Veronika Melkozerova

Editor, NV English

Veronika is a journalist based in Kyiv. She contributed to multiple international publications, including NBC News, Politico, Vice, OCCRP, US News & World Report. She worked at Kyiv Post from June 2015-December 2018. In 2021, Veronika won the top Ukrainian journalism contest Chest profesii, getting a crystal stela in the nomination for best breaking news reporting. Member of NV.UA team till December 2022.


Barbaric actions /
Russia may have used thermobaric weapons in Olenivka to burn Ukrainian POWs in their sleep, says InformNapalm

Russian authorities may have used thermobaric weapons against a prison colony in the occupied Donbas town of Olenivka, resulting in the death over fifty Ukrainian prisoners of war, Volunteer media collective InformNapalm announced on Telegram on July 30.
31 July 2022, 03:32 PM 1520
Nation

Agricultural warfare /
Land mine injures farmer near Kharkiv

As Russia continues to pelt Kharkiv with artillery, a Ukrainian farmer in a nearby village was injured by a land mine while harvesting crops, the head of the Kharkiv regional administration, Oleh Synehubov, said in a Telegram post on July 31.
31 July 2022, 02:33 PM 444
Nation

Enemy losses /
Russia has lost nearly 41,000 troops in Ukraine, reports General Staff

Russian losses in its war of aggression against Ukraine approach 41,000 soldiers, Ukraine’s General Staff said in a Facebook post on July 31.
31 July 2022, 02:30 PM 847
Nation

Vogue diplomacy: First Lady Olena Zelenska is Ukraine’s secret weapon

Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska spent the early months of the Russian invasion far away from the limelight.
31 July 2022, 02:06 PM 648
Opinion

Weaponized hunger /
Russian shelling damages farm in Sumy Oblast

Russian artillery shelled Myropillia, Sumy Oblast, on July 31, damaging a farm, head of the regional administration Dmytro Zhyvytskyi said in a Telegram post.
31 July 2022, 01:18 PM 353
Nation

War in Ukraine /
Russia artillery strikes Dnipropetrovsk Oblast

Russian artillery struck the Nikopol and Kryvyi Rih districts of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, head of the regional administration Valentin Reznichenko said in a Telegram post on July 31.
31 July 2022, 01:07 PM 255
Nation

Executive down /
Nibulon owner Oleksiy Vadaturskyi killed in mass shelling of Mykolaiv

Hero of Ukraine and the owner of the Nibulon company, the country's largest grain trader, Oleksiy Vadaturskyi, was killed during the mass Russian shelling of the Black Sea city of Mykolaiv on the night of July 31, European Business Association has reported.
31 July 2022, 01:02 PM 1162
Business

War in Ukraine /
Mykolaiv hit by most intense Russian shelling so far

Mykolayiv has been hit by the “strongest yet” Russian artillery barrage overnight on July 31, Mykolayiv Mayor Oleksandr Senkevich said in a Telegram post.
31 July 2022, 12:50 PM 389
Nation

The battle for Kherson and why it matters

In my recent posts, I argued that the war with Russia has shifted in Ukraine’s favor.
31 July 2022, 12:46 PM 1566
Opinion

Insurgent activity /
Ukrainian partisans conduct rail sabotage in Luhansk Oblast

Ukrainian partisans have set a major railway control node on fire near Svatove, Luhansk Oblast, frustrating Russia’s ability to transport ammunition to the front lines in the region, head of the regional administration Serhiy Hayday said in a Telegram post on July 30.
31 July 2022, 12:10 PM 1095
Nation

Black Sea front /
Russia’s Black Sea Fleet HQ in Crimea under attack, Kremlin-backed Sevastopol 'official' says

Ukraine is responsible for a UAV attack on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, Crimea, the so-called “governor” of the Russian-occupied city, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said in a Telegram post on July 31.
31 July 2022, 11:53 AM 1198
Nation

Name and shame /
Zelenskyy urges terrorist designation for Russia following POW executions at Olenivka

The international community needs to take the steps necessary to officially designate Russia a terrorist state, following its execution of Ukrainian prisoners-of-war in occupied Olenivka, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address on social media on July 30.
31 July 2022, 11:45 AM 443
Nation

Eternal controversy /
From the archives: The Azov Regiment has been called Neo-Nazi. Is it?

Editor's note: This story was first published in June, soon after the Azovstal garrison surrendered to Russians in Mariupol. NV is republishing the story of Azov in memory of those 53 Ukrainian PoWs from the regiment, killed in Olenivka. 
31 July 2022, 10:05 AM 6989
Nation

Winter is coming /
Ukraine’s Cabinet calls for mandatory evacuation from Donetsk Oblast before cold season

The Government of Ukraine will introduce the compulsory evacuation of residents of unoccupied areas of Donetsk Oblast ahead of the heating season, said Deputy PM and Minister of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk on Ukrainian national television on July 30.
30 July 2022, 08:57 PM 3191
Nation

State of terror /
Relatives of Azovstal defenders call on world community to declare Russia terrorism sponsor after Olenivka

Relatives of the fighters who defended Azovstal plant in Mariupol along with activists called on the global community to declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism at a demonstration on Sofiyska Square in Kyiv on July 30, news agency Interfax-Ukraine reported.
30 July 2022, 07:20 PM 1555
Nation

Boom, boom! /
South Operational Command reports destruction of two Russian logistics centers in occupied territories

Ukrainian artillery units successfully hit several Russian military targets in the south of the country on July 30, the head of the joint coordinating press center of the Defense Forces of the South of Ukraine, Natalia Humeniuk, said on Ukrainian national television.
30 July 2022, 07:04 PM 1725
Nation

'Complicit in war crimes' /
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry slams call by Russian Embassy in UK to execute POWs

Russian diplomats are accomplices in war crimes in Ukraine and must be held accountable, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleg Nikolenko wrote on Twitter on July 30.
30 July 2022, 06:26 PM 1788
Nation

Being obstructive /
Russian invaders introduce passes for leaving Melitopol

Ukrainians will need to obtain a pass in order to leave Melitopol through the informal border post at the village of Vasylivka starting Aug. 1, the mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fyodorov, said on national TV on July 30.
30 July 2022, 06:02 PM 1673
Nation

Still up in the air /
US already procuring NASAMS air defense systems for Ukraine, says Pentagon, but delivery date unknown

The Pentagon has made progress in procuring NASAMS air defense systems to Ukraine, but has not specified the terms of delivery of these weapons, stated a senior Defense Department official at a briefing on July 29.
30 July 2022, 05:44 PM 7174
Nation

Heinous crimes /
Estonian leader decries mass murder of captured Azov fighters in Olenivka

Russia's war crimes should not go unpunished, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said on Twitter on July 30 following reports of a massacre of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian- occupied Olenivka in Donetsk Oblast.
30 July 2022, 04:26 PM 2574
Nation