Ukraine on 1 January 2019: campaign season and sanctions
A look back at the political backdrop as Ukraine entered the new year after martial law ended and Russia widened its restrictions.
What did Ukraine's politics look like on 1 January 2019? The country began the year in the early stage of a presidential election campaign, which had started on 31 December 2018, while the effects of a tense end to the previous year were still being felt.
The campaign opened days after martial law in Ukraine ended on 26 December 2018. The measure had been in force for a month following the attack on three Ukrainian Navy vessels near the Kerch Strait. That incident took place on 25 November 2018, when the Russian Federal Security Service coast guard fired upon and captured the three vessels as they tried to pass from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov on their way to the port of Mariupol. It was the first time Russian forces had openly engaged Ukrainian forces during the Russo-Ukrainian War.
Economic pressure from Moscow also formed part of the backdrop. On 29 December 2018, the Russian government expanded its sanctions against Ukraine. The new measures banned imports of industrial goods, agricultural products and foodstuffs from Ukraine, according to an approved list.
Taken together, these developments framed the first day of 2019: a formal election race under way, a wartime legal regime lifted only days earlier, and a widened set of Russian trade restrictions.
