What 9 September 2024 showed about pressure on Ukraine
Rhetoric from Bratislava, a drone in Latvia and new tactics at the front pointed to pressure on several fronts at once.
What did a single day reveal about the pressures on Ukraine? On 9 September 2024, the answer ran from diplomacy to the battlefield, and the items shared a common thread: Kyiv had to respond on several fronts at once.
A diplomatic irritant
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry expressed "disappointment" over assertions by Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico that Kyiv should remove "fascist elements" from the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The ministry noted that the rhetoric resembled Russian allegations of present-day neo-Nazism in Ukraine's Azov Brigade. The exchange showed that disputes over how Ukraine's army is characterised were not confined to Moscow's messaging, but surfaced in a neighbouring EU state's leadership as well.
A drone far from the front
The Latvian Defence Ministry confirmed that a Russian military Shahed drone that had crashed near the village of Gaigalava the previous week was carrying explosives and was likely intended to strike Ukraine. The confirmation was a reminder that the war's weaponry could land on the territory of a NATO member state, even when Ukraine was the intended target.
The front line and new tactics
On the ground, Russian troops captured the village of Memryk in Donetsk Oblast. On the same day, Ukraine began implementing "dragon drones", which spray molten thermite over forest cover to expose Russian units and military equipment and help destroy them. Incendiary weapons had been used a number of times in the war, and Russia had been accused of using white phosphorus bombs on several occasions, including in the Battle of Kyiv and at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.
What the day suggests
Taken together, the reports describe a state that was defending its territory, answering political criticism from a neighbouring government, and adapting its technology all at once. The Foreign Ministry's reaction to Fico was measured, expressing disappointment rather than escalating, while the drone tactic indicated a search for ways to counter concealment under tree cover. The loss of Memryk showed that Russian advances in Donetsk Oblast continued during this period.
