharkiv, then to Crimea, and eventually to the Russian Federation, where a week later he declared himself still to be president of Ukraine, while most measures in the 21 February settlement agreement were never implemented.
An account of the revolution notes that 57 percent of people in the government controlled east regarded the change in power as an illegal armed coup, while the events were followed by a new interim government, restoration of the previous constitution, and a call for early presidential elections.
SOURCE REVIEWEDMstyslav Chernov, Revolution of Dignityopen source ↗
Editorial Note
SPECIAL NEUTRALITY applied: the character of this event is one of the most politically charged in the dataset. Supporters and much of the West describe a popular Revolution of Dignity culminating in a lawful parliamentary vote (328 to 0) to remove a president who had fled; Yanukovych and Russia describe an unconstitutional, Western-backed coup, a framing Moscow used to justify the February to March 2014 annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in the Donbas. The summary presents both framings and the parliamentary mechanism without adjudicating, and notes the regional split in how it was viewed. Coded as a popular revolt with fate fled the country, both verified: Yanukovych fled to Russia and lives in exile there. The dataset codes 02-22, the date of the parliamentary removal vote (he fled the night of 02-21). Crimea and the war are noted only as consequences, not adjudicated.
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled the capital and then the country to Russia; parliament voted to remove him.
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; fled the country. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
“Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych Driven From Power; Yanukovych Leaves Capital and Decries What He Calls a Coup by ‘Bandits’,” February 23, 2014
The Sunday Telegraph
“Ukraine’s Iron Lady hails revolution: ‘This is a country of free people’: President remains defiant as he condemns ‘coup by Nazis’ [Edition 2],” February 23, 2014
The Christian Science Monitor
“Russia slams Ukraine upheaval as illegal ‘armed uprising’,” February 24, 2014
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →