What did 1 January 2025 change for Ukraine's region?

What did 1 January 2025 mean for Ukraine and its neighbours? It was a day of formal changes, some legal, some economic, some territorial in their practical effect, all unfolding against the backdrop of the Russian invasion.

The most direct change for Ukraine was legal: on 1 January 2025, the country became a state party to the International Criminal Court. That status took effect on the first day of the year.

Gas cut off in Moldova

The same day, Russia's Gazprom halted gas supplies both to Moldova and to the self-proclaimed Transnistrian Republic, alleging non-compliance with payment obligations. The halt had been announced in advance. It placed the issue of energy supply in Ukraine's immediate neighbourhood at the centre of the regional picture from the first hours of the year.

Schengen widens

Also on 1 January 2025, Bulgaria and Romania finalised their accession to the Schengen Area and lifted land border controls. For two countries bordering the region affected by the war, the removal of those checks was a concrete change that took effect at the turn of the year.

The days before

The start of 2025 followed several developments in the closing days of 2024. On 30 December 2024, Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war in a deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates. Ukraine said many of those released by Russia were soldiers captured during the siege of Mariupol in 2022. Prisoners of war on both sides have suffered abuse during the war, including mistreatment, torture and execution, which gives such exchanges particular weight.

On the same day, 30 December 2024, Ukraine's foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, met Syria's de facto leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Damascus. The two countries re-established diplomatic relations. Syria said it hoped to form a strategic partnership with Ukraine, and Ukraine vowed to send additional food aid to Syria.

Reading the date

Taken together, these events show a year opening with Ukraine anchoring itself more firmly in international legal structures, while Moldova and Transnistria lost Russian gas and two EU neighbours opened their land borders. The prisoner exchange and the outreach to Damascus, just before, showed Kyiv active on both humanitarian and diplomatic fronts as the calendar turned.