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What did Kyiv ask of its allies in late 2024?
Summary
A retrospective on the final days of October 2024, when Ukraine's president criticised Western silence over North Korean troops and a glide bomb hit Kharkiv.
What was Kyiv demanding of its partners as 5 November 2024 arrived? The preceding days offered a clear picture of two pressures: a widening foreign dimension to the war, and continuing civilian losses.
On 31 October 2024, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy strongly condemned the United States and European nations for making what he called a "zero response" to Russia's deployment of North Korean soldiers against Ukraine. The criticism was aimed directly at Ukraine's partners and concerned the arrival of a new foreign force in the war.
The same day, a Russian glide bomb struck a residential building in Kharkiv. According to Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, three people were killed and 35 others were injured.
The partners' role
Ukraine's reliance on outside support was already large. As of 30 June 2025, according to later figures, Ukraine had received approximately €64.6 billion in military aid from the United States and about €84.7 billion from other international allies. Much of it came through drawdowns of existing stockpiles, and the allied industrial base was gradually being drawn in as those stocks were expended.
Seen together, the two events of 31 October 2024 show why Kyiv pressed its case. One concerned how its partners responded to foreign involvement on Russia's side. The other showed the toll of strikes on a Ukrainian city. Zelenskyy's remarks tied the first to a perceived lack of reaction from Washington and European capitals.
