What did 21 September 2023 reveal about Kyiv and Warsaw?
A look back at a day of Russian missile strikes on Ukraine and strained relations with Poland over weapons and grain.
What was happening to Ukraine on 21 September 2023? As reported at the time, Russian missile strikes across the country killed at least two civilians and injured 21 others.
The diplomatic backdrop was unsettled. On 20 September 2023, Poland's Foreign Ministry summoned Vasyl Zvarych, Ukraine's ambassador to Poland, to convey a strong protest over remarks by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the United Nations General Assembly. Zelenskyy had said that some European countries' actions indirectly help Russia, and the statement drew condemnation from Warsaw.
On the same day, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced that Poland would stop supplying Ukraine with weapons. The announcement came amid tensions between the two countries over Poland's import ban on Ukrainian agricultural products.
Polish politics added another layer. On 19 September 2023, documents allegedly from the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated that the Polish embassy in Minsk had issued 784,173 visas to individuals from 65 countries with the aid of a Moscow-based company. The cash-for-visa scandal surfaced in the context of the 2023 Polish parliamentary election.
Elsewhere, on 19 September 2023, CNN, citing a source in the Ukrainian military, reported that Ukrainian special forces were likely behind recent drone strikes and a ground operation against Wagner Group mercenaries in Sudan. Separately, on 21 September 2023, an explosion at a gas pipeline in Vrancea County, Romania, killed four people and injured five.
Taken together, the reports from that date show a country under continued missile attack while a close neighbour and key supporter publicly quarrelled with it.
