Semen Kryvonos, head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), is stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one side, there's mounting pressure on the bureau to deliver results, especially in exposing high-level corruption — including in the secretive and ever-expanding defense sector. On the other hand, Kryvonos must constantly defend his agency from attacks — including from other law enforcement agencies, whose loyalties lie with the president's office. Among them, the all-po

"For example, yesterday's figures, which are roughly average: Russian losses per day are about 1,000 – 500 killed and 500 wounded," President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a meeting with journalists attended by the Kyiv Independent.

As U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, prepare to meet face-to-face in Alaska on Aug. 15, Ukraine is left to watch the talks that could shape its future. "It's not entirely clear what happens next," a source in the President's Office told the Kyiv Independent. "But it's clear that we're about to be a little bit sold out." Earlier in the day, in a closed-door meeting with journalists, attended by the Kyiv Independent, President Volodymyr Zelensky seemed caut

At their meeting next week, U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss a peace plan that would see Ukraine surrendering new territories to Russia. Putin passed the plan to special envoy Steve Witkoff during their meeting in Moscow earlier this week. The plan would see Kyiv withdraw its troops from two of the partly occupied Ukrainian regions — Donetsk and Luhansk, according to a source in Ukraine's President's Office, who was part of the team briefed on the d

As Trump’s deadline for additional sanctions on Russia looms, Robert Person, a professor of international relations specializing in Russian and post-Soviet politics, discusses why Russian President Vladimir Putin is unlikely to end the war against Ukraine in response to the threat — and what might actually motivate him to stop the aggression.

President Volodymyr Zelensky's sudden move to strip the country's anti-corruption infrastructure of its independence stunned the European Union. Even as the Ukrainian authorities now attempt to reverse the controversial move that faced a harsh backlash from the EU and the wider public, the damage to Kyiv's potential accession to the union has already been done, experts say. Two days after hastily signing a controversial bill that subordinates the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the

Member of Zelensky’s Servant of the People faction, Anastasia Radina, discusses signing of controversial bill impacting Ukraine's anti-corruption institutions.

Ukraine faced a watershed moment on July 22 as parliament passed, and the president signed, a bill that effectively eliminates the independence of the country's anti-corruption institutions. The bill will subordinate the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) to the prosecutor general. Activists and opposition lawmakers say that this will make it impossible for the anti-corruption agencies to investigate top incumbent officials without

The Kyiv Independent's Deputy Chief Editor Oleksiy Sorokin spoke with Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa during her visit to Kyiv on July 15, following U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of his deal with NATO to arm Ukraine and his threat to impose severe sanctions on Russia if it doesn't reach a peace deal with Ukraine within the next 50 days.

Oksana Markarova has held the post since April 2021, and played a central role in coordinating U.S. military and financial support during the early phases of Russia's full-scale invasion.

The Kyiv Independent’s Oleksiy Sorokin sat down with Eivind Vad Petersson, state secretary to the Norwegian foreign minister and co-chair of the joint Norwegian-Ukrainian Working Group on Nuclear Safety and Security.

"Both teams are working to ensure we meet," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

A source in the President's Office told the Kyiv Independent that Trump and Zelensky spoke twice on May 19 — once before the scheduled call with Putin and again after it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin may have gotten more than he bargained for when, on May 11, he rejected calls for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire and invited Ukraine to engage in direct talks in Istanbul later this week. In what may have been a surprise for the Russian leader, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded by accepting the invitation, saying he was ready to meet Putin in Turkey on May 15. "This is not what Putin was expecting," Oleksandr Merezhko, a Ukrainian lawmaker and

"We are ready for all options. But of course, we are separately waiting for a response on the ceasefire," a source close to President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Kyiv Independent.