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Film review: terror trips (2021).

Janel Spiegel 07/20/2022 Film Reviews

Six friends start a business, providing guided tours to the shooting locations of the world’s most famous horror films, until they find the one spot where the horror is real .

Terror Trips was directed and written by Jeff Seeman ( Haunt, Wrong Turn ). Terror Trips is the first film directed and written by Jeff Seeman.

I love horror movies and I love locations. I think when you watch a film, there are moments when houses, buildings, bridges, and more become essential characters within a film. The legendary apartment building from Rosemary’s Baby , The Amityville Horror house. I could go on and on. You get the point.

Jeff Seeman takes us on an adventure using iconic horror locations.

The film opens with a group of friends. We meet Dan (Mike Blaney) and his friends, Ginny portrayed by Hanna Fierman ( V/H/S, The Unwanted ), Ed portrayed by L.C. Holt ( You’re Next, V/H/S/2 ), Chaney Morrow playing Eli, Molly (Roni Locke), and the new business partner, George (Abigail Esmena).

We get a bit of a sneak preview of places the group visited before the terrifying trip to Poland.

Dan and friends visited, The Waldorf Estate of Fear from the film Hell House, LLC. (The owner Angie is amazing. If you are ever in Pennsylvania, go visit The Waldorf Estate of Fear.)

They head to the legendary, Monroeville Mall in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, and Burkittsville, Maryland, “while scouting a movie location for their business, Terror Trips.”

Before the journey, the friends decide to watch two classic films, Black Volga/Czarna Wolga (1973), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). I love when Leatherface is appreciated. He never gets enough appreciation. Ginny seems a little freaked out by movie. Dan and George tell them why they watched Black Volga. Dan and George are expanding.

They head to Poland to explore where Black Volga was filmed. We meet the “local guy” that George has been emailing. It turns out it’s Aleksandra (Kate Kiddo). (DON’T GO IN THE GARAGE!) Aleksandra heeds a warning to the group. She advises they tell no one why they’re in Poland. I don’t trust Aleksandra either. (You rock Kate Kiddo, I just don’t trust the character.)

The group makes a decision, and they want to leave. They do the campfire chat and they are looking forward to the next location.

Terror Trips is a fresh take on something that doesn’t always get enough appreciation. I love film locations and horror locations in general. It’s amazing to go and see the place where a movie was filmed or even something historical happened.

I visited The Waldorf Estate of Fear to meet with Angie, the owner for an interview. She was so excited and her energy was contagious while talking about this incredible location.

You can see the houses, the buildings, locations, and everything that helped make that movie fascinating. When I think about certain films like, Rosemary’s Baby, I think about the apartment building. That beautiful, unforgettable building.

I think about movies like Scream and why Wes Craven used the places he used, Friday the 13 th with the camp that everyone loves to visit.

The group decides to haul ass and leave Poland but Dan disappears. Well, Hostel is that you? We meet Katarina (Iryna Scarola) and her not-so-nice group. It gets brutal. The group decides to split up and search for Dan so they can leave.

Molly decides to go out on her own, and well this doesn’t go well for Molly. Why the Achilles tendon. OH. Katarina has her people out looking for the rest of the group. Ginny is pissed and she decides to go and get the keys herself.

Aleksandra catches Ginny and Eli in her garage. She offers to help them. Aleksandra calls security which is just more of Katarina’s people. Ludwig (Ashton Rogers) shows up. Anna (Carol Ann Van Natten) is sort of the enforcer and she gives Aleksandra shit for taunting Ginny and Eli. You know, making it harder to kidnap them.

Will there be a Sydney Prescott in Terror Trips? I’m rooting for George and Ginny but it’s not looking too good for anyone right now. This is scary because there are so many good people in the world but also there are scary horrible people.

Terror Trips is a reminder that films like Hostel, Saw, Wolf Creek, The Hills Have Eyes, The Collector, and Wrong Turn are films that had frightening reminders of what “humanity” is capable of.

It’s so nice to see women kicking ass in a horror film. No offense at all to the gentlemen. Even, Anna, she is the John Kramer/Jigsaw. People sometimes forget what bad asses’ women can be.

