A Russian terror attack on 17 June was the largest of the full-scale war, says military expert Ivan Kyrychevskyi. Russia deliberately targeted residential buildings with missiles with cluster munitions to kill as many civilians as possible, Espreso reports. 

“Before 17 June, the maximum was 200–300 aerial weapons launched at once. This time, the Russians used nearly 500, most of them kamikaze drones,” Kyrychevskyi explains.

The UN has also noted that this attack on Kyiv may be the deadliest in nearly a year. The main impact hit densely populated neighborhoods, not military targets.

“X-101 missiles with cluster warheads can’t break through fortifications, but they kill people. That’s why they were used deliberately against civilians,” Kyrychevskyi says.

No one believes anymore that the strikes on Ukrainian hospitals and children’s centers are a “mistake.” After the attack on Kyiv’s Ohmatdyt children’s hospital in 2024, Western governments have stopped buying into the narrative of “accidental strikes,” adds the expert. 

Russia began its full-scale terror campaign against the Ukrainian civilian population in 2022, burning 90% of Mariupol and Bakhmut and committing atrocities during the attacks on Bucha in Kyiv Oblast.

After Ukraine’s stunning Operation Spiderweb damaged over 40 Russian strategic bombers on 1 June, President Trump took a 75-minute phone call with Vladimir Putin. Putin warned he would “have to respond,” Trump reported. Days later, as Russian missiles rained on Ukrainian apartments and cafes, Trump offered his analysis: the war was like “two young children fighting like crazy” in a park, and “sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while.”

The Kremlin loved it. Western media ran with “retaliation” headlines. But to mindlessly adopt the vocabulary of the aggressor is to excuse the crimes. At best, it’s lazy. At worst, it’s complicity by another name.

How Western media adopts Putin’s narrative

This latest episode perfectly captures a dangerous pattern that has defined Western coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Failing to grasp Russia’s criminal war for what it is — whether out of ignorance, indifference, or false hope of normalizing relations — telegraphs to Moscow not only America’s weakness, but its moral ambivalence, if not overt permission.

Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb was a singular event, while Russian suicide drones, guided aerial bombs, and ballistic missiles have hit Ukrainian cities with such regularity that they no longer make headlines — just body counts.

Why Russia cannot be a victim of its own war

A rapist is not the victim of rape. A rapist is the perpetrator.

Russia is not — and cannot, by definition — be the victim of its own unprovoked war of aggression. It is the perpetrator. Apply even a shred of logic, and the distinction becomes obvious: Ukraine can retaliate. Russia cannot. Retaliation is a right reserved for the attacked — not the attacker.

While editorial errors were too many to count, the prize for the most cruel headline goes to The Washington Post, which recently described defensive strikes as “Ukraine’s dirty war.” As if targeting military assets inside an aggressor state were somehow morally equivalent to Russia’s daily slaughter of civilians.

The article itself was well-written and nuanced — alluding to the actual dirty war Russia has been waging against the West, from polonium poisonings in the UK to deployment of mercenaries to destabilize Africa — which makes the choice of headline all the more baffling. A free gift to Kremlin propagandists.

Let us, once and for all, state the obvious: there is no “conflict” in Ukraine. This is a war of conquest — deliberate, sustained, and criminal under the very rules established after World War II.

Moscow’s war is not a tragic misunderstanding or a geopolitical chess match between great powers with Ukraine as a mere pawn.

Russia has been killing Ukrainians for the crime of being Ukrainian since 2014 — predictably, methodically, relentlessly. Ukraine is fighting because the alternative is not peace, but annihilation.

How Russia’s information warfare succeeds in the West

Moscow doesn’t separate kinetic warfare from the so-called “active measures” – disinformation, corruption, infiltration, sabotage, or covert operations — they’re all components of the Gerasimov Doctrine.

But the real scandal is not that Moscow deploys these tools — it’s that the West keeps falling for them.

Worse, we amplify them. Our commentators give airtime to lies. Our most respected outlets parrot enemy framing, wittingly or not. And all the while, a gang of war criminals in the Kremlin smiles, watching as we dignify their deceit with click-bait headlines and poison our own public discourse.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov eagerly seized on Trump’s playground analogy, calling the war “existential” for Russia.

In truth, it is existential only for Ukraine. For Russia, it is optional — a war of choice that could end tomorrow if Moscow stopped waging it. Each day it chooses otherwise, Russian war crimes compound. But when the White House implies both sides are comparably at fault, it reinforces the Kremlin’s central lie.

Ending the war is not in Ukraine’s hands. Peace will come when the revanchist zombie empire stops trying to re-colonize its neighbours.

