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What the strikes of 23 August 2023 showed
Summary
A retrospective look at Russian drone attacks on a school and on grain facilities, and a French missile delivery, in the days around 24 August 2023.
What did the news reaching Kyiv on 24 August 2023 say about the shape of the war? Reports from the preceding two days described attacks on civilians and on food infrastructure, alongside fresh Western military supplies.
On 23 August, a Russian drone strike on a school in Romny, in Sumy Oblast, killed four people and injured four others. The same day, a Russian drone strike on agricultural facilities in Izmail, in Odesa Oblast, destroyed 13,000 tons of grain and damaged infrastructure.
The two attacks hit very different targets: a place where children and teachers gather, and storage for the grain that Ukraine produces. Both were reported as part of the wider pattern of Russian strikes on civilians and on Ukrainian infrastructure.
On 22 August, a day earlier, France delivered the first shipment of its SCALP-EG air-launched cruise missiles to Ukraine. The delivery was part of the military aid flowing to Ukraine during the war.
Taken together, these reports from 22 and 23 August show a war fought on several fronts at once: Russia's drones reaching schools and grain stores in the north and south of the country, and Ukraine's partners adding longer-range weapons to its arsenal. The opinion drawn here is a modest one. The day's record is a reminder that the human and economic costs of the strikes, and the pace of Western supplies, were developing side by side.