Ginny figures out the cell phone speech was bullshit and she calls for help. The police show up, at least I think they are police. Now you will have to watch the entire movie. It’s filled with awesomeness so watch it.

Did Anna just DEXTER him?

It’s nice to watch a film with actors that are part of the horror world and part of the real horror community. They have an appreciation for horror.

Check out TERROR TRIPS

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Terror Trips

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Rent Terror Trips on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

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Cast & crew.

Jeff Seemann

Hannah Fierman

Damian Maffei

Lucas A. Ferrara

Chaney Morrow

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‘Terror Trips’ Review

Stars: Hannah Fierman, Damian Maffei, Chaney Morrow, L.C. Holt, Abigail Esmena Froehle | Written and Directed by Jeff Seemann

Six friends start a business providing guided tours to the shooting locations of the world’s most famous horror films, until they discover the one spot where the terror is real.

The saddest thing about Jeff Seemann‘s Terror Trips is that it’s easy to tell it was entirely made from a place of love for the horror genre. There is so much heart, soul, passion, and care injected into the film to the point where it’s legitimately upsetting knowing what unfolds throughout the course of the movie.

Long story short, Terror Trips is one of the most boring and uneventful horror films of the year. It runs at an extremely brisk eighty-seven minutes including credits, and yet so much of the film focuses on this young group of friends travelling around to various filming locations.

It’s part of the movie’s story, but they drag it on for far too long. It takes about forty minutes or more for something remotely “creepy” to happen in the script. It’s interesting to see what unfolds throughout the last stretch of the film, but it’s impossible to shake the feeling that it’s all too little too late.

This film definitely would have benefited from a higher budget as well, because so much of the film looks as though they had to skimp on some genuinely important elements. This is a slasher film, and yet whenever somebody dies, it’s always off-camera.

Sometimes, off-camera kills can be effective, but other times, it’s difficult to brush it off because after all, we’re watching a horror movie. We want to see these kills with our own two eyes. The film definitely would have been ten times more entertaining had the filmmakers secured the proper budget that would have allowed them to show some legitimately brutal kills.

The villains in the film are actually quite believable and realistic for the most part, despite the fact that they don’t really do a whole lot. They’re not shown too often, but when they are, they can be quite effective. The main group of friends are all likeable people as well.

And, amazingly, they’re all smart. There are few things more annoying in horror films than a group of characters who make the dumbest decisions imaginable. Here, that’s not the case. In fact, one truly brilliant part about this film’s script is that, oftentimes we will see somebody make a smart decision, and quote a horror film to show that they’re not dumb.

There’s one incredible scene in which one of the many villains lay supposedly dead on the ground. But, for one of our protagonists, that’s not enough to convince him they’re actually dead. He pulls out a scalpel and stabs them right in the neck, before saying “Zombieland, rule number two. Double tap.”

Terror Trips had the potential to be a brilliant and engaging horror film, but it instead falls flat due to a majorly boring script that waits far too long to get to the nitty-gritty.

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Terror Trips

Cast & crew.

Hannah Fierman

Damian Maffei

Lucas A. Ferrara

Chaney Morrow

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‘Terror Trips’ Trailer – Take a Tour of the World’s Most Famous Horror Film

Independent distributor Mutiny Pictures has shared with Bloody a first look at the art and trailer for writer/director Jeff Seemann’ s tourist horror film Terror Trips .

In the film…

“Six friends start a business, providing guided tours to the shooting locations of the world’s most famous horror films, until they find the one spot where the horror is real.”

Terror Trips features V/H/S favorite Hannah Fierman alongside Abigail Esmena ( Hard Kill, Don’t Tell a Soul ), Chaney Morrow ( Wrong Turn, Haunt ), Roni Locke ( Ohio 10, Wrong Turn ) and Damien Maffei ( The Strangers: Prey At Night, Haunt ).

“ Terror Trips is what happens if you take horror fans and put them in Eli Roth’s Hostel ,” says Jonathan Barkan, Mutiny Pictures’ Head of Acquisitions.