America’s mixed signals embolden Putin

While Ukraine pleads for help, the United States, reportedly, diverted 20,000 anti-drone missiles — badly needed to defend civilian areas — away from Ukraine to other deployments. What Washington calls “balance,” Moscow reads as tacit acquiescence.

Under international law, Ukraine has the legal right to self-defense against Russia’s illegal war of aggression — a right explicitly affirmed in Article 51 of the UN Charter.

Russian attacks — whether by Iranian-sourced Shahed drones, North Korean artillery shells, or any other means — are not responses. They are the methodical continuation of a war it chose.

To call them retaliation is to legitimize the death and destruction Moscow unleashed.

The stakes: Putin’s victory means global tyranny

Russia’s own former Foreign Minister (1990-1996), Andrei V. Kozyrev, explained in a tweet: if Russia is not defeated in Ukraine, Putin’s dollar-hungry mafia state will solidify into a victorious militarist tyranny driven by hateful anti-Western ideology. Today’s warmongering and hollow nuclear threats against the West will then become real.

Since Moscow first invaded a sovereign neighbor — Georgia, in 2008 — the so-called Free World has excelled at self-deterrence, moved on to self-sabotage, and now flirts with self-extinction.

We can do better. But if we don’t, we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves.

Andrew Chakhoyan

Andrew Chakhoyan is an Academic Director at the University of Amsterdam and a former U.S. government official at the Millennium Challenge Corporation. A Ukrainian-American, he studied at Harvard Kennedy School and Donetsk State Technical University.

Editor’s note. The opinions expressed in our Opinion section belong to their authors. Euromaidan Press’ editorial team may or may not share them.

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Russian forces killed and injured civilians across Ukraine in overnight attacks that targeted Ukrainian regions with 80 drones and four missiles on 2 June.

The Russian military deployed 80 Iranian-designed Shahed strike drones and decoy unmanned aerial vehicles, three Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles, and one Iskander-K cruise missile, Ukraine’s Air Forces reported.

Ukrainian defense forces neutralized 52 targets across the eastern, southern and northern regions, with 15 enemy drones shot down by conventional weapons and 37 suppressed through electronic warfare systems.

The strikes primarily targeted Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Donetsk and Kherson oblasts, with confirmed hits recorded in 12 locations across the country.

Russian strike injures children in Kharkiv

Kharkiv experienced a two-phase assault beginning with drone strikes followed by missile attacks, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov and regional administration head Oleh Syniehubov.

Russian forces struck the Kyivsky district with two ballistic missiles, with one projectile hitting near an apartment building and another striking a road dozens of meters from a school.

Six people sustained injuries in the city, including two children with one victim being a seven-year-old boy.

The attacks damaged the facade of a dormitory, a civilian enterprise, three five-story residential buildings, private residences and vehicles.

Russia kills five civilians in Zaporizhzhia Oblast

Russian attacks on Zaporizhzhia Oblast killed five people and wounded nine others over a 24-hour period, according to regional military administration head Ivan Fedorov.

Russian forces conducted 593 strikes against 16 settlements, including a missile attack on the city of Zaporizhzhia itself.

The overnight drone assault damaged residential buildings and infrastructure. One private house was completely destroyed while more than 60 others sustained damage, with four apartment buildings also affected.

Russia has launched at least 31 attacks on hotels in Ukraine since 2022—most of them housing journalists, aid workers, and civilians—according to a new report by Truth Hounds and Reporters Without Borders. These were not random shellings. Many of the strikes used high-precision, high-value ballistic missiles, sometimes in pairs, and often during the night when hotels were most occupied.

The investigation reveals a chilling pattern: a deliberate campaign to silence independent media by targeting the places where journalists work and sleep.

Hotels near the front lines have become lifelines for the press, offering power, internet, and safety in a war zone. But these essential hubs are now under fire. In 30 of the 31 documented cases, the hotels were operating as civilian facilities. The sole exception involved confirmed military use.

By attacking these buildings, Russia is not just striking infrastructure—it’s attacking press freedom itself. The report argues that this pattern of targeting may constitute war crimes under international law.

31 documented hotel strikes show a consistent pattern

Russian forces have attacked Ukrainian hotels at least 31 times since February 2022, injuring 25 journalists and killing one media worker, according to a new study by Truth Hounds (TH) and Reporters Without Borders.

The attacks represent a systematic campaign to silence press coverage of the war, the organizations reported.

Between 24 February 2022 and 15 March 2025, these strikes hit 25 hotels in oblasts heavily affected by the war, including Kharkiv, Donetsk, Dnipro, Odesa, and Kyiv.

