Three shocks in three days, October 2018

What did the news from Ukraine and its neighbourhood look like on 17 October 2018? It was dominated by a mass killing in Kerch, set against two other developments from the preceding days.

Kerch

At a polytechnic college in Kerch, a mass killing left 20 people dead and about 50 wounded, according to reports on 17 October 2018. The figures are those given in the reports of that day.

The church rift

Two days earlier, on 15 October 2018, the Russian Orthodox Church announced that it would break communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The step was a response to plans by Eastern Orthodox Church officials to recognise the autocephaly of two Ukrainian Orthodox Churches. Moscow said it hoped Constantinople would change its mind and so avoid a schism. The announcement was reported as adding a new dimension to the rift between Russia and Ukraine.

A fatal crash

Also on 15 October 2018, a Ukrainian Air Force Su-27UB crashed in the Vinnytsia region during the international exercise Clear Sky 2018. Two pilots were killed: one a serviceman of the Ukrainian armed forces, the other from the US Air National Guard.

Reading the three together

The three events were of different kinds: a religious and diplomatic dispute, a military training accident involving a foreign partner, and a mass-casualty attack in Kerch. What they shared was timing, within a span of three days, and the attention they drew across the region.