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What did 2 August 2023 show about the war's reach?
Summary
A look back at a day when a drone strike hit Izmail's grain storage while the effects of earlier attacks on Moscow and Kryvyi Rih were still being felt.
What did the war look like on 2 August 2023? It looked like a conflict pressing on several fronts at once, with the days around that date showing strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure, drones over Russia's capital region and tension on the border between Poland and Belarus.
On 2 August 2023, a Russian drone strike hit Izmail in Odesa Oblast. It damaged administrative buildings and grain storage facilities.
Moscow feels the drones
The day before, on 1 August 2023, Russia said it had destroyed three drones near Moscow. One of them damaged the 21st floor of the IQ-quarter mixed-use complex, which hosts offices for the Ministry of Economic Development. Vnukovo International Airport temporarily closed for the second time in two days.
The disruption reached beyond Russia's borders. On 1 August 2023, Turkmenistan Airlines announced it would temporarily suspend flights from Ashgabat to Moscow following the drone attacks. Its flights would go instead to Kazan, in Tatarstan.
Civilian toll in Kryvyi Rih
The human cost of the war had been underlined on 31 July 2023, when a Russian ballistic missile struck an apartment complex and a university building in Kryvyi Rih, in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. At least six civilians were killed and 75 others were injured.
Pressure on the border and in London
The regional picture extended to NATO's eastern flank. On 1 August 2023, Poland ordered more soldiers to its border with Belarus. Its Ministry of National Defence said two Belarusian helicopters carrying out training exercises had violated Polish airspace.
Separately, on 31 July 2023, the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on judges and officials involved in the prosecution of activist Vladimir Kara-Murza. He had lost his appeal against a 25-year sentence for treason.
A day in context
Taken together, these reports from 31 July to 2 August 2023 show a war whose effects were spreading. Grain facilities in Odesa Oblast and a city in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast were under fire. Air travel to Moscow was being disrupted. A neighbouring state was reinforcing its border, and London was targeting those behind a high-profile political prosecution in Russia.
