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Ukraine moves Christmas away from 7 January
Summary
A law signed in late July 2023 shifted the date of Christmas and other religion-linked state holidays in Ukraine.
What did it mean to move Christmas by a few weeks? On 1 August 2023, that question was live in Ukraine, days after a change to the labour code took effect in law.
On 28 July 2023, the president, Volodymyr Zelensky, signed a bill passed by parliament. It amended the Labour Code to move the public celebration of Christmas from 7 January to 25 December. The bill also covered other state holidays whose dates are tied to religious observance.
The stated aim was to abandon the Russian legacy of imposed Christmas celebrations. The wording framed the change as a break with that inheritance, not only a calendar adjustment.
The same week brought other regional news. On 27 July 2023, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu and a Chinese delegation met in Pyongyang to mark 70 years since the cessation of hostilities in the Korean War. Kim and Shoigu also visited an exhibition of North Korean ballistic missiles, which multiple UN resolutions, endorsed by China and Russia, prohibit.