The film was written and directed by Jeff Seemann with Hannabelle Farrell, Damian Maffei, and Felissa Rose as producers. It played this year’s Cine-Excess festival in Birmingham, UK as well as Columbus, OH’s Nightmares Film Festival.

Book your trip for June 14th, 2022 .

Horror movie fanatic who co-founded Bloody Disgusting in 2001. Producer on Southbound, V/H/S/2/3/94, SiREN, Under the Bed, and A Horrible Way to Die. Chicago-based. Horror, pizza and basketball connoisseur. Taco Bell daily. Franchise favs: Hellraiser, Child's Play, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Scream and Friday the 13th. Horror 365 days a year.

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Terror trips.

Directed by Jeff Seemann

Your nightmare is our business

Six friends start a business providing guided tours to the shooting locations of the world's most famous horror films, until they discover the one spot where the terror is real.

Hannah Fierman Damian Maffei Chaney Morrow L.C. Holt Abigail Esmena Froehle Mike Blaney Kate Kiddo Carol Ann Van Natten Roni Locke

Director Director

Jeff Seemann

Writer Writer

Cinematography cinematography.

Chance Madison

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Hannabelle Farrell Karen Burke Gareth Morgan

LRB Productions, LLC

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

English Polish Russian

Alternative Titles

恐怖之旅, Kabusa Yolculuk

Thriller Horror

Releases by Date

16 jul 2021, 14 jun 2022, 05 jul 2024, releases by country.

• Premiere Mutant Film Festival

87 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by haley ★ 1

this starts off bad and somehow keeps getting worse as it goes on. it's about a group of friends who start their own business where they give tours of famous horror movie locations. some examples are camp crystal lake from friday the 13th , the abaddon hotel from hell house llc , and a few others. i'm so confused by their planning for this business because instead of trying to get it all started right away, they only visit one location a year over the course of four years. would it not be smarter to scout all of these locations as quickly as possible so that you can actually get your business started? maybe i missed something, but that sounds like poor…

Review by kaero the unseen ★★

A group of young adults start a business based on creating attractions about filming locations from famous horror movies.  While scouting a new location for Terror Trips, it turns into their own personal terror trip.  This sounds great BUT in reality we get to see some travel photos/videos for a few minutes and the rest of the film is set at one rural location.  And it’s kind of boring. There’s a lot of focus on dialogue in general. This multilingual film also includes a short cameo from Hector (Hell House LLC). It starts off seeming like it might be okay, but quickly turns into a predictable dilemma about camping in a foreign country. The actors did fine, I think for me it falls flat at the script itself for me. Low on practical effects. Meh.

Review by Travis Lytle ★★

If it were not for its dubious performances, flimsy production value, and entirely-to-predictable final three quarters, "Terror Trips" would almost land as something watchable. The set-up is sound: a handful of friends form a business involving horror film shooting locations. Premise moves to plot, however, and the energy of the opening stretch is quashed by cliche. The overly recognizable story beats, along with the film's other issues, easily overwhelm the work's highlights, and any committed strengths are quickly forgotten.

Review by Dustin Baker ★½

Starts off immediately with my biggest pet peeve in films now, where it just parades how much of fanboys the filmmakers are like they're the coolest for knowing the big names of Horror Films 10-fucking-1 that every goddamn person knows and spends an inordinate amount of time waxing on about it, before another 80 minutes of a movie that has fuck all to do with it. Whatever parade of annoyance this begins with, chuck it out the goddamn window because we're in store for yet another half-assed TCM/organ harvesting bit of tedium that joins 200 other films this year. It has no style or grace or savvy for effects or even a fucking coherent ending. Just people (that I can't…

Review by Matt Crosby ★

Not exactly the type of indie horror movie that’s groundbreaking or influential, but I do like the idea of vacations dedicated to visiting places where movies were filmed.

