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Church split and tragedies in Ukraine's mid-October 2018
Summary
A look back at the days around 19 October 2018, when a church rupture between Moscow and Constantinople unfolded alongside two deadly events in Ukraine.
What was shaping Ukraine's news in the days leading up to 19 October 2018? A religious dispute with clear political overtones, and two separate incidents that cost lives.
A church breaks communion
On 15 October 2018, the Russian Orthodox Church announced it would break communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The step was a response to plans by the Eastern Orthodox Church to recognise the autocephaly of two Ukrainian Orthodox Churches. Moscow said it hoped Constantinople would change its mind and so avoid a schism. As reported at the time, the move added a new aspect to the rift between Russia and Ukraine.
Two deadly incidents
The same day, 15 October, a Ukrainian Air Force Su-27UB crashed in the Vinnytsia region during the international exercise Clear Sky 2018. Two pilots died: one a serviceman of the Ukrainian armed forces, the other from the US National Guard's air component.
Two days later, on 17 October, a mass killing took place at a polytechnic college in Kerch. According to reports, 20 people died and about 50 were wounded.
Why it mattered
The three events were unconnected, but they came within three days of one another. The church dispute was a matter of institutional and religious politics, while the air crash and the Kerch killings were losses of life that dominated the news around the covered date.
