EXHIBIT 99

275 West Federal Street

Youngstown, Ohio 44503-1203

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

UCFC ANNOUNCES RECORD EARNINGS

AND A DIVIDEND INCREASE

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (July 19, 2016) – United Community Financial Corp. (Company) (Nasdaq: UCFC), parent company of The Home Savings and Loan Company (Home Savings), announced today that net income for the quarter ended June 30, 2016, was $5.3 million, up 29.2% from the $4.1 million reported for the quarter ended June 30, 2015. Second quarter diluted earnings per share increased 33.3% to $0.112 from $0.084 reported at the same time last year. Net income for the six months ended June 30, 2016 totaled $8.7 million, up 10.7% from the $7.8 million reported for the six months ended June 30, 2015. For the same time period, diluted earnings per share increased to $0.182, up 14.5% from the $0.159 per share previously reported.

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Gary M. Small, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, commented, “I am very proud of the team’s accomplishments during a very challenging period. Regardless of the somewhat unfavorable rate environment facing the industry, we have managed to stay on our growth track in each business group. Year over year, loan growth is up 15%, revenue is up over 10%, and margin is improving while expenses remain relatively flat.” Small continued, “Home Savings has developed a more diverse business model over the past 24 months. We are benefiting from those efforts today and we are better positioned to continue to deliver strong performance in the less certain times ahead.”

Balance Sheet Highlights

Total Loans

Total loans, including loans held for sale, increased $182.4 million, or 14.5% to $1.4 billion at June 30, 2016, compared to June 30, 2015, and 13.3% on an annualized basis through the second quarter compared to December 31, 2015. This positive growth is being driven primarily by the commercial loan portfolio. Commercial loan production of $145.4 million for the first six months was approximately 30% higher than the first six months of 2015, while commercial loan balances grew over 39% during the same time period and 18.3% for the first six months of 2016. Unfunded commercial loan commitments grew by 35% during the first six months of 2016.

Residential loans, including residential loans held for sale, grew as planned at a measured pace, increasing $48.1 million, or 6.2%, at June 30, 2016 compared to June 30, 2015. During the same time period, residential loan production grew by 26.2%, when comparing the second quarter of 2016 to the same time period in the previous year. Pipeline levels remain strong at the end of the second quarter.

Total Deposits

Total deposits increased $16.5 million, or 1.1% to $1.5 billion at June 30, 2016, compared to June 30, 2015, and 2.8% on an annualized basis during the first six months of 2016 compared to December 31, 2015. The Company continues to see improvement in growing public funds, which grew $38.3 million, or 46.0%, to $121.7 million at June 30, 2016, compared to $83.4 million at June 30, 2015. Noninterest bearing checking accounts grew $29.9 million, or 14.5% at June 30, 2016, compared to June 30, 2015. Furthermore, the Company has seen an increase in business deposits of $13.9 million, or 11.7%, during the first half of the year. During the quarter, as planned, the Company allowed high-cost certificates of deposit to roll off, causing a reduction in certificates of deposit of $9.7 million. As the deposit base changes, the Company has realized the benefit of lowering its overall cost of deposits to 41 basis points for the three months ended June 30, 2016.

Second Quarter and Year-to-date Results

Net Interest Income and Margin

Net interest income on a fully taxable equivalent basis was $15.5 million in the second quarter of 2016, up 12.0% from the $13.9 million recorded in the second quarter of 2015. The improvement in net interest income was primarily due to the growth in average net loan balances and a decline in funding costs, quarter versus quarter. Net interest income on a fully taxable equivalent basis was $30.5 million in the first half of 2016, up 10% from the $27.7 million recorded in the first half of 2015.

Net interest margin was 3.25% for the second quarter of 2016, an increase from 3.16% reported in the second quarter of 2015. This increase was due to the prepayment of high cost debt at the end of 2015 and the repricing of higher cost certificates of deposit during the quarter.

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Net interest margin was 3.23% for the first six months of 2016, an increase from 3.20% reported in the first six months of 2015. The Company is taking steps to mitigate the impact of the current challenging interest rate environment experienced by the Company and industry as a whole.

Provision for Loan Losses

The Company recognized a provision for loan losses expense of $395,000 in the second quarter of 2016 compared to an expense of $2.2 million in the first quarter of 2016. Net chargeoffs for the quarter totaled four basis points. The first quarter included the impact of the chargeoff of a long-held commercial real estate loan.

The Company recognized a provision for loan losses expense of $2.6 million in the first six months of 2016 compared to an expense of $569,000 in the comparable period of 2015.

