What did 10 March 2023 reveal about the war?

What did the war look like on 10 March 2023? Reports from the preceding days suggest it was fought on two fronts at once: in the skies over the whole country and street by street in the east.

On 9 March, Russia launched cruise missiles at targets across Ukraine. Buildings and critical infrastructure were damaged. In Lviv Oblast, far from the front line, a missile destroyed a home and killed at least five civilians, according to the region's governor, Maksym Kozytskyy.

Bakhmut under pressure

In the east, the fight for Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast continued. On 4 March, heavy street fighting was reported between Russian and Ukrainian troops. The city's deputy mayor, Oleksandr Marchenko, said that not a single building had remained untouched by the fighting and that the city was almost destroyed.

The same day, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was filmed inspecting troops in what he described as the eastern military district in the south Donetsk direction. The visit was reported as a rare high-level trip to the Donbas.

Two kinds of war

Taken together, the reports from those days show a country where the danger was not confined to one region. Soldiers contested a ruined city in Donetsk Oblast, while civilians in Lviv Oblast lost their home to a missile strike. Seen from 10 March 2023, the war was being fought both at the front and far behind it.