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What did 27 May 2020 show about regional security?
Summary
A look back at two security stories from the days before 27 May 2020: a mass shooting in Zhytomyr Oblast and US accusations over Russian jets in Libya.
What was the security picture in Ukraine and its wider neighbourhood on 27 May 2020? The reports available from the days around that date point in two very different directions, one domestic and one far abroad.
On 22 May 2020, a gunman killed seven people in Ukraine's Zhytomyr Oblast after a drunken quarrel during a fishing trip. The perpetrator was arrested afterwards. The reports describe a violent dispute among people who were together on an outing, and they say nothing about wider security implications.
The second story concerned Libya. 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. Haftar was locked in a civil war with the UN-recognised Government of National Accord.
Taken together, the two items show how varied the security news was in the days before 27 May 2020. One was a criminal case inside Ukraine, resolved by an arrest. The other was a public allegation by a US military command about Russian military involvement in a foreign conflict.