Missile attacks often timed for night, when hotels are full

The frequency of attacks increased dramatically over time: eight hotels were struck in 2022, five in 2023, and 14 in 2024. Most 2024 attacks (11 of 14) occurred between August and October. Four more strikes happened in the first two months of 2025.

Of these 31 attacks, 23 occurred between 8:00 pm and 8:00 am, when hotels are most busy. At the same time, 15 strikes were carried out using 9K720 Iskander ballistic missiles.

The study found that almost all targeted hotels were operating as civilian facilities. Only one had confirmed military use. The others housed civilians—including journalists, aid workers, and volunteers. One of them, Reuters safety advisor Ryan Evans, was killed during a strike on his hotel in Kramatorsk in August 2024.

According to TH, hotels in frontline cities play an important role in supporting journalists’ uninterrupted work. They offer a power supply, stable internet connection, access to bomb shelters, and generally safer conditions for working on news stories.

Beyond media workers, hotels house volunteers, deminers, humanitarian representatives, displaced civilians, and military families visiting loved ones near the front.

Journalists among the injured and killed in hotel strikes

In total, 25 journalists and media professionals have found themselves under these hotel bombings, and at least seven have been injured, according to the report.

The most high-profile case involved Ryan Evans, who had traveled to Ukraine over 20 times with Reuters. On 24 August 2024, a Russian missile struck the Sapphire Hotel in Kramatorsk, killing Evans and injuring two colleagues: American journalist Dan Peleschuk and Ukrainian journalist Ivan Liubysh-Kyrdey.

No military personnel were present in the hotel, according to witness testimonies.

Other journalists were wounded in similar attacks. On 10 January 2024, two missiles—reportedly fired from an S-300 or S-400 system—hit the Park Hotel in Zaporizhzhia, injuring Davit Kachkachishvili of Türkiye’s Anadolu agency and Violetta Pedorych, a Ukrainian producer for France 2.

Kryvyi Rih emerges as a major hotspot in 2024

The intensity of hotel attacks increased sharply in August-October 2024, with Kryvyi Rih in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast becoming a key target. Over the course of several months, Russia attacked at least five hotels in the city.

On the night of 5 March 2025, Russian forces struck the Tsentralny (Central) Hotel in Kryvyi Rih with a ballistic missile. There, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, volunteers from a humanitarian organization, including citizens of Ukraine, the United States, and the United Kingdom, had recently checked in.

The shelling resulted in the deaths of five people and injuries to 32 others. This was reportedly the second time this hotel has been damaged as a result of an attack by Russian forces. On 28 October 2024, it was partially destroyed by a ballistic missile strike.

Civilian hotels hit—even when closed or banning military

Most Russian strikes targeted operational hotels serving civilians—including journalists, aid workers, displaced residents, and business travelers. While military personnel occasionally stayed in some facilities, their presence was minimal and uncoordinated.

A notable example is Hotel Reikartz in Zaporizhzhia, hit by two Iskander missiles in August 2023. At the time, it housed Ukrainian and international journalists, Red Cross and UN staff. Ukrainian military personnel comprised no more than 20-30% of guests—mostly servicemen with families on leave. A children’s camp had just ended hours before the strike, which killed a passerby and injured at least 19.

Other civilian-only hotels were hit with deadly consequences. A two-month-old infant was killed in Zolochiv in February 2024. The owner said, “Once is accidental, twice is tactical.”

In Odesa, the Bristol Hotel—used by journalists and diplomats—was struck by a concrete-piercing missile in January 2025, injuring seven.

Some hotels explicitly banned military personnel. Hotel Kramatorsk enforced a no-uniform policy to avoid being targeted, yet was still struck in 2022 while sheltering only civilians, injuring a female guest.

“We had a rule not to house military personnel or individuals wearing military uniform, as this would put people in danger,” Director Valeriia Karpenko told Truth Hounds.

Even closed hotels were not spared. In Chernihiv, Hotel Ukraina was bombed in March 2022 despite being non-operational during the siege. The Druzhba Hotel in Pokrovsk was hit in August 2023 in a double-tap missile strike that killed 10 and injured 93, days after it had closed for safety reasons.

At the Grand Palace Hotel in Zaporizhzhia, a September 2024 missile strike killed a woman and her 8-year-old son. The hotel had not operated since early in the war. Her husband, the hotel’s co-owner, was severely injured along with their daughter.

“I never housed the military; I was afraid of an attack,” he told Truth Hounds.

Just one hotel used by military, despite Kremlin claims

Among all targeted hotels, only one confirmed case involved military housing. The Profspilkovyi Hotel in Chernihiv was attacked in April 2024, killing 18 and injuring 78.

Pro-Kremlin sources claimed it served as barracks for the 5th Separate Signal Regiment, supported by photographs showing military uniforms and bunks. This represents the sole documented strike on an actual military objective.

