Good morning. We'll get the live blog -- and 2020 -- started today with this short item from RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service on Volodomyr Zelenskiy's first New Year's address as president:
Ukraine's Zelenskiy Underlines National Unity In New Year's Address
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called for national unity as he used his first New Year's address to push a message of reconciliation for the country, now in its sixth year of war with Russia-backed separatists.
In his televised speech broadcast on January 1, Zelenskiy tried to burnish a common-man image, telling viewers he didn't want to bore them with terminology such as gross domestic product, or “dropping inflation, implementation, diversification, and other unintelligible words.”
Instead, he pointed to Ukrainian passports, saying that they don't have labels indicating if a person is a "patriot."
Nor, he said, is there a label indicating if someone is a "Banderite"-- a reference to the controversial 20th century nationalist leader Stepan Bandera, who is hailed by many Ukrainians as a freedom fighter. In Russia, he is seen as a traitor to the Soviet Union who collaborated with the Nazis.
“Our passports do not designate what is a proper or improper Ukrainian,” Zelenskiy said.
Zelenskiy was elected in a landslide in April, a victory propelled in large part by people supporting his call for resolving the war against Russia-backed separatists.
Since then, he has made a number of significant conciliatory moves, including two major swaps of prisoners with Russia.
In the most recent swap, which occurred on December 29, the two sides exchanged a total of 200 people: Ukraine handed over 124 prisoners, while the separatists released 76.
In the New Year's speech, Zelenskiy called for more mutual respect among all Ukrainians.
“Dear Ukrainians! In the new 2020 year, I want all of us to respect each other,” he said. “To be in good health, and have plenty and many reasons to smile. I wish everyone…a good night's sleep, not to overeat, and of course, that the morning dizziness is a light and pleasant dizziness.
"And let's remember that to love Ukraine is to love all Ukrainians," he said.
This ends our live blogging for December 31. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage. And have a Happy New Year!
Crimean-based blogger deported to Ukraine after critical social-media posts:
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
A Yalta-based blogger who initially supported Russia's annexation of Crimea but then later wrote critical posts about officials has been deported to Ukraine.
Yevhen Gayvoronskiy was taken by officers of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and Migration Service to Ukraine's border in the Luhansk region, said Refat Chubarov, the chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, in a Facebook post on December 31.
He was due to arrive in Kyiv later that day, Chubarov said.
A Yalta court earlier this month ruled that Gayvoronskiy should be deported after earlier concluding that he was improperly given a Russian passport.
Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and later gave residents Russian passports.
Gayvoronskiy was detained on October 22 for avoiding drug treatment, two weeks after he posted on his Facebook page critical comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A court found him guilty of an administrative violation for the post.
The blogger was also arrested in March for 12 days on charges of taking drugs without a doctor's prescription and required to undergo treatment. Gayvoronskiy called the accusation "nonsense."
Shortly after the March arrest, he began to post "pro-Ukrainian" comments on social media, resulting in his termination at a pro-Russian outlet in Crimea.