Home › Security › Aid, mediation and shells: Ukraine's security on 23 August 2024
Aid, mediation and shells: Ukraine's security on 23 August 2024
Summary
A look back at a day when Washington announced new weapons, India's prime minister visited Kyiv and a shell shipment to Poland was blocked.
What did Ukraine's partners and neighbours do to shape the war on 23 August 2024? The answer ran from new American weapons to Indian mediation offers and a blocked artillery shipment.
Washington adds to its package
On 23 August 2024 the United States announced a new military aid package for Ukraine. It included air defence missiles, munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), an array of anti-armour missiles, vehicles and other equipment.
Modi in Kyiv
The same day, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. Modi urged an end to the war and volunteered to act as a mediator in talks between Zelenskyy and Russia. In a later national address, Zelenskyy thanked Modi but said India needed to respect international law, as well as Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty.
A shell shipment stopped
Also on 23 August 2024, South Africa blocked the transfer of 50,000 artillery shells that Poland had purchased. The reason given was fear that the shells would be sent to Ukraine for use in the war.
The battlefield in the days before
The diplomacy unfolded against active fighting. On 21 August 2024, Zelenskyy acknowledged Russian advances on the Pokrovsk front and announced that Ukrainian positions in the area would be strengthened to resist further gains. The same day, the Russian Ministry of Defence said it had fully captured the village of Zhelanne in Donetsk Oblast.
In Russia's Kursk Oblast, the Ukrainian military reported on 21 August 2024 that it had used United States-made weapons to destroy several pontoon bridges. Russia had built them after destroying at least three bridges over the Seym river.
Strikes also reached deeper into Russia. On 21 August 2024, Moscow's mayor, Sergey Sobyanin, said Ukraine had launched one of its largest drone attacks on the Russian capital. He said preliminary information showed all the drones had been shot down, with no casualties or damage.
On 22 August 2024, the International Atomic Energy Agency announced an investigation of the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant. Russia had accused Ukraine of targeting the plant with a drone.
Refugees and a neighbour's policy
On 21 August 2024, a Hungarian law came into effect restricting or removing state support and accommodation for Ukrainian refugees who were not from regions directly affected by the Russian invasion.
Taken together, these reports show a war pursued on several fronts at once: on the ground, in Russian territory, and in the politics of Ukraine's partners and neighbours.
