Kursk incursion, Kostiantynivka strike: Ukraine's war on 9 August 2024
A look back at a day when a cross-border operation into Russia and a deadly missile strike on a Donetsk Oblast supermarket unfolded side by side.
What did Ukraine's war look like on 9 August 2024? It had two fronts of attention: Ukrainian forces pressing deeper into Russia's Kursk Oblast, and Russian missiles killing civilians in Donetsk Oblast.
A cross-border operation takes shape
The day followed a rapid escalation on 8 August 2024. Ukraine launched twelve rockets and 14 drones into Russia, according to both the acting Governor of Kursk Oblast, Alexei Smirnov, and the Russian Ministry of Defence. Ukrainian troops and tanks entered the town of Sudzha, forcing residents to flee. Large explosions were reported near Rylsk, with videos on social media appearing to show a destroyed column of military vehicles.
On that same date, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to confirm that he had ordered a major cross-border operation, saying that Russia had brought war to Ukraine's land and should feel what it had done.
By 9 August 2024 the operation had advanced further. 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. Ukraine also launched what was described as a massive drone attack on Lipetsk Oblast, with Lipetsk air base reportedly on fire. Several villages were evacuated and six people were reportedly injured.
Competing accounts of the Russian response
The Russian side's account of events on the ground was contested. Apti Alaudinov, commander of the Akhmat special forces, said Ukrainian troops had simply passed by his unit's positions without engaging them, and that Akhmat troops chose to retreat until more Russian reinforcements arrived. Other reports indicated that Akhmat troops had fled from Ukrainian forces. The gap between those two descriptions is itself part of the picture of 9 August 2024: Russian forces in the area were retreating, and the explanation for it was disputed.
The cost elsewhere
While the Kursk operation drew attention, the war in Donetsk Oblast continued with lethal consequences for civilians. A Russian missile attack on a supermarket in Kostiantynivka killed 14 people and injured 43 others, according to reports at the time. Later accounts put the injured at 44. The damage extended beyond the store: ten private houses, nine other stores, a post office, retail pavilions, a gas pipeline, a car wash and 12 vehicles were hit, and rescuers dismantled 76 tons of building debris at the site.
Support from Washington
On the same date, the United States announced a $125 million military aid package for Ukraine. It included FIM-92 Stinger missiles, artillery ammunition and anti-armour systems.
What the day showed
Taken together, 9 August 2024 captured the dual character of the war at that stage. Ukraine was carrying fighting onto Russian territory, seizing an energy facility, striking an air base and destroying convoys, while Russia continued to strike Ukrainian towns far from that front. The announcement of new US aid arrived in the same news cycle, supplying air defence, artillery and anti-armour capacity at a moment when Ukraine was both on the offensive in Kursk Oblast and absorbing attacks in Donetsk Oblast.
