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Putin and Zelenskyy clash over weapons and peace
Summary
A look back at two statements on the war in Ukraine made on 12 September 2024, and a neighbouring dispute over border controls.
What did the Kremlin and Kyiv each say about the war on 12 September 2024? Both leaders used the day to sharpen their positions.
Russian president Vladimir Putin warned that Ukrainian strikes deep into Russian territory with NATO weapons would amount to NATO's formal entry into the war. His reasoning was that NATO personnel programme those weapons, which he described as a "direct confrontation".
On the same day, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy strongly denounced a Brazilian–Chinese peace initiative. He said both countries were effectively siding with Russia. In his view, allowing the Russian army to keep taking Ukrainian territory as a way to "de-escalate" the war was no substitute for helping Ukraine resist the invasion.
A dispute among Ukraine's western neighbours
Two days earlier, on 10 September 2024, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk had condemned Germany's new land border restrictions. He pointed to Germany's earlier lack of support for other European Union countries affected by irregular migration.
Taken together, the statements showed disagreement on several fronts: over the weapons Ukraine uses, over who should shape any peace effort, and over how EU members handle their borders.
