Maidan Self-Defense Took Buildings of the Presidential Administration, Cabinet, and Parliament Under Protection

Currently, law enforcement is trying to avoid the protesters to prevent provoking conflicts.

Self-Defense of Maidan has taken under guard administrative buildings in central Kyiv, according to the 5 channel.

In particular, Self-Defense is guarding the Verkhovna Rada building, the Cabinet of Ministers, the Presidential Administration, and the main police department. They explain that they are protecting the buildings from looters, since the police abandoned their positions in the center.

The "Peaceful offensive" of the protesters in the morning of 18 February turned into bloodshed, with shooting by both protesters and law enforcement. The city center turned into riots.

President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych on Friday, 21 February, initiated early elections and the return to the Constitution 2004. Yanukovych and opposition leaders Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Vitali Klitschko, and Oleh Tyahnybok, under international mediation, signed an agreement to resolve the crisis in Ukraine. The Rada released Zaharchenko from duties as interior minister. Parliament also passed a decision on decriminalizing articles for which former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was convicted.

On Friday afternoon, after the president's agreements, law enforcement left the center of Kyiv, and the disturbances subsided. Now, law enforcement is trying to avoid participants in the protests to prevent provoking conflicts.