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What did 9 August 2023 show about the war?
Summary
A look back at a day of missile fire on Zaporizhzhia, a security arrest and new Canadian sanctions on Belarus.
What did the war look like on 9 August 2023? Three reports from that day and the days just before it give a partial answer: continued strikes on civilians, a counterintelligence arrest in Ukraine, and fresh pressure on Belarus from abroad.
On 9 August 2023, a Russian missile struck a residential area of Zaporizhzhia. At least two people were killed and seven others injured. The strike was classed among attacks on civilians in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Two days earlier, on 7 August 2023, the Security Service of Ukraine said it had arrested a Ukrainian citizen on suspicion of helping Russian intelligence. The service said his alleged activity included a suspected role in a plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Also on 9 August 2023, Global Affairs Canada announced new sanctions against Belarus. The announcement was timed to the third anniversary of the 2020 Belarusian presidential election.
Why the day matters
Taken together, the reports show the war being fought on several fronts at once: in the air over a Ukrainian city, in the work of Ukrainian security services, and through sanctions imposed by a partner government. The Zaporizhzhia strike carried the human cost, with the dead and wounded in a residential district. The arrest and the sanctions belonged to the wider effort around the conflict.
