Burned corpses and cars are seen on the road in Kyiv Oblast on April 2, 2022. (Getty Images)
April 4 marks 40 days of Russia's barbarous war in Ukraine.
The extent of Russia's cruelty against Ukrainians, however, was discovered just two days ago.
On April 2, Ukrainian forces regained control of Bucha, a town northwest of Kyiv, revealing the many horrific atrocities of Russia's weeks-long occupation.
Hundreds of civilian residents were found dead on the streets, by their homes and in mass graves.
Following one of the darkest days of the war, one that truly shocked the Ukrainian nation and the whole world, President Volodymyr Zelensky gave the kind of address that "presidents don't usually give."
"Concentrated evil has come to our land," he said. "Murderers, butchers, rapists, looters, who call themselves an army and who deserve only to die after what they have done."
Since Moscow unleashed its all-out war on Ukraine on Feb. 24, at least 1,232 civilian Ukrainians have been killed, according to the United Nations. The actual figures, however, are expected to be much higher, as casualties from front-line areas aren't counted due to a lack of data.
At least 161 children have been killed and 264 injured by Russia's war, according to Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office.
Bodies lie on a street in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, as Ukrainian forces retook control of the town on April 2, 2022 following weeks of Russian occupation. (AFP via Getty Images)A cyclist rides past buildings on fire following an artillery fire in Kharkiv, a regional capital in northeastern Ukraine, on March 25, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)Rescuers remove rubble from the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration building where at least 35 people were killed by a Russian cruise missile attack on April 1, 2022, in Mykolaiv, a regional capital in southern Ukraine. (The Washington Post/Getty Images)A partially buried body is seen in a mass grave in the town of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, on April 3, 2022. Hundreds of killed civilians were found in the town after Ukrainian forces retook it following weeks of Russian occupation. (AFP/Getty Images)President Volodymyr Zelensky (C) walks in the town of Bucha, just northwest of Kyiv, the site of Russia's massacre of civilian residents, on April 4, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)Communal workers and volunteers build a protective structure around a monument to the poet Taras Shevchenko in Kyiv on April 3, 2022. (Getty Images)A woman hugs a volunteer fighting with the Territorial Defense Force after the Russian troop withdrawal from the Nova Basan village in Chernihiv Oblast on April 1, 2022. (Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the 64th Annual Grammy Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 3, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Getty Images for The Recording Academy)The newlyweds, medical volunteers Nastya Gracheva and Anton Sokolov, pose for a photograph in a ruined courtyard of a shopping and business complex in central Kharkiv on April 3, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)A resident walks in front of a destroyed building in Trostyanets, Sumy Oblast, on March 29, 2022. (AFP via Getty Images)U.S. President Joe Biden kisses a child while meeting refugees of Russia's war against Ukraine at PGE Narodowy Stadium in Warsaw, Poland on March 26, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)An ostrich walks on the destroyed enclosure at an eco-park in Yasnohorodka, a village north of Kyiv on April 2, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)A young girl sits on a suitcase at a train station in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, on April 3, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)A destroyed column of Russia's military vehicles is seen on the highway near Buzova village in Kyiv Oblast on April 3, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)The family of Ukrainian soldier Ivan Lipskiy grieves at his casket during a funeral of five Ukrainian soldiers in Odesa on March 29, 2022. Lipskiy was killed on March 18 during a Russian air strike that hit the 36th Ukrainian Naval Infantry Brigade killing more than 40 Ukrainian soldiers in Mykolaiv. (The Washington Post/Getty Images)
"We understand that we will meet daytime demand through nuclear power, imports, distributed generation, and renewable energy, but unfortunately, we will have to rely on consumers to balance evening peaks," Vitaliy Zaichenko, CEO of state grid operator Ukrenergo, said.
"Our long-range operations are a consistent, precise response to Russia's dragging out the war and attacking Ukrainian cities and communities," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Ukraine's central bank chief denied that a personal conflict contributed to the bank's decision to request the dismissal of the CEO of Ukraine's state postal service, amid a public outcry over the decision.
"We will not allow the shadow fleet to evade sanctions and fund Russia's war effort. Europe is determined," French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X on June 25.
The partnership with the World Bank's insurance arm, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency or MIGA, will insure DFC projects in Ukraine against political and war-related risks.
The latest attack comes as the peninsula's energy grid has come under strain in recent days after Russian proxy authorities said widespread power outages in occupied Crimea on June 23 left approximately half of the peninsula without electricity.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed reporting by the Kyiv Independent that U.S. President Donald Trump privately encouraged President Volodymyr Zelensky to act "more boldly" toward Russia.
"The funds have already been transferred to the state budget and will be used to strengthen Ukraine's defense capabilities and social resilience," Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko wrote on Telegram.
Naftogaz CEO Serhii Koretskyi said on Facebook on June 25 that several Ukrnafta gas stations in Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts came under attack.
Sense Bank and Ukrgazbank have a "good chance" of being privatized by the end of 2026, Ukraine's central bank chief Andriy Pyshnyi told the Kyiv Independent in an interview on June 24 on the sidelines of the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdansk, Poland.
President Donald Trump said on June 24 that President Volodymyr Zelensky is "doing pretty well" in Ukraine's defense against Russia's full-scale invasion, describing the Ukrainian leader as resilient despite the ongoing fighting.
The announcement came hours after a new call for 650 million euros ($740 million), the estimated cost of protecting Ukraine's energy infrastructure ahead of the winter.