Kharkiv border villages retaken as Kostiantynivka mourns market strike
A look back at 7 September 2023, when Ukrainian forces entered two deserted border villages in Kharkiv Oblast, a day after a deadly strike in Donetsk Oblast.
What did the front line look like on 7 September 2023? In the north-east, Ukrainian forces entered the deserted villages of Stroivka and Topoli at the Russia–Ukraine border in Kharkiv Oblast. Russia had abandoned both after the 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive, but Ukraine had been unable to enter them until then because of mines in the area.
A day after Kostiantynivka
The advance came a day after a missile struck a marketplace in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk Oblast, on 6 September 2023. At least 15 people were killed and 30 others injured, according to reports at the time. Later accounts put the wounded at at least 32 and said the dead included a child and a couple in their 50s who had been selling flowers at the market.
Kyiv blamed Russia for the attack, and Russia denied involvement. The question of responsibility was later contested. An investigation by the New York Times found evidence suggesting that a Ukrainian 9M38 missile, fired by a mobile Buk antiaircraft vehicle, was responsible. Ukraine's Security Service said it was continuing an official investigation and, at that stage, believed the missile was an S-300 launched by Russian forces.
Cross-border activity in the preceding days
The preceding days had also brought reports of fighting near Russia's own territory. On 5 September 2023, the governor of Bryansk Oblast, Alexander Bogomaz, said border guards and security services had prevented a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group from crossing into Russia.
On the same date, Russia's defence ministry said it had shot down three Ukrainian drones: one over Istra, one over Moscow, and one over the Kaluga and Tver regions near Moscow.
What the day showed
Taken together, the reports from 5 to 7 September 2023 show a conflict moving on several fronts at once. Civilians in Donetsk Oblast were killed in a strike, Russia reported drone and border incursions, and in Kharkiv Oblast Ukrainian troops were finally able to walk into two border villages that mines had kept out of reach since the previous year.
