What did Kyiv gain from the week of 11 November 2019?
A retrospective on two developments, one in The Hague and one in Washington, that shaped how Ukraine was discussed internationally in early November 2019.
What was the state of Ukraine's international position on 11 November 2019? Two reports from the preceding days framed it, one legal and one political.
On 8 November 2019, the International Court of Justice, the UN's top court, recognised its jurisdiction to hear the case Ukraine v. Russia, rejecting all of Russia's arguments. For Kyiv, this meant the case could proceed to be examined by the court.
Three days earlier, on 5 November 2019, the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump produced a notable turn. Gordon Sondland, the United States Ambassador to the European Union, reversed his earlier testimony and admitted to a quid pro quo in the withholding of military aid for Ukraine.
The two developments were unrelated in kind: one was a ruling on a dispute between states, the other a testimony in a US domestic inquiry. Yet both placed Ukraine at the centre of international attention in the same week. As an opinion, the lesson is that Ukraine's standing was being shaped in courtrooms and hearing rooms abroad as much as at home.
