As Ukraine’s teenagers get ready for a new school year in a country at war, they face yet another threat — a network of Russian operatives trying to trick them into betraying their country. For the past year, Ukrainian headlines have tracked a series of shocking incidents where young people recruited by Russian state actors on messenger apps — particularly Telegram —  have planted bombs, lit vehicles on fire, painted anti-state graffiti, and shared photos of potential military targets with Russ

As peace talks to end the war in Ukraine gather speed toward a potential trilateral meeting between the U.S., Ukraine, and Russia, the question of what kind of security guarantees Kyiv might receive continues to loom over the flurry of diplomatic meetings. After President Volodymyr Zelensky's Aug. 18 appearance at the White House, European leaders are now expected to draft a skeleton proposal for security guarantees over the next week, according to Kyiv Independent sources. The proposal will ex

When President Volodymyr Zelensky joined U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Aug. 18, the positive mood between the leaders stood in stark contrast to their disastrous encounter in February in the same spot. This shift alone was seen as a victory for Ukraine — offering many of its citizens and allies relief, though the meeting itself was largely inconclusive and failed to secure concrete decisions on the security guarantees and the ceasefire that Ukraine has pushed for. "I think

Just after the sun rises over the sea in Ukraine's southern coastal city Odesa, shirtless men with gold chains flip tractor tires on a beachside blacktop, while women balance on their yoga mats at a pier. As fishermen cast their lines out into the water, cormorants swoop down to hunt for the same prey. By the time the mouth-watering smell of lunch-time kebabs wafts off of seaside grills, it's hard to find a spot on the fine-grained white sand to lay down a towel. The coastal city is on track f

As U.S. President Donald Trump trades barbs with Russian officials amid growing tensions, he has announced he may send his special envoy Steve Witkoff to Russia this week. The visit, which Russia has yet to confirm, would likely take place on Aug. 6 or 7 — immediately before a deadline Trump imposed on Moscow to reach a peace deal with Ukraine or suffer secondary tariffs targeting its oil exports. "I think this is an effort to give (Russian President Vladimir) Putin one last chance" before the

After massive nationwide protests and fierce international criticism, President Volodymyr Zelensky has proposed a new bill to restore the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption authorities. The new bill, submitted July 24, has yet to be passed but would reverse the decisions that sparked the nation’s biggest political crisis since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. The protests began after Ukraine's parliament voted on July 22 to give the prosecutor general new powers over t

On July 22 and 23, Ukrainians took to the streets in the country’s first mass anti-government protests since the outbreak of Russia's full-scale invasion three and a half years earlier. Thousands of citizens rallied in cities across the country on the first night with a clear goal: to urge President Volodymyr Zelensky to veto a bill passed in parliament that guts anti-corruption reforms, and to express anger with recent government attacks on anti-corruption figures. But that didn’t stop the fr

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect the fact Zelensky signed the bill into law on the evening of July 22, as shown on the Parliament's website. "Dark times ahead." "Peak of corruption." "Point of no return." Ukrainian society sounded a code red for the country's democracy on July 22, as the final votes were tallied on a bill in Ukraine's parliament that strips independence from anti-corruption bodies, which was then signed into law by President Volodymyr Zelensky later that

A new initiative will examine how the Ukrainian language describes foreign locations while at home, with the aim of standardizing and promoting a Ukrainian spelling, said Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.

Pavlohrad, a city in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast that has become a key humanitarian aid hub for those evacuating the front lines, suffered one of its most severe attacks of the war, Governor Serhii Lysak said on July 19.

Russian strikes killed at least seven people and injured 31 others in multiple regions over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian regional authorities said on July 19.

The cyberattack allegedly destroyed large volumes of data and installed custom software designed to further damage the company's information systems.

After U.S. President Donald Trump on July 14 threatened to impose “severe” tariffs on Russia in 50 days if there is no peace deal with Ukraine, the highly-anticipated statement was met largely with indifference and even relief among Russian commentators. In the first response from a senior Russian official, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chair of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, dismissed the announcement on X. "Trump issued a theatrical ultimatum to the Kremlin," the former Russian Pr

In the early hours of July 10, many Kyiv residents were jolted awake by the thundering sound of ballistic missiles shaking their buildings. Others were already lying awake in beds, bathtubs, and underground shelters across the city, as residents endure a new normal of intensified Russian strikes on the capital. "You lie down, look into the abyss of night, and hear the loudest attack," Hryhorii Matsebok, a 47-year-old artist, told the Kyiv Independent. "And you think the end has already come."

Before her harrowing footage of life in Mariupol under siege from Russian invaders was viewed around the world in 2022, Yuliia Paievska — call sign "Taira" — was already well known to Ukrainians for leading a volunteer medical unit in Donbas. Now, the volunteer, soldier, athlete, global activist, and former POW is being lauded once again – as a poet whose debut collection, Nazhyvo (Live), has captured audiences in Ukraine with its fervent writing, inspired by some of the war's most brutal episo