Review by D Edward ★

I don’t really wanna be that guy, but this movie unfortunately did very little for me. What bugged me most is how it sets up a premise that showers love on horror classics like The Blair Witch Project and Dawn of the Dead , only to evolve into a thriller plot that isn’t all that thrilling. The movie opens with these references as the main characters are guinea pigs for a new business that goes to real-life locations where films were shot. The opening credits highlight some of these visits, and while at times it reminds me of The Houses October Built 2 where it feels the filmmakers are saying “look how much fun we’re having”, the movie handles it better…

Review by NicoleIsWeird 2

everyone says this starts off really good. i gotta tell you, i only saw the first quarter or so of the movie before going to sleep, and it baffles me how anyone could say this movie started off good, lol. the only thing i can think of is people who make/watch youtube horror bro bullshit felt seen for about ten minutes. awful, and a waste of a good poster/title sequence, neither of which even remotely fit the vibe of the movie.

Review by FilmFan1970 🎞 🔪 🪓 🔥🌩🧨🔍🔦🪦 ★

PRIME VIDEO 🖥

Loved the sound of this but fell asleep as so dull, it started very badly with some terrible acting and dialogue, the idea of tours to Horror film locations and one is a place that real horror happens to them us great, and the fact its in a foreign country (poland) makes it even better but tje fact they only do a few locations a year is a bad business to me and expanding it to Europe and taking the four friends for free is mind bending (a tax rite off) the film location is from a underground old Polish film (handy that) it gets even worse, turns into a hostel style film without the gore, (nearly…

Review by Chris ★½

I give credit to actor Abi Esmena, who gives an incredibly watchable performance, editor Jim Bailey, who admirably pieces this together with what he's given, and the makeup team led by Jason Ervin and Cheyenne Wright, who provide some good gore effects.

Unfortunately, the script is very dysfunctional, while director Jeff Seemann seemed overmatched.

The script's structure is off: the movie starts with a prologue that brings a team together to go on "terror trips," which is touring real life places where famous horror scenes were shot (e.g. the actual Camp Crystal Lake, the actual Dawn of the Dead mall, etc.). This seems highly promising, as we're going to get a funny, campy, potentially scary road trip movie through a…

Review by Rui Ozpinhead ★

In less than two minutes I knew this was a bad choice. Terrible writing and the performances to match. As the film progressed it just confirmed my initial impression. This was annoyingly bad from start to finish. Do yourself a favor and don't go on this terror trip.

Review by melinda_belinda ½

I never would have guessed how much Poland looks exactly like Ohio.

Review by evildeadthing ★★

Hostel with crippling budgetary constraints and a lot more boredom.

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Terror Trips: A Horror Movie That Misses the Mark and Leaves Viewers Cringing

As a seasoned horror movie enthusiast, I can appreciate the desire to explore new and innovative ways to enjoy the genre. However, Terror Trips is a prime example of a concept that falls flat on its face, leaving viewers questioning its very existence. The film’s lack of acting talent and a weak storyline make it difficult to take seriously, and it ultimately feels like a missed opportunity for a potentially interesting idea.

When Dialogue and Acting Fall Short, the Horror Falters

It’s important to strike a balance between being critical and recognizing when a film is simply too ridiculous to ignore. Terror Trips starts with an intriguing premise: a group of horror enthusiasts embarks on a journey to visit iconic locations from their favorite horror films. However, the execution of this idea is nothing short of cringe-worthy, with the characters’ dialogue and actions often feeling forced and unnatural.

Ignoring Warnings and Common Sense: A Recipe for Disaster

As the group ventures to a foreign town featured in a particularly disturbing film, they’re met with hostility from the locals and warnings to leave. Naturally, they choose to ignore these red flags and continue their ill-fated journey. When one of their own is kidnapped , the group’s situation goes from bad to worse, and their decision-making skills don’t improve.

An Awkward and Overused Plot Twist

Without giving too much away, the film’s ultimate reveal involves organ harvesting, a plot device that has been used countless times before. This twist feels awkward and forced, further detracting from the movie’s credibility as a horror/thriller. The fact that this is the film’s climax only adds to the overall sense of disappointment and leaves viewers wondering if Terror Trips was intended to be a joke .

A Merciful End to a Painful Viewing Experience

When a movie leaves you questioning when it will finally end, it’s safe to say that it has missed the mark. Terror Trips had the potential to be an interesting exploration of horror movie fandom, but its poor execution and lackluster storyline make it a chore to watch. By the time the credits roll, viewers are likely to feel relief rather than satisfaction, and the film’s shortcomings will linger long after the screen goes dark.

