What did 21 December 2020 show about two distant crises?
A look back at a day when a Central African conflict drew in foreign forces, days after the death of Kharkiv's mayor.
What was happening on 21 December 2020, and why does it still matter to readers following Ukraine's public life? Two separate stories mark the period.
On 17 December 2020, Hennadiy Kernes, the sitting mayor of Kharkiv, died in Berlin at the age of 60, from complications caused by COVID-19. His death left the post of head of Ukraine's second-largest city vacant at the end of the year.
On 21 December 2020, far away, Rwanda deployed what it called a protection force to the Central African Republic. Its peacekeepers had been attacked by rebel forces advancing on the capital, Bangui. The Rwandan and Central African Republic governments accused former President François Bozizé of backing the rebels and plotting a coup, which he denied. Russia also sent troops and heavy weaponry to support the government.
The two events were unconnected, but both showed how quickly a country's leadership picture could change: through illness in one place, through armed advance and foreign deployment in the other.
