Euromaidan five years on: Kiev's street revolution that changed Ukraine - in pictures

The capital's 2013-2014 protests pitted thousands of Ukrainians against the government and security forces

A view of Kiev’s Independence Square, the scene of weeks of serious unrest doing the 2013-2014 Euromaidan protests which led to the fall of President Viktor Yanukovych. Declan McVeigh / The National

A memorial in central Kiev to some of the people who died or went missing during the 2013-2014 Euromaidan protests and civil unrest in Kiev. The demonstrations which began on November 14, 2013 ended in late February the following year with President Viktor Yanukovych fleeing the country. Declan McVeigh/The National

A makeshift street monument of shields and stretchers used by anti-government protesters during the 2013-2014 Euromaidan unrest in Kiev. The demonstrations which began on November 14, 2013 ended in late February the following year with President Viktor Yanukovych fleeing the country. Declan McVeigh/The National

A memorial in central Kiev to some of the people who died or went missing during the 2013-2014 Euromaidan protests and civil unrest in Kiev. The demonstrations which began on November 14, 2013 ended in late February the following year with President Viktor Yanukovych fleeing the country. Declan McVeigh/The National

A makeshift street monument to the 2013-2014 Euromaidan protests in Kiev. The demonstrations which began on November 14, 2013 ended in late February the following year with President Viktor Yanukovych fleeing the country. Declan McVeigh/The National

A memorial in central Kiev to some of the people who died or went missing during the 2013-2014 Euromaidan protests and civil unrest in Kiev. The demonstrations which began on November 14, 2013 ended in late February the following year with President Viktor Yanukovych fleeing the country. Declan McVeigh/The National

Portraits of some of the people who died or went missing during the 2013-2014 Euromaidan protests and civil unrest in Kiev. The demonstrations which began on November 14, 2013 ended in late February the following year with President Viktor Yanukovych fleeing the country. Declan McVeigh/The National

A Ukrainian flag flies over portraits of some of the people who died or went missing during the 2013-2014 Euromaidan protests and civil unrest in Kiev. The demonstrations which began on November 14, 2013 ended in late February the following year with President Viktor Yanukovych fleeing the country. Declan McVeigh/The National

A memorial in central Kiev to some of the people who died or went missing during the 2013-2014 Euromaidan protests and civil unrest in Kiev. The demonstrations which began on November 14, 2013 ended in late February the following year with President Viktor Yanukovych fleeing the country. Declan McVeigh/The National

A makeshift street monument of shields and stretchers used by anti-government protesters during the 2013-2014 Euromaidan unrest in Kiev. The demonstrations which began on November 14, 2013 ended in late February the following year with President Viktor Yanukovych fleeing the country. Declan McVeigh/The National

Portraits of some of the people who died or went missing during the 2013-2014 Euromaidan protests and civil unrest in Kiev. The demonstrations which began on November 14, 2013 ended in late February the following year with President Viktor Yanukovych fleeing the country. Declan McVeigh/The National

A makeshift street monument to the 2013-2014 Euromaidan protests in Kiev. The demonstrations which began on November 14, 2013 ended in late February the following year with President Viktor Yanukovych fleeing the country. Declan McVeigh/The National

Thursday marks the fifth anniversary of a political revolution in Ukraine in which months of street protests and unrest led to pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych fleeing the country.

The Euromaidan protests – which pitted thousands of Ukrainians, angry about the government’s 2013 decision to freeze talks on joining the EU – against the Yanukovych government and the security forces.

Thousands of people turned the capital’s Independence Square into a protest camp, attracting Ukrainians angry over allegations of government corruption and human rights violations.

Images of flag-waving protests, burning barricades and demonstrators sheltering behind makeshift shields amid fierce fighting were beamed across the world and Ukraine's government came under increasing international pressure.

More than 100 people – mostly civilian demonstrators – were killed and hundreds more remain missing.

On February 21, an agreement brokered by Russia and the EU was signed by Mr Yanukovych and opposition leaders, who included former world heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko. It was intended to return Ukraine to its 2004 constitution and call new elections.

A day later, more than 70 per cent of Ukrainian MPs voted to remove Mr Yanukovych from power but by that stage, the deposed president had fled to Russia, where he currently lives in exile.

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Read more: Yanukovich’s opulence - Russian baths, ostriches and golden golf clubs

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