What happened on 10 September 2023 in Ukraine?

What did the war look like on 10 September 2023? It was a day marked by the deaths of foreign aid workers in the Donetsk region and by Russian claims of drone interceptions over Crimea, set against a run of grim reports from the preceding days.

On 10 September 2023, two foreign aid workers were killed and two others injured by Russian shelling near Chasiv Yar, Donetsk Oblast. The same day, Russia said its air defence had shot down three Ukrainian drones over Crimea: one in the northwest of the peninsula and two in the west.

The days before

The preceding days had brought other developments. On 8 September 2023, a Russian missile strike on Kryvyi Rih, in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, killed four people and injured 72.

On the same date, Russia said its air defences had downed two Ukrainian drones that were trying to attack a polling station in Skadovsk, Kherson Oblast, while voting was under way in Russian elections.

Also on 8 September 2023, Ukraine accused Elon Musk of enabling Russian forces to attack Ukrainian cities. The accusation followed the revelation that Starlink satellite communications had interfered with a drone operation: a communications network near the coast of Russian-occupied Crimea was disabled as Ukrainian drones approached Russian warships, and connectivity was lost.

On 9 September 2023, the International Atomic Energy Agency warned of a nuclear threat at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant after explosions were heard near the site amid the Ukrainian counteroffensive.

A picture of the moment

Taken together, the reports from 8 to 10 September 2023 show a conflict affecting civilians and aid workers far from the front, drone activity around Crimea and its waters, and continuing concern over the safety of the Zaporizhzhia plant while the Ukrainian counteroffensive went on.