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What happened in Ukraine on 14 September 2022?
Summary
A look back at the day Russian missiles struck a dam near Kryvyi Rih, as Ukrainian forces pressed on in Kharkiv Oblast.
What did the war look like on 14 September 2022? It was a day when Russia struck civilian infrastructure in central Ukraine while its forces were under pressure in the east, after a run of Ukrainian advances.
On that date, Russian forces launched eight cruise missiles at the dam of the Karachunivske reservoir. The strike caused extensive flooding in Kryvyi Rih and raised the water level of the Inhulets River by 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in).
The pressure in the east
The strike came after several days of Ukrainian gains. Ukraine had launched a major counteroffensive in Kharkiv Oblast on 6 September 2022, in addition to the Kherson counteroffensive in the south announced in late August.
On 12 September 2022, the Ukrainian general staff reported that Russian troops had abandoned the city of Svatove in Luhansk Oblast as Ukrainian forces advanced. The same day, Ukrainian forces said they had seized 20 more settlements in the previous 24 hours, including Dvorichna, and claimed to have captured many Russian prisoners of war. The advances were continuing the recapture of territory that Russia had occupied in Kharkiv Oblast since the start of the full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022. Cities such as Izium, Kupiansk and Balakliia had been among those Russian forces captured.
Signs of strain inside Russia
Also on 12 September 2022, more than 30 municipal deputies from Russian cities signed a petition calling for President Vladimir Putin to resign, amid the substantial Ukrainian advances. Multiple explosions were reported the same day near Taganrog in Rostov Oblast, Russia.
A new weapon in the skies
On 13 September 2022, the Ukrainian military said it had shot down an Iranian-made HESA Shahed 136 combat drone, operated by Russia, near Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast. An inscription on the drone read "M214 Geran-2", a designation that did not immediately correspond to any known Russian weaponry.
Why the date matters
Taken together, the events of 12 to 14 September 2022 show a war on several tracks: rapid Ukrainian movement on the ground in the east, the appearance of a drone that Ukraine linked to Iran, and a missile attack on a dam that flooded a city in the centre of the country. The Kryvyi Rih strike on 14 September 2022 stood out because the target was water infrastructure rather than a front-line position.
