Monday, June 29. Russia’s War On Ukraine: News And Information From Ukraine
Ukraine Recovery Conference — an annual series of high-profile events dedicated to the recovery and long-term reconstruction of Ukraine since the beginning of Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine — took place in Gdańsk, Poland, on June 25th and 25th. "A total of 160 agreements worth more than 10 billion euros were signed this year," Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko wrote on her Telegram channel after the first day of the conference.
The deals span a wide range of strategic sectors. Vodafone Ukraine, the country's second-largest mobile operator, secured a $35 million credit line to modernize its network. Ukrnafta, the largest oil and natural gas extraction company in Ukraine, and the private energy venture Power One obtained $475 million in financing.
Ukraine's defense-tech firms, showcased at the meeting for the first time last year, attracted immense investor interest, with drones and electronic warfare systems taking center stage. In another headline-making announcement, PrivatBank, the country's largest state-owned lender, secured close to $1.4 billion in financing to support Ukrainian businesses.
Of the more than €10 billion ($11.5 billion) in agreements, almost two-thirds were announced before the event. Circa $3.6 billion comes from the first tranche (originally expected to be $6.7 billion) of the EU's mega loan to Ukraine; another $3.4 billion stems from a World Bank program approved on June 22, following reforms that Ukraine had been diligently implementing since last year.
In 2025, the high-level gathering in Rome generated a very similar $11.5 billion in pledged support and over 200 memoranda of understanding.
Participants, who spoke to Forbes Ukraine on condition of anonymity, questioned how many more recovery conferences could be held before reconstruction begins. Most attendees agreed that grants and loans would remain indispensable, but argued that Ukraine's long-term recovery ultimately depends on attracting private investors rather than donor governments.
Among the conference's senior international guests were President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who used the occasion to reiterate his call for a ceasefire along the current front line and the start of negotiations with Moscow. He also drew on the German-Polish post-war reconciliation, alluding to the recent row between Kyiv and Warsaw, to argue that even the most difficult history didn't prevent conducive relations between neighbors — a message offering measured optimism for Ukraine amid the grim realities of war.
Ukraine's drone campaign is cutting Crimea off from the Russian supply lines. After facing weeks of strikes on the peninsula's energy and transport infrastructure, the Russian-installed authorities declared a regional state of emergency on June 26. The declaration came after Russia's Defense Ministry reported "one of the war's largest Ukrainian drone attacks," claiming to have intercepted 660 drones overnight on June 26 across Crimea and other regions.
Ukrainian drones struck on June 22 the Dubna Space Communications Center in the Moscow region, Russia's largest space communications station. Two days later, Ukraine hit one of Russia's largest oil-refining clusters in Ufa, some 930 miles from the front line.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said June 24 that Ukraine had annihilated more than 60,000 tonnes of ammunition at a Russian Baltic Fleet arsenal near St. Petersburg during its recent strikes. Although he didn't specify which attacks he was referring to, Ukraine struck one of the largest oil terminals on the Baltic Sea in the port of St. Petersburg on June 3; three days later, Ukraine targeted the Russian Baltic Fleet's Kronstadt naval base near Russia's second city.
Russian Attacks. Russian attacks across Ukraine killed at least 12 people and wounded over 40 on Monday, authorities said.
A Russian missile targeting infrastructure struck the central city of Dnipro, killing six people and wounding 29, Dnipropetrovsk regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said. Russian drones also hit a passenger minibus in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, killing three and wounding six, including a child, Zelenskyy said on social media.
Zhanna Kadyrova's First North American Museum Exhibition.
The Ground Shifts Beneath Our Feet marks the first North American museum exhibition by Ukrainian artist Zhanna Kadyrova. This year, Kadyrova’s concrete sculpture Origami Deer - originally installed in 2019 in Pokrovsk, a city in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, now destroyed by Russia- is a centerpiece of the Ukrainian Pavilion in the Venice Biennale.
The exhibition, which opened in the Ukrainian Museum in New York on June 20th, presents five bodies of work created after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine: Palianytsia (2022–present), Russian Rocket (2022–2023), The Forest (2023–2025), Anxiety (2022–present), and IDP: Internally Displaced Person (2026). Together, the works examine changes to Ukraine's landscape and the impact of war on people and the environment.
Using video, sound, camera-obscura photographs, and archival materials, Kadyrova documents the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam on the Dnipro River. The collapse of the dam caused flooding in more than 40 towns and villages and displaced tens of thousands of people.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion four and a half years ago, Ukraine has lost hundreds of artists, writers, musicians, photographers, and other cultural figures who have died while serving in the country's defense.
On June 27, the Ukrainian Museum hosted The Empty Chair: In Memory of Maksym Kryvtsov, an evening dedicated to the Ukrainian soldier, poet and photographer, who was killed two years ago at the age of 33 while defending Ukraine. The program included readings of Kryvtsov’s poems accompanied by live music and projected visuals. Anastasia Kryvtsova, the poet’s sister, attended the event. Additional poetry events honoring Kryvtsov are held in Chicago and Washington, D.C.