Home › World › What did 4 December 2019 bring for the region?
What did 4 December 2019 bring for the region?
Summary
A look back at a deadly fire in Odesa and a gas pipeline opening between Russia and China.
What was the regional picture on 4 December 2019? The day was marked by tragedy in Ukraine: a fire in Odesa left 12 people dead, 32 injured and 8 missing.
The figures were the central fact of the day. Beyond the dead and injured, the eight people listed as missing meant the human cost was still being established as reports emerged.
A pipeline opened two days earlier
Two days before, on 2 December 2019, Russia and China inaugurated their joint Power of Siberia gas pipeline. It formed part of the wider backdrop for Ukraine and its neighbours at the start of that month.
The two events were unrelated, and nothing in the reports of the time connected them. Together they show how a single early-December date could hold both a local disaster in Odesa and a major energy development involving Moscow and Beijing.
