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What did Ukraine's vaccine plans look like in January 2021?
Summary
A look back at a vaccine deal and a pipeline milestone reported in the closing days of 2020.
What did Ukraine's prospects look like on 1 January 2021? Two reports from the final days of 2020 framed the start of the year, one on health and one on energy.
On 30 December 2020, Ukraine signed an agreement to buy up to 1.8 million doses of Sinovac's CoronaVac. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said the first shipment could arrive in February. As of 1 January 2021, then, the country had a purchase agreement and a target month, but no doses delivered.
Two days earlier, on 28 December 2020, the Russian-led consortium Nord Stream AG said it had completed construction of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline in Germany's exclusive economic zone in the Baltic Sea. The United States had previously threatened wider sanctions on the project if work continued.
Together, the two reports show the year opening with a vaccine timetable still to be met and a pipeline project advancing in the Baltic despite the American warning.
