Key developments on July 28:
- An apartment building and the SBU headquarters in Dnipro were hit in a missile attack
- Prosecutor General reports on investigation into deaths and abuse at Olenivka prison
- Reports of explosions in Russia's Rostov Oblast
- Poland to double the size of its military
At least five people have been injured as of 10:20 p.m. local time in a Russian strike on the city of Dnipro that damaged a high-rise apartment building on the evening of July 28.
"Rescue services and the police are working on the site. The apartments are being checked. People are receiving the necessary assistance," Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko reported.
Mayor Borys Filatov reported that no one has been killed. The residential building has no tenants, the mayor said, as it was yet to be commissioned.
Dnipro, a city of 1 million people in central Ukraine, was hit at around 8:30 p.m. local time following an air raid siren.
According to the footage provided by witnesses to the Kyiv Independent, as well as footage shared on social media, an apartment building in the city sustained heavy damage in the attack.
The headquarters of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast was also damaged.
President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the news. "Dnipro. Friday evening. A high-rise building and the Security Service of Ukraine's building were hit. Russian missile terror again," he wrote on Twitter.
Around the same time as the explosions were reported, the Air Force announced the threat of a ballistic missile attack in eastern and southern regions.
On Jan. 14, Russia targeted a 9-story apartment building in Dnipro, killing more than 45 people. The Kh-22 missile that hit the building is designed to destroy aircraft carriers.
Many families were at home to meet the Orthodox New Year. The attack destroyed 72 apartments, and damaged more than 230 others.
Asami Terajima
Ukraine reports on investigation into deaths and abuse at Olenivka prison
The explosion that killed over 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war held by Russia in Olenivka prison in Donetsk Oblast last year was caused by a thermobaric munition, the Prosecutor General's Office stated on July 28.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), which carries out the pre-trial investigation of the case, has examined the circumstances of the attack and concluded that the explosion was caused by a thermobaric grenade launcher, the prosecutors said.
As part of their examination, the investigators interviewed 13 released soldiers who were previously held in Olenivka, Ukrinform reported.
On July 28, 2022, an explosion in the prison killed over 50 Ukrainian prisoners and injured 75 more. Kyiv called it a deliberate Russian war crime.
Ukrainian authorities said that days before the attack the Russians had moved Ukrainian members of the Azov Regiment, who were captured in Mariupol and were awaiting a prisoner exchange, to a separate part of the prison building – the one that was destroyed.
The Prosecutor General's Office also reported on July 28 that the ex-head of the Olenivka prison and one of his subordinates have been charged over physical, sexual, and psychological abuse of the Ukrainian soldiers imprisoned there.
Prior to the partial occupation of Donetsk Oblast in 2014, the former prison head Serhii Yevsiukov, worked in Ukrainian law enforcement, while his subordinate, Kyrylo Shakurov, worked in a prison in Horlivka, according to the Kyiv Independent's sources.
The two Ukrainian citizens who collaborated with Russian occupation authorities are suspected of using psychological, physical, and sexual violence against at least 100 prisoners of war, according to the report.
The former head of the prison and his subordinate cruelly mistreated the prisoners and violated the norms of international humanitarian law, the prosecutors said, and have been charged with violating the laws and customs of war.
Daria Shulzhenko
Reports of explosions in Russia's Rostov Oblast
During the afternoon of July 28, Russian media and officials reported an explosion in the center of Taganrog, a city in Rostov Oblast.
Rostov Oblast Governor Vasily Golubev claimed that at least 12 people were wounded and nine of them were hospitalized.
Footage shared on social media shows damaged buildings and smoke rising over the city.
Golubev later said that a second missile was shot down near Taganrog.
Similar information was shared by Russia's Defense Ministry, which claimed that Ukraine launched the attack at around 5:15 p.m. local time using the S-200 air вуаутыу system.
According to the ministry, the projectile was shot down and the debris fell in a deserted area.
Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Oleksii Danilov wrote on Twitter that the incident was a result of "poor Russian air defenses."
The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims.
There have been multiple reports since the start of the full-scale invasion about fires, explosions, and alleged acts of sabotage in Russia.
Anastasiia Lapatina
Poland to double the size of its military
Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński announced that the size of the Polish military is being nearly doubled in response to the threat posed by Russia and Belarus.
Speaking during a visit to the town of Koden near the Belarusian border on July 27, he stated that Polish military presence on the border is being strengthened as well.
Existing units are being replenished and three new divisions are being created, for a total of six, with a seventh being a possibility.
Recently, thousands of Wagner troops and heavy equipment have poured into Belarus from Russia, after the mercenaries' mutiny against the Kremlin.
Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko said that he brokered a deal between the Kremlin and Wagner, for the mercenaries to be allowed to peacefully leave Russia in exchange for standing down.
Earlier, Ukraine's National Resistance Center reported that Wagner was recruiting in Belarus, with the readiness to participate in fighting in Poland and Lithuania as one of the conditions of enlistment.
Officially, Belarus and Wagner boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin have said that the mercenaries are there to train Belarusian troops.
Ukraine has said that its border with Belarus is secure and is being monitored.
Martin Fornusek
