German defense minister visits Kyiv on Maidan Revolution anniversary

Kyiv, Nov 21 (EFE).- Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius visited the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday to reaffirm Berlin’s military support for Kyiv as Ukraine commemorates the 10th anniversary of the Maidan Revolution.

The Maidan Revolution was the culmination of months of street protests that in 2014 overthrew the last pro-Russian president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych.

“Minister Pistorius traveled to Ukraine to personally see the current situation and the effectiveness of (German) support. At the beginning of his visit, he laid flowers at the memorial in Kyiv in memory of the heroes of Maidan,” the German defense ministry said on X.

More than 100 people were killed and 2,500 inured in the protests that broke out in November 2013 when President Yanukovych failed to fulfill his promise to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union.

The fall of Yanukovych – who had opted to reinforce Ukraine’s dependent relationship with Russia – led the Kremlin to retaliate in 2014 by annexing the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and activating separatist guerrillas in eastern Ukraine, where a war began between the Ukrainian army and these rebel groups.

Many Ukrainians consider the current war against the Russian invasion a continuation of the Maidan and a new chapter in their struggle for independence from Russia. EFE

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