Days after Russian soldier Vadim Shishimarin, 21, pleaded guilty to killing an unarmed civilian, his lawyer asked for the defendant to be acquitted. “He does not deny that he fired a shot. (Yet) he did not know whether he killed this person,” lawyer Viktor Ovsyannikov told the judges during the
Vadim Shishimarin, 21, is the first Russian soldier tried for a war crime in Ukraine since Russia began its all-out war on Feb. 24. He faces a life sentence for violating the laws of war by killing a civilian during the Russian troops’ retreat from Ukraine. On Feb. 28, Shishimarin
ODESA – Ukraine’s main port city is a complicated place. Known for its sandy beaches and good food, Odesa has also been associated with organized crime. Labeled the “crime capital” by Ukraine’s former interior minister, the city has been known for an illegal construction boom. Local mobsters and Russian-friendly
ODESA – Anti-tank hedgehogs, military patrols and an extended curfew aren’t what one expects to see in Ukraine’s main sea resort. In May, Odesa, a Ukrainian port city on the Black Sea, usually rolls into the tourist season, which generates a substantial part of the city’s earnings. Now
BUCHA, Kyiv Oblast – A week before she would have turned 23, Karina Yershova was killed by Russian soldiers in Bucha, a town outside Kyiv. They tortured her and most likely raped her, Karina’s stepfather Andriy Dereko told the Kyiv Independent. Then, they shot her in the head. “It was
CHERNIHIV OBLAST – After Russian troops have withdrawn from Ukraine’s northmost region, an expected, yet no less horrific destruction was uncovered. Russian airstrikes targeted both high-rise buildings in Chernihiv and small houses in nearby villages, leaving many people in the regional capital and its suburbs dead, injured, and without a
Ukrainian marines defending Mariupol came out with a public statement criticizing President Volodymyr Zelensky and the army command. The 36th Marine Brigade accused the country’s leadership of abandoning them in the besieged port city with no ammunition left, saying that it might be their last day of fighting. “For
BORODYANKA, Kyiv Oblast -- Burned and shattered, high-rise residential buildings in the center of Borodyanka, a town 40 kilometers northwest of Kyiv, hide even more horror underneath. Around 200 people have been buried alive in the basements when Russian bombs destroyed the buildings, local authorities estimate. “Hope dies last,” said
The German software giant SAP appears to have been hypocritical about its promises to stop providing cloud services to Russian clients over Russia's war in Ukraine. According to a document obtained by the Kyiv Independent, just a day before the company’s public announcement to shut down its cloud services
From the early days of the war, Ukrainian Railways, or Ukrzaliznytsya, has become central to the country’s life and defense. Ukrzaliznytsia has been helping the army by producing anti-tank hedgehogs and transporting the uncollected bodies of Russian soldiers killed on the front lines. Its role in helping civilians is
As Russian bombs and rockets land on Kyiv’s residential buildings, the city’s utility services’ workers drudge overtime to clear the streets of the damage, debris and garbage left behind in the wake of Russia’s attacks. As many as 4,000 homes across Ukraine have been damaged by
Six days after a Russian missile destroyed their homes, residents of one nine-story apartment building in Kyiv’s northern district Obolon are back to the site of the tragedy. It’s a short visit as the building is falling apart and it's dangerous to stay for long. Despite the risks,
In the early morning of March 1, Svitlana Zhulina was driving her family away from war-torn Kyiv Oblast. Her husband, Andriy Vilson, was sitting next to her, their two sons of eight and 10 in the back seat. They were driving along Zhytomyr Highway, a westbound road very familiar to
BORYSPIL, KYIV OBLAST – About a hundred people gathered in a city memorial park to say their last goodbyes to an outstanding combat commander, colonel Valeriy Gudz, who had been killed in a battle near Russian-occupied Luhansk on March 12. Gudz, 51, had defended Ukraine from Russia’s army since the
Editor’s note: The Kyiv Independent isn’t sharing the names of the restaurants in this story for security reasons. Before the war, this restaurant in central Kyiv was always packed, no matter the time of the day. It was a popular spot among creative youth and foreigners. In usual
At noon on March 4, an SUV drove through the streets of Bucha, formerly a cozy green town near Kyiv, now a hotspot of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Three people were in the car: Serhiy Ustymenko, 25, a co-founder of a car repair shop, Maxym Kuzmenko, 28, a hookah
One week since Russia began its full-scale war against Ukraine, the civilian death toll is in the hundreds, while thousands have been left injured. According to the United Nations, over 600 civilians have died as a result of Russia's aggression. Russian troops have shelled residential areas, hitting civilian targets such
Dozens of people were killed by Russian fire, and at least 19 went missing as of 1 p.m. on Feb. 24, just seven hours after Russia started the all-out invasion of Ukraine from several directions. One civilian was killed by Russian shelling in Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast. Six people were
'The threat of Russia’s invasion might be new for most of Ukraine. To millions of natives of eastern Ukraine and Crimea, it is a flashback to what we went through eight years ago.'
Oleksandr Trukhin, a lawmaker from the governing President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People faction, was kicked out of the party after a journalistic investigation exposed his attempts to bribe police officers at a car crash site. The party announced the decision to expel Trukhin on Feb. 2, a
Serhii Kuzminykh, a member of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People parliamentary faction, was caught while allegedly accepting an Hr 558,000 ($20,000) bribe on Jan. 28, according to law enforcement sources of Ukrainian news websites Ukrainska Pravda and Censor.Net. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) said
Five years ago, as Ukrainians prepared for Christmas celebrations, state officials were working late, trying to rescue the country’s financial system from collapse. The largest and most profitable commercial bank in Ukraine, PrivatBank, was about to go bankrupt. Auditors discovered that the oligarchs who owned the bank, Ihor Kolomoisky
