News and information from Ukraine

Reports from Ukraine. Day 859.

Kharkiv region. Russia attacked Kharkiv with a guided bomb on June 30, targeting the Nova Poshta postal depot. The attack killed one person and injured nine, officials said. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on his Telegram channel that the bomb hit near the city center and sparked a fire that damaged buildings and vehicles.

Kyiv. The Ukrainian capital Kyiv was attacked on June 30; rocket fragments fell on a residential building, causing a fire and damaging apartments in a 14-story residential building.

Dnipro. At least one person was killed in a Russian airstrike on the city of Dnipro, about 300 miles southeast of the capital Kyiv, on June 28. Regional Governor Said Serhiy Lysak. The top four floors of a nine-story apartment building were destroyed by the explosion. In addition to the 76-year-old woman who died, another 12 civilians were injured in the bombing, including a 7-month-old baby. Three of the injured victims, two women and a man in his 20s, are in critical condition in hospital. Responding to the Dnipro attack, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine was striving for “reliable air defense” and called on the country’s international partners to increase the supply of air defense systems. “Only the world’s resolute determination can stop Russian terror,” he said.

The civilian areas in the southeastern Donetsk Oblast continue to be under heavy Russian shelling. Military Regional Governor Vadym Filashkin said in his daily Telegram social media post on June 29. That day alone, three people were killed when Russian forces shelled the village of Zarichne, and one person was injured in nearby Torske. Further south, in the village of Niu York, two civilians were injured in one of the countless rocket attacks. “The entire Donetsk Oblast is life-threatening territory,” Filashkin said, urging remaining residents to evacuate as soon as possible.

Zaporizhia region. Seven civilians lost their lives in a Kremlin attack on the southeastern city of Vilnius during the day.Head of the Zaporizhia Regional Military Administration Ivan Fedorov said on June 29. “Russia is killing our people and destroying our cities. The enemy must be held accountable for all the atrocities it has committed,” he continued. Nearly two dozen people were injured, including four adults and one child, whose condition is serious. Russian missiles hit the city center, damaging important infrastructure, shops and residential areas.

Ukraine gets green light for a tranche of $2.2 billion in long-term financing from the International Monetary FundThe Organization announced on June 28. The funds were released under an Extended Fund Facility (EFF) after a fourth review by the IMF’s Executive Board confirmed Ukraine’s progress on conditional targets for financing, such as improving corporate governance and combating corruption. This is the first time Ukraine has passed a fourth round of IMF review; previous reviews at this level resulted in financing being suspended due to Kyiv’s failure to meet its specified commitments. This financing will enable Kyiv to cover its critical budget expenditures, such as social benefits and government salaries, in a timely manner. The IMF noted that the Ukrainian economy had become more resilient than expected, demonstrating robust adaptability to wartime and persistent inflation. “Consistent reforms to improve anti-corruption and governance frameworks, including ensuring the effectiveness of anti-corruption institutions, remain essential to contain fiscal risks, secure donor confidence, boost growth, and support the path to EU accession,” said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. This year, IMF budget support for Ukraine is expected to exceed $5.4 billion.

Kyiv repatriated 10 more Ukrainians from Russian captivity, President Zelensky confirmed this on June 28. The prisoners were greeted by relatives and media upon arrival at Kyiv’s main airport. Among those released is Nariman Dzhelyal, who served as deputy chairman of the Crimean Tatar Majlis (Council of Representatives) and was sentenced to 17 years in prison by a Russian-controlled court in occupied Crimea for his alleged involvement in the sabotage of a gas pipeline. Dzhelyal stood before the flashing cameras draped in a Ukrainian flag and said that as prisoners they “loved the combination of blue and yellow colors on TV” because it reminded them of their homeland. The Vatican-brokered release also freed civilians Olena Pekh and Valerii Matyshenko, who had been held in Russian prisons for more than six years. About five other prisoners, including Pavlo Krupienko and Nataliia Zakharenko, were arrested in Belarus on espionage charges. “We will definitely free all our people!” President Selenskyj wrote.

Oleh Sentsov’s immersive war documentary “Real,” shot with his helmet camera during trench warfare in southern Ukraine, had its world premiere on June 30 at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic.. It is the latest work from the Ukrainian film director turned soldier and was shot in a single, unedited cut with a Go-Pro camera in the midst of last year’s counteroffensive in southern Ukraine. It conveys the brutality of the trenches Warfare by bringing the battles from the soldier’s perspective to the viewer’s senses. The greatest cinematic experience of this 90-minute film is probably the sound: the entire film is a never-ending episode of explosions, gasps of soldiers and hissing of the walkie-talkie. Sentsov was able to attend the premiere despite being on temporary leave from his military service. The audience greeted the film and the filmmaker with a standing ovation. Before the premiere, Sentsov, dressed in a black vyshyvanka (a traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirt), along with his wife, met with Czech President Petr Pavel, who expressed his country’s support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia. In an Instagram post, Sentsov noted: “It is crucial that the conversation about Ukraine continues because it is the basis of our support and also for an understanding … of the inhuman conditions in which we are fighting the enemy.”

By Daria Dzysiuk, Karina Tahiliani