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What did Kyiv gain before 11 November 2019?
Summary
A look back at two developments, one in The Hague and one in Washington, that shaped how Ukraine was discussed in early November 2019.
What had Ukraine gained, and what had it been drawn into, by 11 November 2019? Two reports from the preceding days point in different directions.
On 8 November 2019, the International Court of Justice, the UN's principal judicial body, found that it had jurisdiction to hear the case brought by Ukraine against Russia. In doing so it rejected all of Russia's arguments. For Kyiv, this meant the case could go forward rather than stall on a preliminary objection.
Three days earlier, on 5 November 2019, Gordon Sondland, the United States Ambassador to the European Union, reversed his earlier testimony in the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump. He admitted to a quid pro quo in the withholding of military aid for Ukraine.
Two different arenas
The two developments were separate in nature. One was a ruling in an international court on a dispute between two states. The other was testimony in a domestic American inquiry in which Ukraine's military aid was the subject.
What they had in common was that both placed Ukraine at the centre of legal and political scrutiny. In The Hague, the outcome favoured Kyiv's procedural position. In Washington, Ukraine was the subject of the testimony rather than a participant in the proceedings.
