Protests in Kiev

In Kiev, Ukraine, street protests began in late November over the president’s decision to pull back from an agreement with the European Union and turn to Russia for financial assistance. In December, the numbers of demonstrators grew to hundreds of thousands.

On Dec. 17, the debt-ridden country signed a deal to sell $15 billion worth of Ukrainian bonds to Russia in exchange for a discount on natural gas. The deal done, the number of protesters dwindled, but on Dec. 29, after a popular journalist was beaten for publishing an article accusing the president of corruption, more than 10,000 people renewed their protests in the capital.