Ukraine also struck hotels used by Russian forces

By contrast, over the same period, the Ukrainian Army conducted strikes on hotels in Russian-occupied territories. Truth Hounds identified eight such incidents involving artillery or missile fire. In at least four cases, the hotels were reportedly being used for military purposes, making them legitimate targets under international humanitarian law.

On 11 July 2023, a missile strike hit Hotel Duna in Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, killing Russian officer Oleg Tsokov, deputy commander of Russia’s Southern Military District. The hotel was reportedly struck by a Storm Shadow missile.

Other documented attacks included:

• Hotel Ninel in Kherson (October 2022), resulting in casualties among FSB officers and Russian military personnel.

• A site in Kadiivka (Luhansk Oblast), targeting Wagner PMC fighters.

• Hotel Shesh-Besh in Donetsk (December 2022), where artillery hit the restaurant during the birthday celebration of Dmitry Rogozin, a former Roscosmos director. Several high-ranking military figures were present, including commanders from the 1st Army Corps of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.

Hotel strikes leave journalists traumatized and displaced

According to a survey by Truth Hounds and Reporters Without Borders, 52% of Ukrainian respondents reported psychological effects from the attacks on hotels, citing heightened stress and emotional trauma caused by the constant threat of being targeted. Among foreign respondents, 35% reported similar impacts.

One Ukrainian journalist interviewed for the report described the lasting toll. Injured in a missile strike on a hotel used by the press, she spent ten days in the hospital—five of them unable to walk.

“It’s like a flash in front of my eyes—the pain, crawling on the ground, the smell of dust, the struggle to breathe,” she recalled. Since then, she has avoided field assignments and rarely travels outside the capital. “I had never felt fear like this before.”

The persistent targeting of hotels has forced journalists to reconsider where they stay, moving away from hotels and toward less visible alternatives. This shift hampers their ability to operate safely in war zones. According to the survey, 13% said they had reduced or halted assignments to high-risk areas because of the strikes.

The impact extends beyond fear. 64% cited logistical complications due to limited access to safe accommodation, while 44% reported ongoing emotional trauma.

In response, many journalists have adopted new safety measures: using unmarked vehicles, removing “press” labels from bulletproof vests, and turning off geolocation—a survival strategy in today’s reporting landscape.

Russia spreads disinformation to justify hotel attacks

Russian authorities have repeatedly pushed the narrative that journalists in Ukraine are actually “foreign mercenaries,” using this label to justify strikes on hotels where media workers stay.

The Russian Ministry of Defence rarely comments publicly after such attacks. When it does, it typically frames them as legitimate military operations, claiming the hotels were used by Ukrainian forces, intelligence operatives, or foreign fighters.

After the strike on Hotel Druzhba, the Ministry claimed it had destroyed a Ukrainian command post. In the case of Hotel Reikartz in Zaporizhzhia, officials said the target was “foreign mercenaries.” Following the Kharkiv Palace Hotel strike, they alleged the deaths of Ukrainian intelligence agents and “up to two hundred foreign mercenaries”—despite witness accounts confirming no military personnel were present.

A revealing case is that of Hotel Sapphire in Kramatorsk. In February 2023, Russian officials claimed the hotel hosted Western journalists under Ukrainian security supervision to fabricate war crimes. Eighteen months later, Russian forces struck the same hotel—killing Reuters safety advisor Ryan Evans, despite its well-known civilian function.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov later dismissed Evans as “some kind of safety adviser,” while Foreign Ministry representative Maria Zakharova baselessly described him as a former MI6 agent. Reuters and Evans’ family refuted the claim.

“The targeting of journalists has a direct impact on the scale and depth of war reporting,” the study warns, “reducing the presence of independent observers who could document potential violations of international law.”

Targeting journalists may be a war crime

Under international humanitarian law and international criminal law, attacks on hotels accommodating civilians — including journalists and humanitarian workers — may constitute war crimes. The Geneva Conventions prohibit the intentional use of violence to instill fear among civilians.

The study found that Russian strikes on Ukrainian hotels followed a deliberate pattern, not random acts of war. Available evidence shows that Ukrainian military personnel, when present, were there for private purposes, not military operations — with the sole exception of the Profspilkovyi Hotel.

Meanwhile, Russian narratives blur the line between civilians and combatants, increasingly portraying journalists as legitimate military targets. This violates their protected status and undermines press safety. The consistency of such claims, despite a lack of evidence, suggests a systematic attempt to justify unlawful strikes.

“Russia’s disregard for its obligations under international humanitarian law is clear,” the study states. “Instead of protecting journalists, Russia treats them as expendable—or even legitimate targets.”