Non-Interest Income

Non-interest income was $5.8 million in the second quarter of 2016 compared to $5.3 million in the second quarter of 2015. Favorably impacting the change was the benefit of insurance agency income of $516,000 coupled with a 21.1% increase in debit/credit card fees along with a 59.7% increase in brokerage income. The Company also recognized security gains of $233,000 in the quarter as the investment portfolio is realigned to include higher-yielding municipal securities. Offsetting these gains were an increase in the valuation adjustment of mortgage servicing rights of $498,000 and, to a lesser extent, a decrease in mortgage banking income of $172,000.

Non-interest income was $10.4 million in the first half of 2016 compared to $9.4 million in the comparable period last year. Positively impacting the comparison was the benefit of insurance agency income totaling $818,000. Also contributing to the change was an increase of 11.7% of deposit related fees along with an increase of 28.9% in brokerage income and a 14.9% increase in debit/credit card fees, for a total of $698,000. The first half also saw security gains totaling $419,000. These increases were partially offset by a $772,000 increase in the valuation adjustment of mortgage servicing rights.

Non-Interest Expense

Non-interest expense was $12.9 million for the second quarter of 2016, which represented an increase of $652,000, or 5.3%, from the second quarter of 2015. Included in this increase were expenses of $307,000 related to the operation of the insurance agency acquired in 2016. The efficiency ratio continues to show improvement at 60.81% for the second quarter of 2016 as compared to 63.40% in the same time period last year.

Non-interest expense was $25.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2016, which represented an increase of $435,000, or 1.7%, from the six months ended June 30, 2015. As in the quarter to quarter comparison, the acquisition of the insurance company and its operating expenses to date of $517,000 positively impacted the current six months. After giving consideration to the new acquisition, non-interest expense was essentially flat, in comparison to the same period last year. The efficiency ratio was 62.34% for the first six months of 2016 compared to 66.64% for the same period last year.

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Pre-tax, Pre-provision Income

Pre-tax, pre-provision income was $8.3 million for the three months ended June 30, 2016, up $1.3 million, or 19.3%, from the $6.9 million recorded for the three months ended June 30, 2015. Pre-tax, pre-provision income was $15.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2016, up $3.1 million, or 25.2%, from the $12.2 million recorded for the six months ended June 30, 2015. Pre-tax, pre-provision income is derived by subtracting provision for loan losses and income tax expense from net income. The Company believes this non-GAAP measure presentation removes volatility that can occur quarter to quarter due to changes in factors used in calculating the provision for loan losses.

Equity

Tangible book value per common share at June 30, 2016 improved to $5.43, as compared to $5.14 at December 31, 2015. Much of this change was due to changes in accumulated other comprehensive income paralleling the drop in long-term interest which resulted in a higher valuation of the Company’s securities portfolio. The Company continues its share repurchase program, repurchasing approximately 1.5 million shares during the first six months of 2016.

Dividend to be Paid

The Board of Directors declared an increase in a quarterly cash dividend of $0.03 per common share payable August 12, 2016 to shareholders of record at the close of business August 1, 2016.

Conference Call

United Community Financial Corp. will host an earnings conference call on Wednesday, July 20, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. ET., to provide an overview of the Company’s second quarter 2016 results and highlights. The conference call may be accessed by calling 1-877-272-7661 ten minutes prior to the start time. Please ask to be joined into the United Community Financial Corp. (UCFC) call. Additionally, a live webcast may be accessed from the Company’s website ir.ucfconline.com. Click on 2nd Quarter 2016 Conference Call on our corporate profile page to join the webcast.

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United Community Financial Corp.

Home Savings is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company and operates retail banking offices and loan production centers in Ohio, western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Additional information on the Company, Home Savings and James & Sons Insurance may be found on the Company’s web site: ir.ucfconline.com.

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When used in this press release, the words or phrases “believes,” “will likely result,” “are expected to,” “will continue,” “is anticipated,” “estimate,” “project”, “will have”, “can expect” or similar expressions are intended to identify “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including changes in economic conditions in the Company’s market area, changes in policies by regulatory agencies, fluctuations in interest rates, demand for loans in the Company’s market area, and competition that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical earnings and those presently anticipated or projected. The Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company advises readers that the factors listed above could affect the Company’s financial performance and could cause the Company’s actual results for future periods to differ materially from any opinions or statements expressed with respect to future periods in any current statements.

The Company does not undertake, and specifically disclaims any obligation, to release publicly the result of any revisions that may be made to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events.

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UNITED COMMUNITY FINANCIAL CORP.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION

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UNITED COMMUNITY FINANCIAL CORP.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

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UNITED COMMUNITY FINANCIAL CORP.

CONSOLIDATED AVERAGE BALANCES

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UNITED COMMUNITY FINANCIAL CORP.

SELECTED FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

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UNITED COMMUNITY FINANCIAL CORP.

SELECTED FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

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UNITED COMMUNITY FINANCIAL CORP.

SELECTED FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

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