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What did Ukraine's Flag Day show in 2018?
Summary
A look back at how the state flag was marked on 23 August 2018, and at the sanctions announced two days earlier.
What did Ukraine's Flag Day look like on 23 August 2018? The state holiday, the Day of the State Flag of Ukraine, was marked with celebratory events across the country and beyond its borders.
The centrepiece was in Dnipro. There, President Petro Poroshenko raised the largest national flag, measuring 12 by 18 metres. The choice of the city gave the national holiday a prominent stage outside the capital, and the flag's size made the gesture visible and symbolic.
Two days earlier, on 21 August 2018, a separate development concerned Russia and the United States. Washington imposed sanctions on two Russian shipping companies and six vessels over their involvement in oil transfers to North Korea.
The two reports are unrelated, and nothing in them links one to the other. Taken together, they show the news of those days: a public display of national symbolism in Ukraine, and, in parallel, a sanctions step in relations between Russia and the United States.