A lover of great stories and epic tales, Tom is a fan of old and new-school ideas. As a novelist and a screenwriter, he enjoys promoting one story or another. With 18k+ articles and 40 novels written, Tom knows a little something about storytelling.

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The Big Picture

• The Passenger is a road trip crime film that delves deeper than just a surface-level story of violence and escapism.
• The main characters, Benson and Randy, both carry their own traumas and pasts that control their actions.
• This film blends elements of suspense, horror, and character study, offering a unique and thought-provoking journey.

Over the years, Kyle Gallner has quietly turned himself into one of Hollywood's leading scream kings . You may have first met him in the 2009 double horror wallop of The Haunting in Connecticut and Jennifer's Body . He was one of the stars of the much-maligned A Nightmare on Elm Street reboot in 2010, which is so much better than the hate it gets , and lived to sleep another day. In the past few years, he battled Ghostface ( it didn't go so well ) in 2022's Scream and was one of the heroes in Smile .

In 2023, with The Passenger , Gallner didn't battle a man with knives for fingers, a killer in a mask, or some incomprehensible force. Instead, his character, Benson, battles himself following a mass murder spree. After kidnapping a witness along with a timid young man named Randy, played by an equally impressive Johnny Berchtold ( Dog Gone ), the unlikely pair flee the scene of the crime in a road trip film that never leaves the town they're in . It's not the cops they're ultimately running away from, but themselves. By going nowhere, Benson and Randy go everywhere.

The Passenger (2023)

A man is forced to face his fears and confront his troubled past. He must find a way to survive when his co-worker snaps and goes on a violent killing spree.

'The Passenger' Deceives You By Presenting Itself as a Traditional Road Trip Crime Film

If you watch the trailer for The Passenger , you might think you have it all figured out. It focuses mostly on Benson (Kyle Gallner's) with his chilling voice heard throughout and is immersed in violent shots. Without giving more away than what the trailer shows, Benson commits mass murder at a fast food restaurant where he works with Randy ( Johnny Berchtold ). After letting Randy live, we see several other scenes with Benson pointing a gun, and then punching a man repeatedly in a parking lot. Benson and Randy are then in a car driving along barren fields as cop cars fly by blaring their sirens. When Randy asks Benson why he's doing this, his kidnapper tells Randy that he finds him pathetic and it bugs him. He also finds his victim fixable , telling him, "When you were standing there, watching me, waiting for me to kill you, that was the only thing I believed." Benson wants to help Randy for his own good, but he needs him to stay out of his way.

At first glance, The Passenger looks like something we've seen before. Road trip crime movies are almost their own subgenre. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway perfected it in 1967 with Bonnie and Clyde . Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon gave us a more fun, but equally tragic version of this type of story in 1991's Thelma & Louise . Oliver Stone 's Natural Born Killers in 1994 had Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis on the run in a film as bleak as it gets. Just a year before, Lewis was in a similar film with Brad Pitt called Kalifornia .

Kyle Gallner Is Our Modern Scream King

He's been the hero, the villain, and everything in between.

On the surface, The Passenger seems to match its peers : a guy commits a crime, the criminal takes a victim hostage, the criminal flees and commits more crimes. The victim prevails; the end. Sure, some of that is accurate, but The Passenger is so much more than its predecessors. For example, it breaks the mold in a moment of peril when Benson takes Randy hostage and flees. As he's talking about how far away he can get before the cops find the crime scene, the truth is that he never actually leaves the city at all.

Randy Isn't Just a Helpless Passenger to a Madman

One of the trailer taglines for the movie is "Confront your past to survive the present." Read into that, and you'll see that The Passenger goes deeper than a surface-level movie about a violent road trip . Even further to the point, the tagline on the poster is "Ride. Or die." So what does that mean to the audience and the deeper context of the movie?

