The U.S. Embassy to Ukraine states that corruption remains a pressing issue that prevents Ukrainians from achieving some progress in politics and the economy.

"Five years ago today [on February 22], EuroMaidan protesters succeeded in expelling a corrupt government. Yet, corruption remains a pressing problem holding the Ukrainian people back from achieving the economic and political progress they deserve," it said on Facebook on Friday.

The Embassy noted that the Ukrainian government must follow through on "the reforms that the people of Ukraine have demanded."

In the early hours of February 22, 2014, the then Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych went to Kharkiv, then through Crimea to Russia.

On the same day, the Verkhovna Rada supported the resolution on self-dismissal of Yanukovych from the post of Ukrainian President and set an extraordinary presidential election for May 25, 2014.