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What did Ukraine's Christmas date change signal?
Summary
A look back at the law on moving Christmas to 25 December and a Pyongyang meeting reported in the same days.
What was happening in Ukrainian and regional politics around 31 July 2023? Two reported developments from the preceding days stand out.
On 28 July 2023, President Volodymyr Zelensky was reported to have signed a bill amending the Labour Code. It moved the celebration of Christmas in Ukraine from 7 January to 25 December. It also moved other state holidays whose dates are tied to religious calendars. The stated aim was to abandon what the measure described as the Russian legacy of imposed Christmas celebrations.
The framing matters. The change was presented as a break with Russian influence, not simply a calendar adjustment.
A day earlier, on 27 July 2023, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu and a Chinese delegation in Pyongyang. The occasion was the 70th anniversary of the cessation of hostilities in the Korean War. Kim and Shoigu also attended an exhibition of North Korean ballistic missiles. Multiple United Nations resolutions, endorsed by both China and Russia, prohibit those missiles.
Together, the two reports show Kyiv shifting its domestic calendar away from Russia while Moscow's defence minister appeared at a missile exhibition in North Korea.
