What the reports of 15 and 16 December 2023 showed
A retrospective on two violent incidents reported in the days before 21 December 2023, one in Zakarpattia and one in occupied Kherson region.
What did the reports reaching readers by 21 December 2023 say about violence away from the main front line? Two incidents, dated 15 and 16 December, stood out.
On 15 December, a councillor threw grenades during a session of the village council in Keretskyi. One person was killed and 26 were wounded. The attacker was also seriously injured.
On 16 December, Russia said two civilians were killed and two others injured in a Ukrainian missile strike on the Russian-occupied village of Nova Maiachka in Kherson Raion. The claim came from the Russian side and was reported as part of the southern Ukraine campaign.
The two events were very different in kind. One was an attack inside a local government body, with a casualty toll that included dozens of wounded. The other was a wartime claim about a strike on an occupied settlement.
Taken together, they showed how far the consequences of violence reached in Ukraine in mid-December 2023: from a village council chamber to the occupied south.
