What did 10 August 2024 show about the war?

What did the war look like on 10 August 2024? It looked like a conflict being fought on several fronts at once: inside Russia, in the Black Sea, along the Belarusian border and in Ukrainian towns still under missile fire.

A war carried onto Russian soil

Two days earlier, on 8 August 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to confirm that he had ordered a major cross-border operation inside Russia. He said that Russia had brought war to Ukrainian land and should feel what it had done. That day, large explosions were reported near Rylsk in Kursk Oblast, and videos on social media appeared to show a destroyed column of military vehicles.

By 9 August, the operation had moved on. Ukrainian troops captured the Gazprom gas facility in Sudzha, and a video showed Ukrainian soldiers inside it, with much of the town reportedly under Ukrainian control. A Russian military convoy was destroyed on the E38 highway in Oktyabrsky District. Akhmat special forces commander Apti Alaudinov said Ukrainian troops had simply passed by his men's positions without engaging them, and that the unit chose to retreat until more Russian reinforcements arrived. Other reports indicated that Akhmat troops fled.

Ukraine also reached further into Russia by air. On 9 August, it launched a massive drone attack on Lipetsk Oblast, with the Lipetsk air base reportedly on fire, several villages evacuated and six people reportedly injured. On 10 August, the Ukrainian Navy struck and heavily damaged a Russian offshore natural gas platform in the Black Sea that the Russian Armed Forces were using.

Russian fire on Ukrainian towns

The cost on the Ukrainian side was also plain. On 9 August, a Russian missile attack on a supermarket in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk Oblast, killed 14 people and injured 43 others, according to reports at the time. Later accounts put the injured at 44 and recorded damage to ten private houses, nine stores, a post office, retail pavilions, a gas pipeline, a car wash and 12 vehicles. Rescuers dismantled 76 tons of debris at the site.

On 10 August, a Russian missile strike on a critical infrastructure facility in Kramatorsk killed one worker and injured several others.

Support and pressure from outside

On 9 August, the United States announced a $125 million military aid package for Ukraine. It included FIM-92 Stinger missiles, artillery ammunition and anti-armour systems.

On 10 August, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko increased Belarus's defensive presence on the border with Ukraine. He accused Ukraine of illegally sending about a dozen intercepted drones into Belarusian airspace.

A domestic front: the church

The same day, Zelenskyy announced that the government was deliberating a ban on a traditionally Russia-linked branch of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, aiming to strengthen the country's spiritual independence. The role of religion in the war has drawn significant attention. Peter Mandaville of the United States Institute of Peace has said the conflict is not only a matter of horrible violence but also one with deeply rooted religious significance.

What the day shows

Taken together, the events of those days show Ukraine seeking to shift the war onto Russian territory and Russian assets, while Russian missiles continued to hit towns in Donetsk Oblast. The announcement on the church showed that Kyiv was treating the war as a contest over institutions and identity as well as territory. The Belarusian border measures added a further point of tension on Ukraine's northern flank.