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Asami Terajima

Reporter

Asami Terajima is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent covering Ukrainian military issues, front-line developments, and politics. She is the co-author of the weekly War Notes newsletter. She previously worked as a business reporter for the Kyiv Post focusing on international trade, infrastructure, investment, and energy. Originally from Japan, Terajima moved to Ukraine during childhood and completed her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in the U.S. She is the winner of the Thomson Reuters Foundation's Kurt Schork Award in International Journalism 2023 (Local Reporter category) and the George Weidenfeld Prize, awarded as part of Germany's Axel Springer Prize 2023. She was also featured in the Media Development Foundation’s “25 under 25: Young and Bold” 2023 list of emerging media makers in Ukraine.

a.terajima@kyivindependent.com

Articles

Geran-2 transported across Red Square during a Victory Day parade in Moscow, Russia, on May 9, 2025.
War

Russia is ramping up Shahed-type drone strikes on the front line in Ukraine

by Asami Terajima
Russia is increasingly using Shahed-type drones to target Ukrainian front-line positions, likely looking to conserve KAB guided aerial bombs where possible to prepare for a long war ahead, soldiers and experts have told the Kyiv Independent. Russian troops have been deploying these relatively cheap, self-destructing loitering munitions for nearly a year on the front, but they appear to be building additional launch sites, such as at the Russian-occupied Luhansk airport, to further intensify dro
Supporters of the ANO party hold a Czech flag during a campaign rally in Prague, Czech Republic, on Sept. 30, 2025.
Eastern Europe

As Czechs head to polls, Ukraine's ammunition supply is on the line

by Martin Fornusek, Asami Terajima
Czech voters are heading to the polls in a vote that could have significant implications for the country's foreign policy — particularly its steadfast support for Ukraine. Latest surveys indicate that the ruling pro-Western coalition has a slim chance of retaining a majority after the parliamentary elections scheduled for Oct. 3 and 4. The parties hoping for a takeover have not only pledged to limit or scrap military aid to Ukraine, but some have even challenged Czechia's membership in NATO an
A Ukrainian serviceman monitors the sky near Pavlohrad, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine, on July 19, 2025.
War

Russia presses advance in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, threatening Ukrainian supply lines

by Asami Terajima
Russian forces are pressing their advance in central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in an effort to disrupt Ukrainian supply lines that support adjacent front-line sectors, military analysts say. Even as attention shifted to other sectors to the east enduring heavier fighting, Russian forces continued to advance at a slightly faster pace in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in recent weeks, Emil Kastehelmi, an analyst at the Finland-based Black Bird Group, which monitors open-source war footage, said. The l
Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the Baltic Sea are seen on Sept. 27, 2022
War

Who sabotaged Nord Stream? 3 years on, investigations offer more questions than answers

by Asami Terajima
Three years since explosions rocked Russia's cherished Nord Stream pipelines, making them obsolete, very little remains known about the daring operation. One of the boldest sabotages in modern history led to a series of underwater explosions and significant gas leaks, rupturing three of the four Nord Stream pipelines that run from Russia to Germany. Germany is still investigating the event, but almost no details have been revealed. Denmark and Sweden, whose exclusive economic zones suffered fr
War

Russian forces edge westward, probe Ukrainian defenses in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast

by Asami Terajima
Russian troops entered two new villages in the central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, probing the region with small assault groups, Ukraine's military said on Aug. 27. Ukrainian forces quickly repelled the Russian assault groups that entered Zaporizke and Novoheorhiivka villages on Aug. 26, but fighting rages on in the "immediate vicinity," according to spokesperson Viktor Trehubov. The industrial Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, just west of Donetsk Oblast, which has been war-torn since 2014, enjoyed a
War

Russia strengthens hand in potential peace talks with steady advances in Donbas

by Asami Terajima
As President Volodymyr Zelensky seeks a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war, the battlefield is shifting in Moscow's favor, bolstering its position in potential peace talks. Russia's main focus remains the Pokrovsk sector in the eastern Donetsk Oblast, where its troops are slowly advancing northeast of the logistic hub, once home to roughly 60,000 people. Russian troops are trying to close in on the Ukrainian pocket around Pokrovsk, approximately 16 kilometers wide, acc
War

Trump walks back from Ukraine ceasefire calls, aligning closer with Russia’s push for permanent peace deal

by Asami Terajima
U.S. President Donald Trump has walked away from his ceasefire demand, saying that he supports its “concept” but can push for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine without one. Ignoring Ukraine and Europe’s repeated calls that a peace deal be preceded by a ceasefire that would end Russia’s indiscriminate killing of Ukrainians, Trump insisted on Aug. 18 that “one side or the other” may see it as “a disadvantage.” A ceasefire is an agreement by both parties to pause the fighting without formal
Dust and smoke rise from a destroyed building after a Russian shelling of Kramatorsk, Ukraine, on July 31, 2025.
War

As Putin, Trump debate Ukraine's future borders, Donetsk Oblast residents are split on what they would accept to end the war

by Asami Terajima
KRAMATORSK, Donetsk Oblast — U.S. President Donald Trump began to actively push Ukraine to accept losing its land and people to Russia, following years of brutal, all-out war. People in Kramatorsk, the largest Ukrainian-held city in Donetsk Oblast — a region that Russia wants and Trump is thinking of handing over in full — have met the recent news with unease. Those who spoke with the Kyiv Independent, however, still maintain a fragile hope for a lasting peace — something this region hasn't se

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