What did Avakov's resignation close out in Kyiv?
A look back at 13 July 2021, when the long-serving interior minister stepped down, and at a festival that had returned to the capital two days earlier.
What did it mean when Ukraine's interior minister resigned after seven years in post? On 13 July 2021, Arsen Avakov, who had held the office of Minister of Internal Affairs since 2014, submitted his resignation.
The departure ended a tenure that spanned the whole period since 2014. It marked a clear break in the composition of the government, and it drew attention to who would take over a ministry that Avakov had run for so long.
The news arrived against a very different backdrop in the capital two days earlier. On 11 July 2021, Kyiv hosted the Atlas Weekend music festival, which returned after a year's pause caused by quarantine restrictions. The event signalled a return to public gatherings after that interruption.
Together, the two developments gave the days in mid-July 2021 a double character: a change at the top of a major ministry, and a visible step back towards ordinary public life in Kyiv.
