Victory Chronicles-DAY 1216

A combined Russian aerial attack on Kyiv overnight on June 23  killed at least seven people and injured 31 others, including four children. Explosions were reported across six of the capital’s city’s 10 administrative districts.

According to Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko and emergency officials, five of the victims died in a residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district. Nineteen damaged sites are still being responded to by first responders, , including those affected by falling debris from intercepted aerial projectiles. 

Search and rescue efforts are ongoing.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that five apartment buildings in Kyiv were damaged. In the Kyiv regional city of Bila Tserkva, a Shahed suicide drone struck a hospital. Overall, the  combined airborne bombardment and attack affected four regions of Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia launched 352 aerial threats, including 159 Shahed drones, 16 missiles, and ballistic weapons believed to be of North Korean origin. Over 300 rescuers and dozens of emergency vehicles are engaged in ongoing operations across the capital.

Gen. Syrskyi: Ukraine controls about 35 square miles inside Russia’s Kursk Oblast. Ukraine’s Armed Forces control roughly 90 square kilometers (about 35 square miles) in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on June 22. The territory, located in the Glushkovo district, is part of Ukraine’s preemptive strategy to disrupt Russian offensive plans. Syrskyi noted that around 60,000 Russian troops had been redeployed in April to intensify operations along the Pokrovsk, Toretsk, Lyman, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson fronts. However, Ukrainian activity in Kursk has forced the Kremlin to re-thinkits strategy.

Fifth victim found after Russian aerial strike on Kramatorsk high-rise building. The number of confirmed fatalities from  the June 21 Russian missile strike on a residential building in the Donetsk regional city of Kramatorsk has risen to five, local officials said on June 23.

Rescue workers recovered another body from the rubble in the morning, according to Oleksandr Honcharenko, head of the city’s military administration. The strike is part of Russia’s continued campaign of targeting civilian infrastructure across Ukraine, which has caused widespread destruction and human suffering. The cost in lives is incalculable and has already inflicted billions of dollars in damage. The human suffering is immeasurable.

Zelenskyy: Russian missile strike destroys school in Odesa region, killing two staff members

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has strongly condemned a Russian missile strike that destroyed a school building in the Odesa region, calling it a “completely insane” act of violence. The attack targeted the lyceum in Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi. 

Earlier reports said the strike was carried out with a ballistic missile. Although the school was empty of schoolchildren due to the summer break, staff and security personnel were still inside.  At least two people were killed in the blast, and rescue teams are continuing to search through the rubble for survivors. 

Footage released by local authorities shows the school in ruins – collapsed walls, mangled debris, and emergency crews workinging urgently amid the destruction.  Zelenskyy said the act was not a mistake. He said the Russian military “knew  exactly where it was aiming,” describing the strike as a deliberate attack on civilian infrastructure. 

He also issued a warning to the international community, saying that if Russia isn’t stopped, similar attacks await them beyond Ukraine’s borders.  “If Russia is not forced into peace, the world will have to think about protecting schools, hospitals, and homes far beyond Ukraine’s borders,” Zelenskyy said.

Key Takeaways:

• Russia condemned the recent US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22 amid reports that Iran’s foreign minister will meet with Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin in Moscow on June 23.
• Iran’s possible decision to close the Strait of Hormuz will cause a significant spike in global oil prices, which would greatly economically and financially benefit Russia by reversing months of declining Russian oil revenue and allowing Russia to continue to finance its war machine against Ukraine in the medium term.
• Russian forces have continued to pursue long-standing operational objectives on the battlefield in Ukraine throughout Spring and Summer 2025 and will likely remain committed to these objectives for the coming months.
• Russia’s intensified force generation efforts appear to be generating a reserve force that Russia will be able to leverage in Ukraine or against NATO in the future, despite current limitations on Russia’s offensive capacity in Ukraine.
• The Kremlin continues to promote rhetoric designed to undermine Ukrainian legitimacy and sovereignty, demonstrating its ardent commitment to the complete destruction of Ukraine.
• Kremlin officials are leveraging the Russian education system to indoctrinate children into lore of the Soviet Union’s role in the Second World War and create a centralized state ideology that will shape generations in Russia and Russian-occupied Ukraine, likely to justify a protracted war in Ukraine and a future military conflict against the West.
• Ukrainian forces advanced in northern Sumy oblast. Russian forces advanced near the Donetsk regional town of Novopavlivka in the Volnovakha district.

In Memoriam: Oleksandr Chorpita, a hero of Ukraine’s defense forces

Pvt. Oleksandr Chorpita, known by the call sign “Arkheoloh” (Archaeologist), was killed on April 12, 2025, during a combat mission near the village of Preobrazhenka in Donetsk Oblast. He was 41 years old.

Chorpita was born in the village of Skala-Podilskа, Ternopil Oblast. He graduated from the local school and later earned a degree from the Western Ukrainian National University (formerly the Ternopil Academy of National Economy). In civilian life, he worked at Dinter Ukraine LLC in his hometown, where he was remembered by colleagues as a responsible and reliable coworker, always ready to help.

Following the full-scale Russian invasion, Chorpita joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He served in the 70th Separate Support Forces Brigade as a reconnaissance sapper. Alongside his comrades, he fought in Mykolaiv, Kherson, and Donetsk regions.

In recognition of his service, Chorpita was awarded the “Golden Cross” and the “For the Defense of Ukraine” decoration.

“Oleksandr was a man of his word. He always helped and never left anyone in need. His comrades remember him as a decent, well-mannered, and educated person who always had wise advice to offer. He loved reading, although service duties often left little time for it. He had a calm temperament. Sasha was a soul of a person—he will forever remain in our hearts as a kind and radiant man,” said his fellow soldier Oleksandr Zabolotnyi. He was laid to rest in his hometown.

Chorpita is survived by his father, also named Oleksandr; his wife, Iryna; his daughter, Sofiia; sisters Iryna and Olha; and brothers Dmytro and Oleh.

*Chorpita’s story on the Heroes Memorial – a platform for stories about the fallen defenders of Ukraine.

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