Berchtold's Randolph "Randy" Bradley is presented as our probable hero , but he's not even the hero of his own life before Benson screws it all up. He is a timid young man, quiet and soft-spoken. He's lived in the same town his entire life, and despite being really smart, has done nothing with his existence . He works in fast food, and while that's fine, we can see that he's capable of so much more. His manager sees it too. He wants Randy to think about being a manager at another location, and although that seems doable enough, for someone like Randy, we can tell that this is nearly impossible for him to comprehend.

Randy is meek because of his past. He did something bad as a child, and unable to move past the guilt that plays the event in his head relentlessly, he lets that trauma consume him . It's not hard to see that The Passenger has a double meaning . When Randy is bullied at work, causing another quiet co-worker, Benson, to snap and shoot everyone dead, he becomes an actual passenger to his hostage taker. However, the deeper context of Randy's character is that he was already a passenger to his mind. If he doesn't learn from the past, take hold of the wheel of his life, and stop being a passenger, he will die.

Benson Isn't Your Typical Killer in Control in 'The Passenger'

That's already clever enough, and though Randy is timid and not a take-charge type, we root for him, especially as we learn what happened in his past. Beneath that pain is a good person struggling to be set free. The Passenger could have just settled for that and made Benson a cookie-cutter bad guy who forces Randy to take charge of his life and save himself , but there is so much more going on than that. Benson has his pain too. He's not a simple stereotype, but another person controlled by his trauma. He's also a passenger but in a different way. Whereas Randy goes inward, Benson lashes out.

The road trip Benson and Randy take isn't what you're used to. It's not about a flight from a scene, being chased down by the police. It's about a flight from the past as it screams toward you, nipping at your heels. That doesn't mean The Passenge r is only a character study where the road trip is in one's mind. There is much violence to be found. Blood is shed. People die. The cinematography is so grim and Benson is so scary in his actions that The Passenger borders on being a horror film .

The Passenger is everything you've come to expect from the genre but blended and served up in a way you've never tasted. The flight from the past can be more chaotic and suspenseful than any of the typical police chases or two characters driving off a cliff. Viewers can certainly go into it with expectations but be prepared to be a passenger for a ride that makes you think as much as it makes you clench your seat.

The Passenger is available to watch on Amazon Prime.

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Ukraine war latest: Belarus deploys extra air defence forces to border; 10 Ukrainian prisoners freed with Vatican's help

Ten Ukrainian civilians who had been imprisoned in Russia for years have been released after mediation from the Vatican. Overnight, five people were killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on a Russian village. Listen to a Sky News podcast on Putin and North Korea while you scroll.

Saturday 29 June 2024 18:05, UK

• Five killed, including two children, in Ukrainian strike on Russian village
• Ten Ukrainians imprisoned in Russia freed after Vatican mediation
• Belarus deploys additional air defence forces to Ukraine border
• Your questions answered : Has the West been honest about Ukraine's failures?
• Listen to the Daily above and tap here to follow wherever you get your podcasts

Ask a question or make a comment

We're pausing our live coverage for now. 

You can scroll below to catch up on the latest developments, and we'll be back with our regular coverage tomorrow. 

Six people have been killed in a Russian attack on a small town in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, a Ukrainian official has said. 

A further eight people have been injured, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said. 

Infrastructure, a shop and residential buildings in Vilniansk have also been damaged, he added. 

The strike comes after five people were killed in the Kursk region of Russian due to a Ukrainian drone attack. 

Two young children were also injured in the strike on the village of Gorodishche, around 73 miles (118km) from the Ukrainian border, Kursk governor Alexey Smirnov said. 

Two other people were injured and were in a "serious condition" in hospital, he added. 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met one of the men released from Russian captivity earlier today. 

The Ukrainian president met Nariman Dzhelyal who was successfully returned home after three years in captivity. 

"We will bring security to all our people and peace to Ukraine. I thank everyone who is helping. I thank Nariman for this meeting and for his strength," Mr Zelenskyy said. 

Mr Dzhelyal was detained in Crimea in 2021 while serving as the first deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People. 

During his imprisonment, he sent several letters, Mr Zelenskyy said. 

He added that in one of them he wrote: "We are fighting not only for the integrity of our territories but also for the unity of our society, our beautiful, strong nation." 

