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What 31 July 2023 showed about the war's reach
Summary
A look back at a day of missile strikes in Ukraine, drones over Moscow and sanctions over a Russian activist's sentence.
What did the war look like on 31 July 2023? It was visible on several fronts at once: in Ukrainian cities struck by missiles, in the skies near Moscow, and in the courts and capitals dealing with Russian dissent.
The heaviest toll that day came in Kryvyi Rih, in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. A Russian ballistic missile struck an apartment complex and a university building, killing at least six civilians and injuring 75 others. Two days earlier, on 29 July 2023, a Russian missile strike on civilian infrastructure in Sumy had killed two people and injured 20. Taken together, the two strikes show civilian areas in different parts of Ukraine bearing the brunt of the attacks within a few days.
Drones over Moscow
The war also reached Russian territory. On 30 July 2023, Russia said it had destroyed three Ukrainian drones over Moscow. One person was injured, and officials closed Vnukovo International Airport to traffic. The incident belonged to a series of attacks on western Russia.
Dissent and sanctions
The day also had a political side. On 31 July 2023, the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on judges and officials involved in the prosecution of activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who had lost the appeal against his 25-year sentence for treason. The measure targeted the people who handled his case.
On 30 July 2023, anti-war activists had also protested in Belgrade, Serbia. The demonstration followed problems that two prominent anti-war and anti-Putin activists had encountered while trying to enter the country.
What the day shows
The reports from these days point to a conflict that was not confined to the front line. Ukrainian civilians were killed and wounded in cities far from it. Russia reported drones over its capital and a disruption at one of its airports. Abroad, Russian opposition figures were the subject of both protest and sanctions. Each of these developments was separate, but together they give a picture of how widely the war was felt on 31 July 2023 and the days leading up to it.
