What did 27 September 2024 show about Ukraine's war diplomacy?
A look back at a day when strikes, nuclear warnings and Western politics framed Ukraine's position.
What did the war look like on 27 September 2024, after a week of diplomacy abroad? Reports from that day and the days before it point to a conflict being fought on the ground and in capitals at once.
On 27 September 2024, a Russian missile strike hit a police department in Kryvyi Rih, in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. At least one person was killed and five others were injured, as reported at the time.
The same day, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko warned that Belarus would use Russian nuclear weapons if NATO attacked the country. The statement added to the nuclear-risk dimension of the war.
Aid and politics in Washington
The previous day, 26 September 2024, U.S. President Joe Biden announced a military aid package of more than $8 billion for Ukraine, before a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He also directed the Pentagon to allocate all remaining security funds to Ukraine by the end of his term in January 2025.
The visit also drew domestic controversy. On 25 September 2024, Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson demanded that Zelenskyy dismiss Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova. Johnson objected to Zelenskyy's visit to an ammunition factory in Pennsylvania with several Democratic politicians, which he claimed represented foreign electoral intervention.
Friction over peace proposals
On 25 September 2024, Zelenskyy also accused Brazil and China of using their proposed peace plan to increase their geopolitical power at Ukraine's expense, by urging developing nations to agree to it.
Taken together, these reports show Kyiv working to secure Western support while contesting rival peace initiatives, even as missile strikes continued to hit Ukrainian cities.
