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What happened on 24 September 2026 across the war
Summary
A look back at a day of Russian strikes, a Polish air-defence response and a prisoner transfer to Seoul.
What did the war look like on 24 September 2026? The reports from the preceding day, 23 September, point to three separate threads: heavy Russian strikes on Ukrainian territory, an airspace incident on Poland's border, and a disclosure about North Korean prisoners of war.
Strikes across Ukraine
Russian drone and missile attacks killed at least eight civilians on 23 September. Six of the dead were agricultural workers in Kharkiv Oblast, and two were killed in Kyiv. Strikes also hit Odesa. Ukraine said it intercepted or suppressed 119 of 161 drones, which left 42 that were not stopped.
The pattern was familiar. Kyiv, a city of around 2,950,000 residents, has been frequently targeted by Russian forces during the war. Odesa and its surrounding region have likewise come under shelling and air strikes on multiple occasions since the conflict began, and the city has also been hit by Russian cruise missiles.
A Russian helicopter near Poland
On 23 September Poland deployed fighter jets into its airspace after a Russian helicopter intruded near Braniewo, in Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship. The response showed how events linked to the war reached a neighbouring state's airspace, and how Warsaw answered with an aerial deployment of its own.
Two prisoners moved to Seoul
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine had transferred two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea. They had been captured in Kursk Oblast, Russia, in January 2025. The announcement placed South Korea–Ukraine relations alongside the wider question of North Korean involvement in the war.
That involvement has a longer history. North Korea has supported Russia since 2017, when it recognised the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea. In July 2022 it recognised the Russia-backed, self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, which prompted Ukraine to sever diplomatic ties with Pyongyang.
Why the day mattered
Taken together, the reports show a war pressing on several fronts at once: civilian deaths from long-range attacks, a security incident on a neighbour's border, and a diplomatic step involving captured foreign soldiers. Prisoners of war in the conflict have faced several forms of abuse, including mistreatment, exposure to public curiosity, torture and even execution, which gives any transfer of captives particular weight.
