What did Ukraine's last week of May 2020 reveal?

What was Ukraine reading in the news as 29 May 2020 arrived? The reports from the preceding days were dominated by two grim stories, one in the capital and one in its surrounding region, and by a foreign-policy claim that concerned Russia.

On 23 May 2020, the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed that Valeriy Davydenko, an independent member of the Verkhovna Rada, had been found dead in his office in Kyiv with a gunshot wound to the head. Other reports of the same date said the lawmaker had been found shot.

The same day brought a separate account from Kaharlyk, in Kyiv region. Police officers there were reported to have beaten two people at a station and to have raped a woman several times. Both stories concerned the conduct and safety of people in places that were supposed to be secure: a parliamentarian's own office and a police station.

Beyond Ukraine's borders, on 26 May 2020, the United States Africa Command accused Russia of deploying fighter jets to eastern Libya. According to the accusation, the aircraft were to provide air support to Russian mercenaries allied to Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, who was locked in a civil war with the UN-recognised Government of National Accord.

These reports did not form one story, and they should not be read as one. Taken together, though, they show what was being reported in the days before 29 May 2020: a death in the Rada that raised questions, an alleged abuse by police in the Kyiv region, and a claim about Russian military involvement abroad.