VYSHHOROD, Kyiv Oblast – A rocket blast that struck a four-story residential building in Vyshhorod on Nov. 23 was so powerful that it ripped off balconies, leaving the windowless rooms open to the cold November weather. The massive crater in front of the building left no doubt about the intensity of
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told journalists that Russia would ultimately be held accountable for its war crimes during her visit to Kyiv on Nov. 8. She said the U.S. had done everything possible to isolate Russia in the U.N.'s Security Council and General
The Ukrainian government's clampdown on strategic companies owned by oligarchs was swift and unexpected. Invoking special provisions under martial law, the Defense Ministry seized five companies associated with controversial businessmen Ihor Kolomoisky, Kostyantyn Zhevago, Konstantin Grigorishin, and Viacheslav Bohuslaiev. The companies seized include fossil fuel companies Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta, truck
VELYKYI BURLUK, Kharkiv Oblast — War veteran Serhii Chepurnyi recently turned 40. This year, he didn't celebrate his birthday. His hands shaking as he took a cigarette from its pack, Chepurnyi carefully chose his words as he recalled what Russian soldiers did to him when occupying his native village, Velykyi Burluk.
Yuriy Vitrenko's desk, buried in paperwork, leaves little room for doubt – the winter of 2022 will be hard for Ukraine. Naftogaz, Ukraine's energy monopoly, will face an uphill battle to provide enough gas for this year's heating season, CEO Vitrenko told the Kyiv Independent. He said that this will be
Editor’s Note: The Kyiv Independent talked to residents who are still in Russian-occupied Enerhodar and those who recently left but still have family in the city. For their safety, we do not disclose their identities. When Russian soldiers captured Enerhodar, the satellite city of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant
MYKOLAIV – The bunker under the Mykolaiv academic theater was packed, with the last preparations well underway for an evening show 30 kilometers west of the front line. It was a special night. The theater's first film festival since February was about to begin in early August despite yet another night
Estonia has shown unwavering support for Ukraine ever since Russian forces started their all-out invasion in February. And this support has not faltered. Estonia has provided Ukraine with defense assistance worth about 250 million euros – the equivalent of one-third of Estonia's annual defense budget and nearly 1% of its GDP.
War-torn Ukraine relies on its foreign partners to face massive expenditures in the coming year, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at a briefing on Sept. 14, detailing the 2023 budget bill. According to the bill, Ukraine plans to spend $61.4 billion in 2023. Government revenue for the next
The world’s nuclear security is under threat as Russia occupies the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and uses it as a base to launch attacks on Ukraine. The Kyiv Independent explains why this is an unprecedented event and if the Zaporizhzhia plant will become the next Chornobyl.
ODESA – Odesa has always been Ukraine’s prime summer destination. Packed streets, buskers on promenades, and a relentless mass of busy restaurants and bars filled with tourists ready to party until dawn were the regular scenery in the city from early May to late September. But this summer, the loud
MYKOLAIV — Nights are short in the southern embattled city of Mykolaiv. Since Russia took control of neighboring Kherson in early March, Ukraine’s shipbuilding capital has been shelled nonstop. Counting the dead has become a daily routine for Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych. The morning of July 29 was no exception. “About
Anticipating a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the country’s south, Russia is turning the six-reactor Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in occupied Enerhodar into a ticking time bomb. Repeated Russian shelling from within the plant’s territory, causing one of the reactors to shut down, has put the entire complex’s safety
ODESA — After two days of a closely-watched and perilous route from the mine-ridden Odesa port, the Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni ship arrived in Istanbul on Aug. 3. The vessel carrying Ukrainian grain was the first ship to leave the city since Russia began its sea blockade in February. The ship’s
Early in the morning on July 31, a leading figure in Ukraine’s agribusiness, tycoon Oleksiy Vadaturskyi, and his wife Raisa Vadaturska were killed by a Russian strike that hit their home in the southern city of Mykolaiv. The 74-year-old businessman was the founder of Nibulon, one of Ukraine’s
MYKOLAIV — Russia continues to bombard residential areas of Mykolaiv, Ukraine’s major shipbuilding city 50 kilometers west of the front line. At 9.45 a.m., on July 29, Russian cluster munition killed at least five people and injured at least seven more. Those killed and injured were standing in
