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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

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
War

Breakthrough unlikely at Putin-Trump meeting as US, Russia, Ukraine differ on key issues

by Oleg Sukhov, Asami Terajima
As U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, prepare for a bilateral meeting on Aug. 15 in Alaska, the aims of the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine appear to contradict each other. "At the end of that meeting, probably in the first two minutes, I'll know exactly whether or not a deal can be made," Trump told reporters on Aug. 11. Experts say the hastily organized summit will most likely fail to bring Trump, Putin, and President Volodymyr Zelensky to an agreement on a fu
The first recruits undergo initiation in the 92nd Assault Brigade in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine, on March 16, 2025.
War

Mobilization gridlock: How politics, policy, and public opinion are shaping Ukraine’s war effort

by Asami Terajima
As Ukraine struggles to replenish front-line units after 42 months of all-out war, those in power prefer to avoid publicly commenting on mobilization efforts and the way it is conducted. Political experts say mobilization became a "toxic" and politicized issue, with high-ranking officials — from the president to ministers and lawmakers — trying to avoid being associated with the cause. "In my opinion, most politicians are afraid to raise this topic because it is controversial," political analy
Ukraine

'It was the end of the world' — Russian missile and drone strike on Kyiv kills at least 31, injures over 150

by Asami Terajima
Editor's note: The article was updated after Kateryna Naralnyk's sister, Tamara, informed the Kyiv Independent after midnight that the son, daughter, and two grandsons were confirmed dead. All Kateryna Naralnyk saw was black smoke after a Russia ballistic missile hit her apartment building in Kyiv early on July 31. "I woke up, and I couldn't hear anything," the 66-year-old grandmother told the Kyiv Independent hours later outside her destroyed home, as rescuers cleared the rubble looking for m
President Volodymyr Zelensky during a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Nov. 21, 2023.
Ukraine

Ukraine’s EU accession at risk ahead of critical anti-corruption vote

by Asami Terajima, Oleksiy Sorokin
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
War

Russia may have received up to 30,000 fresh North Korean troops, boosting its negotiating position

by Asami Terajima
North Korean troops had fought alongside Russia since late 2024. They saw combat in Russia's Kursk Oblast but didn't cross into Ukraine. That might soon change. Ukrainian officials assess that North Korea has additionally deployed 20,000 to 30,000 troops to Russia, though the number could be lower, a senior Western diplomat told the Kyiv Independent, citing Ukrainian intelligence. As Washington attempts to push Kyiv and Moscow into peace talks, Russia likely seeks to "project strength" by invo

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