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What did late December 2019 mean for Kyiv?
Summary
A look back at the Russia-related reports that surrounded 26 December 2019, from gas transit to the Kerch Strait rail link.
What was the picture for Ukraine and its neighbourhood on 26 December 2019? The days just before that date brought a cluster of reports linking Russia, energy and Crimea.
On 21 December 2019, Russia and Ukraine reached a new five-year agreement on gas transit. The same day, Nord Stream 2 said it would finish construction of its Russian gas pipeline to Europe "as soon as possible", after a contractor suspended pipe-laying work because of U.S. sanctions.
On 23 December 2019, a railway bridge over the Kerch Strait, connecting Russia and the Crimean peninsula that Russia occupies, was put into operation. It was reported as the longest in Europe. Ukrainian-language reports described the completion of the bridge as a link between Russia and occupied Crimea.
Further afield, a war monitor reported on 24 December 2019 that eight people, including five children, were killed when a missile struck a school in Jobas, in Idlib District, Syria. The school was being used as a shelter for displaced civilians. Opposition activists blamed Russia.
Taken together, the reports from the days before 26 December 2019 show the range of issues involving Russia that were in the news: a gas deal with Kyiv, a pipeline project under sanctions, a new rail connection to Crimea and a deadly strike in Syria.
