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Ukraine's December 2018: law, belts and a World Cup
Summary
A look back at the days around 11 December 2018, when parliament moved to end the treaty with Russia and two athletes added to Ukraine's sporting record.
What did Ukraine's news agenda look like on 11 December 2018? It was shaped by a political decision taken days earlier and by two sporting results that had just been secured.
The weightiest item came on 6 December 2018, when the Verkhovna Rada passed a law ending the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. The law terminates the treaty with effect from 1 April 2019. That gave the move a clear timetable: the agreement stayed formally in place for roughly four more months after the vote.
On the same day, 6 December 2018, the Rada also recognised veterans of the UPA as participants in combat operations. Taken together, the two decisions made that week one of significant parliamentary activity on questions of state policy and historical status.
Sport in the same days
The political news ran alongside notable sporting achievements. On 8 December 2018, Vasyl Lomachenko beat José Pedraza and for the first time in his career unified the WBA and WBO world titles at lightweight.
Two days later, on 10 December 2018, sabre fencer Olga Kharlan won the overall standings of the 2017–2018 World Cup.
Why the week mattered
The treaty law set a fixed end date for a bilateral agreement, and that date was the main thing to watch after 11 December 2018. The sporting results, meanwhile, gave Ukrainian audiences achievements to follow in the same days as the parliamentary decisions.