A UAE-linked company announced a $122 million investment project to build a terminal to store liquified natural gas (LNG) in Ukraine on July 18. The message raised eyebrows within the expert community, as a multimillion-dollar project near the front line doesn’t appear possible, nor does it appear to even
Ukraine’s richest man doesn’t want to be called an oligarch anymore. For that, he’s ready to publicly distance himself from politics and relinquish his sway over the domestic media market. Rinat Akhmetov, who owns System Capital Management (SCM), the country’s largest holding and the bulk of
The Kyiv Independent joined forces with journalists Frédéric Ploquin and Maria Poblete to publish “The Kyiv Independent: Diary of Ukrainian Resistance” ("Carnet de bord de la résistance ukrainienne"), a first-hand account of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. In the book, the Kyiv Independent newsroom recounts reporting on Russia's preparations
A massive fire broke out on June 22 at the Novoshakhtinsk Oil Refinery in Rostov Oblast in what appeared to be a drone attack. According to Russia, the attack was carried out by Ukraine. Russian regional authorities said the fragments of two drones were found on the plant's territory. A
“C’mon, this way,” Serhiy Zhadan said, climbing the stairs of Kharkiv’s Puppet Theater. We follow the writer’s black cigarette jeans and iconic leather jacket through a maze of corridors, almost running after his lean silhouette deep into the cool darkness of empty seats. Every theater dreams of
Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff, a 32-year-old French journalist, was killed by shrapnel on May 30 while covering the evacuation of civilians on the road to Lysychansk, near Sievierodonetsk, in eastern Luhansk Oblast. According to Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk Oblast, Russian forces shelled an armored evacuation vehicle that carried civilians, killing
Ukrainian football legend Andriy Shevchenko didn’t think twice when he learned that President Volodymyr Zelensky wanted him to become the first ambassador of UNITED24, a platform dedicated to collecting charitable funds in support of Ukraine. He was ready to accept new responsibilities on the spot. “I said yes because
While the outside world was commemorating the end of World War II, Ilya Samoilenko, a 27-year-old officer of the Azov regiment, was speaking online to the press from the basement of Azovstal. “We feel abandoned,” said Samoilenko from the last Ukrainian stronghold of Mariupol, a city with a pre-war population
MAKARIV, Kyiv Oblast – Life is timidly reappearing in the half-destroyed town of Makariv. A dozen women in headscarves and rolled-up sleeves clean up the street, armed with brooms, against the apocalyptic backdrop. Not far, one of them is crying on her husband's shoulder. Ripped-open buildings and craters are everywhere, the
At least two Russian missiles hit a military facility and a residential building in the southern city of Odesa on April 23, killing at least eight people, including a three-month-old baby, and injuring at least 18 people. One of the victims burned in his car parked near the building that
“Saint Javelin” became a rallying sign of Ukraine’s resistance since Russia invaded on Feb. 24. An Orthodox Madonna clad in green and cradling a Javelin anti-tank missile, the viral meme found a new use in the hands of Christian Borys, a Toronto marketer who was a journalist in Ukraine
Russia lost 14 planes, 8 helicopters, 102 tanks, 536 BBM, 15 heavy machine guns, and 1 BUK missile since Feb. 24, according to Ukraine's military. The Kremlin also lost over 3,500 soldiers, Ukraine’s Armed Forces said on Feb. 26. Nearly 200 service members have been kept hostage. Russia
Ukraine has declared a state of emergency in all of Ukraine except for eastern Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts starting on Feb. 24. The parliament approved the decree introduced by President Volodymyr Zelensky on Feb. 23, as the threat of Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine continues to grow. Donetsk and Luhansk
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered to send troops into the Kremlin-occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk, in eastern Ukraine, after officially recognizing them as independent states. According to the decree signed by Putin on Feb. 21, the Kremlin has recognized the independence of the Russian-occupied Donbas and has ordered the
President Volodymyr Zelensky called upon the West to stand by Ukraine as Russia threatens to further invade it, in an emotional address to the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 19. He criticized the ambivalent attitude of countries who stay silent, saying those who don’t stand by Ukraine should “think
Denis Pushilin, leader of the Kremlin’s proxies in Donetsk Oblast, and Leonid Pasechnik, leader of the proxies in Luhansk Oblast ordered the mobilization of men 18-55 years old in Russian-occupied territories on Feb. 19, amid escalation in the region. Men of that age are banned from leaving the occupied
