What the front looked like on 23 May 2023
A look back at a period of contested claims in Bakhmut, shelling in Kherson Oblast and a cross-border incursion into Belgorod Oblast.
What did the war look like on 23 May 2023? Three reports from the days around that date show a front stretching from the east to the south and across the Russian border.
Bakhmut: a claim and a rebuttal
On 20 May 2023, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said his forces had captured all of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast. The Ukrainian Defence Ministry rejected the claim, saying its troops still held a district on the westernmost edge of the city. The Battle of Bakhmut was a major clash between the Russian and Ukrainian armed forces for control of the city, and some military analysts regard it as the bloodiest battle since World War II.
Shelling in Kherson Oblast
In the south, on 17 May 2023, Russian forces shelled Ukrainian-held areas of Kherson Oblast. At least five civilians were killed, including a child, and 17 others were reportedly injured.
Fighting across the border
On 22 May 2023, the Governor of Belgorod Oblast, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said Ukrainian "sabotage groups" had entered Grayvoronsky District. Ukrainian media reported that the incursion was being carried out by Russian opposition groups, the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion. The Freedom of Russia Legion said it had captured the Russian towns of Kozinka and Gora-Podol. A bridge over the Vorskla near Grayvoron was destroyed in an explosion.
Taken together, these reports from 17 to 22 May 2023 show a conflict in which the status of Bakhmut was disputed, civilians in Kherson Oblast came under fire, and a new line of fighting opened in a Russian border region.
