Odesa, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia: pressure on the south, 20 July 2023
A look back at a day of strikes on southern cities and a stalled inspection at Europe's largest nuclear plant.
What did the southern regions of Ukraine face on 20 July 2023? The reports from that day point to two overlapping pressures: strikes on cities far from the front line, and an unresolved question over access to an occupied nuclear plant.
Strikes on Odesa and Mykolaiv
A Russian strike on Odesa killed at least three people and injured eight civilians. It followed a night-time Russian missile attack on the city on 19 July 2023, in which at least 12 people were injured. Two consecutive days of attacks on one city meant the casualties accumulated rapidly.
The 20 July strike also caused minor damage to the consulate general of China in Odesa. The reports mention no further detail on that damage.
On the same day, Russian forces struck Mykolaiv, injuring at least 19 civilians. Taken together, the Odesa and Mykolaiv attacks on 20 July left at least three people dead and at least 27 civilians injured, by the figures reported at the time.
Waiting at Zaporizhzhia
In the same region of the south, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported on 20 July 2023 that it was still awaiting access to the rooftops of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar. The plant was under Russian occupation. The agency had been allowed to view the fuel cooling pools, but the rooftops remained out of reach.
The report came amid allegations that the plant was being used as an atomic bargaining chip.
What the day showed
The day's reports do not describe any government response, so the picture is of exposure rather than policy: civilians in Odesa and Mykolaiv bearing the direct effects of the strikes, and international monitors able to inspect only part of a plant that Ukraine did not control. For regional authorities and residents in the south, the two threats, one immediate and physical and the other a matter of access and oversight, ran side by side.