US officials told Reuters news agency late last night that the Biden administration would provide Ukraine with $150m (£118.6m) worth of weapons and ammunition, including HAWK air defence interceptors and 155 millimetre artillery munitions.

The weapons aid package is expected be unveiled on Monday, the officials said.

Ukraine has urgently requested air defence support as Russia has pounded its energy facilities in recent weeks via aerial attacks. 

The US began shipping HAWK interceptor missiles to Ukraine in 2022 as an upgrade to the shoulder-launched Stinger air defence missile systems - a smaller, shorter-range system. 

The support package will include other munitions and equipment to support Ukraine's defence needs, the officials added. 

The US has provided Ukraine with more than $50bn (£39.5bn) in military aid since 2022. 

We reported earlier on the 10 Ukrainian civilians who were released from Russian captivity earlier today after years of imprisonment (see 8.49am post). 

Watch them reunite with their loved ones in Kyiv's international airport in newly released footage.

A report by the Ukrainian military's centre for strategic communications has found that the country's forces have damaged or destroyed more than 30 Russian military aircraft in the first six months of 2024. 

Most of the strikes against the aircraft have taken place in occupied Ukraine except for a handful of strikes over the Sea of Azov and within Russia, the centre said, as reported by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). 

The centre did not specify what portion of these Ukrainian strikes were air defence interceptions of Russian aircraft in flight and what percentage were strikes against Russian aircraft at airfields. 

The ISW said they were unable to verify the report.

But it said the downing of Russian aircraft, especially critical aircraft like the A-50 and Il-22, has temporarily constrained Russian aviation activities over occupied Ukraine, but added Ukrainian forces "have yet to be able to significantly attempt to contest the air domain".

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has revealed that Russian strikes have resulted in Ukraine losing around 80% of its thermal power and one third of its hydroelectric power.

Discussing the attack in Dnipro, Mr Zelenskyy said it was a reminder to Ukraine's allies that the country needed more air defence systems. 

He said: "This is why we constantly remind all of our partners: only a sufficient amount of high quality of air defence systems, only a sufficient amount of determination from the world at large can stop Russian terror."

Kyiv has also struck back at Russia with its own attacks, which also often target energy infrastructure.

Belarus has deployed additional air defence forces to its border with Ukraine to protect "critical infrastructure facilities" due to increased Ukrainian drone activity, a Belarusian military commander has said.

Belarus, an ally of Russia, said earlier this week it had shot down a quadcopter that had illegally crossed the border from Ukraine "to collect information about the Belarusian border infrastructure". 

The situation in the airspace over the border remains tense, Andrei Severinchik, commander of the Belarusian Air Defence Forces, said. 

"We are ready to decisively use all available forces and means to protect our territory and the population of the Republic of Belarus from possible provocations in the airspace," he said. 

Belarus' defence ministry said earlier today it had information showing Ukraine had been moving more troops, weapons and military equipment to the northern Zhytomyr region, which borders Belarus. 

There was no immediate response from Ukraine. 

Russian elites and oligarchs have reportedly moved from criticising the country's war effort in Ukraine to supporting it, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has reported.

Mikhail Zygar, the founder of the Russian opposition television channel TV Rain, reported that many elites who were opposed to the war in 2022 started to support the war in 2023 because they "believe Russia is prevailing".

Mr Zygar said these people made this assessment due to Russia's slow but steady battlefield gains, a persisting Ukrainian munitions disadvantage, and perceived "waning" Western security assistance to Ukraine.

One anonymous Russian oligarch who previously criticised the war reportedly told Mr Zygar that Russia must win the war otherwise "they won't allow us to live... and Russia would collapse".

The ISW said it cannot independently verify Mr Zygar's reporting but it is consistent with the institute's assessment that this section of Russian society came to heel behind Vladimir Putin in support of the war after his government intensified crackdowns against elites in the wake of the 2022 invasion. 

As Russia announces it has captured a second village in 24 hours (see 12.26pm post), let's take a look at where Russia has advanced along the frontline with Ukraine. 

As well as pockets of advances on the border north of Kharkiv, Russia appears to have captured areas along the length of the front, from the Donetsk region right up to the western edge of Luhansk.

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