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Western arms and Russian strikes: early February 2023
Summary
A look back at the reports in the days leading up to 3 February 2023, from French howitzer pledges to strikes on towns and cities.
What did the war look like in the days around 3 February 2023? The reports from the preceding week describe a conflict of missile and artillery strikes on towns, contested claims over small villages, and fresh pledges of Western equipment.
Weapons from abroad
On 31 January 2023, France's Armed Forces Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, announced that France would send 12 additional CAESAR self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine. He added that France could also train Ukrainian Air Force pilots to operate French fighter jets, as part of its latest military support package.
Strikes on civilian areas
On 1 February 2023, a Russian Iskander-K ballistic missile destroyed an apartment complex in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast. Local officials said at least three people were killed and 20 injured.
A few days earlier, on 29 January, Russian forces shelled the city of Kherson, killing three people and injuring six. A hospital, a school and a bus station were damaged. On 28 January, a Russian airstrike destroyed a kindergarten in Seredyna-Buda, in Sumy Oblast, and damaged nearby residential buildings. No casualties were reported. Cross-border shelling also damaged the towns of Esman and Shalyhyne.
Competing claims
The reports also carried claims that could not be reconciled. On 28 January, Russia said a Ukrainian HIMARS missile strike on a hospital in Novoaidar, Luhansk Oblast, had killed 14 people and injured 24, including patients and medical staff.
On 29 January, Wagner Group forces said they had captured the village of Blahodatne, north of Bakhmut. Ukraine rejected the claim and said it had repelled the attack.
The picture on 3 February 2023
Taken together, the reports show the situation as it stood on 3 February 2023. Allies were adding to Ukraine's artillery and discussing pilot training. Russian strikes were hitting residential and public buildings in Donetsk, Kherson and Sumy oblasts. Around Bakhmut, the two sides disagreed over who held a village.
