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What happened around Ukraine on 11 September 2023?
Summary
A look back at the political threads running into 11 September 2023: an asset declaration row in Kyiv, grain diplomacy in Sochi and voting in occupied Kherson Oblast.
What was shaping Ukraine's politics on 11 September 2023? The days just before that date produced three developments, each pointing in a different direction: a domestic argument over accountability, a diplomatic effort over grain, and a Russian-run vote on occupied territory.
A petition in Kyiv
On 8 September 2023, tens of thousands of Ukrainians signed a petition asking President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to veto legislation on asset declarations. Critics of the law believed it could prevent officials from being held accountable, because it delayed the requirement to declare their assets publicly. The petition made the question of transparency a public test for the president as 11 September approached.
Grain talks in Sochi
On 6 September 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held talks in Sochi. The subject was reviving the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which would allow grain to pass across the Black Sea again.
The initiative had been an agreement between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations. It followed the February 2022 invasion, which halted maritime grain shipments from Ukraine, previously a major exporter via the Black Sea. Russia also temporarily halted its own grain exports. The result was higher world food prices, a threat of famine in lower-income countries and accusations that Russia was weaponising food supplies. Talks hosted by Turkey and supported by the UN produced a deal signed in Istanbul on 22 July 2022, valid for 120 days. It set up procedures for exporting grain from certain ports, with a joint coordination and inspection centre in Turkey and the UN as secretariat. The Sochi meeting aimed to bring that arrangement back.
Voting in Kherson Oblast
On 8 September 2023, as part of Russian elections, Russia said its air defence systems had shot down two Ukrainian drones that were trying to attack a polling station in Skadovsk, Kherson Oblast, while voting was under way.
The picture on 11 September 2023
Taken together, these reports show a country dealing with pressure on several fronts at once: a debate over how openly officials should account for their wealth, a push by Moscow and Ankara to restore a grain route, and Russia holding a vote in a part of Kherson Oblast while drone incidents were being reported.
