What had the UN court decided on Ukraine's case against Russia?
A look back at the developments in Ukraine's international standing in the days before 11 November 2019.
What was the international picture for Ukraine on 11 November 2019? Two developments from the preceding days framed it, one in a courtroom in The Hague and one in Washington.
On 8 November 2019, the International Court of Justice, the UN's principal court, found that it had jurisdiction to hear the case Ukraine v. Russia. In doing so it rejected all of the arguments Russia had put forward against jurisdiction.
Three days earlier, on 5 November 2019, events in the United States touched Ukraine from another direction. In the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump, Gordon Sondland, the United States Ambassador to the European Union, reversed his earlier testimony. He admitted to a quid pro quo in the withholding of military aid for Ukraine.
Taken together, the two developments meant that by 11 November 2019 Ukraine was the subject of attention in both an international court and a United States political inquiry.
