2019 was the year of hope as Ukraine elected a young President committed to trying to bring peace by negotiating with the Russians to end the five-and-a-half-year-old conflict in eastern Ukraine.

But the country then became embroiled in a US scandal that was not of its own making, leading to the impeachment and subsequent trial of President Donald Trump. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky won a landslide victory in April, defeating the incumbent Petro Poroshenko. He had campaigned on tackling corruption and ending the bloody conflict with Russian backed separatist rebels in the east.

Zelensky was a former television star who had played a teacher who accidentally became Ukraine's president. Reality, it seemed, had mirrored fiction.

He may have been a political novice but Zelensky quickly consolidated his power base, calling for fresh Parliamentary elections which his supporters won.

In 2014, Russia had control over Crimea, the southern peninsula of Ukraine, and also backed the rebel forces who took up arms in the capital Kiev. An estimated 13 thousand people have died since then in the bloodiest conflict in Europe this century.

This year, after extensive negotiations the two countries signed an agreement to try and end the fighting. There was a prisoner swap and in October both sides agreed to move their troops back from the front line.

The troop withdrawals, though, came at a political price, with demonstrations in Kiev criticizing the move and demanding a tougher stance against Moscow.

In December Zelensky and Russia's president Vladimir Putin finally met face to face in Paris for peace negotiations. They agreed to a ceasefire but made no progress on local elections in the disputed areas.

But it's Ukraine's relationship with another superpower, the United States, that has dominated global headlines this year. Much to President Zelensky's embarrassment, his country has been caught up allegations that President Donald Trump attempted to get Ukraine to investigate a political rival. 

The Ukrainian leader has tried to balance the need for good relations with the US and distancing the country from the scandal.

Ukraine is certain to be back in the news in 2020 as President Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate begins in January.

Many Ukrainians are hoping that next year could produce a lasting solution to the conflict with Russia, no-one though is holding their breath.