# Yanukovych leaves Kyiv after signing the 21 February 2014 settlement agreement

Date: 2014

## The fact

On 21 February 2014 [Viktor Yanukovych](/people/viktor-yanukovych) signed the Agreement on the Settlement of the Crisis in Ukraine with opposition leaders, witnessed by EU foreign ministers. On 21–22 February he left Kyiv. On 22 February the [Verkhovna Rada](/organizations/verkhovna-rada) voted that he had withdrawn from performing constitutional duties.

## Context

The presidency could sign a settlement and command the interior troops. It could not write a Russian annexation text. He signed, then left. [Vladimir Putin](/people/vladimir-putin) used the vacuum.

18–20 February Maidan violence is a neighbouring file with competing sniper accounts. Keep Yanukovych leaves Kyiv after signing the 21 February 2014 settlement agreement on 2014-02-22 separate from neighbouring 21 February agreement and 22 February departure instruments.

The president of Ukraine in February 2014 could sign a settlement agreement and leave the capital. He did not write a Russian annexation treaty and does not police Crimea today.

## Evidence and sources

European Parliament / official agreement text carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is the Ukraine war: a completed hinge from a signed settlement abandoned to the Crimea chapter of the same war. It is not territorial-revisionism as a primary home.

## What is established and what is not

Established: a 21 February 2014 signed settlement and a 21–22 February departure from Kyiv, independently recorded, followed by the Crimea chapter of the same war.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

The Rada voted. Russia seized Crimea. Reuters did not write the agreement.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Yanukovych leaves Kyiv after signing the 21 February 2014 settlement agreement, not a later speech about Yanukovych leaves Kyiv after signing the 21 February 2014 settlement agreement.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Yanukovych leaves Kyiv after signing the 21 February 2014 settlement agreement on 2014-02-22 is not a licence to treat every later European Parliament / official agreement text communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Yanukovych leaves Kyiv after signing the 21 February 2014 settlement agreement into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He signed and left. The Rada voted. Russia seized Crimea. Reuters did not write the agreement. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Viktor Yanukovych: https://factrail.ai/people/viktor-yanukovych

## Drivers

- Ukraine war (Crimea–Donbas–2022+): https://factrail.ai/drivers/ukraine-war

## Sources

- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-idUSBREA1H0OG20140222/
- https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/documents/dlce/dv/14_agreement/14_agreementen.pdf

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/ua-yanukovych-settlement-flight-2014-02-22