The 23 July Russian air strike in Bilopillya, Sumy oblast, damaged the office of the local newspaper Bilopilshchyna.
Chief editor Natalia Kalinichenko spoke to Olha Panfilova, the Institute of Mass Information representative in the oblast, about the attack.
Kalinichenko said this was not the first time their office had been damaged in Russian attacks.
“There have been several hits. We’ve had ‘Molniyas’ landing on our roof, there has been mortar shelling nearby. But this time they hit the roof of our office specifically. Our equipment was in that room, we did the typesetting there,” said Natalia Kalinichenko.
The strike damaged the roof and ceiling of the building, as well as furniture and computer equipment.
The editor said that most of their team had relocated to Sumy back in 2025. Only one employee remained in Bilopillya to receive announcements and advertisements, as well as do on-the-ground reporting. He was at work on the day of the strike, but had gone home shortly before the building was hit, so he was unharmed.
Natalia Kalinichenko plans to inspect the premises in the coming days and carry away everything that can still be rescued. They will find a new workplace or the employee remaining in Bilopillya.
“Besides the constant strikes, there is little to no mobile connectivity in Bilopillya. If we have any, it is only thanks to the fiber-optic Internet,” Natalia added.
The building in which the office was located is over a hundred years old. It served as the Bilopilshchyna headquarters since the end of World War II. The newspaper itself is 107 years old: the first issue was released in June 1920.