crimea: the war before the war

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Asami Terajima photo

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.

For media & speaking inquiries:
press@kyivindependent.com

Articles

“Panda,” a medic with Ukraine’s 60th Mechanized Brigade, sits inside the ambulance in Donetsk Oblast on Jan. 24, 2026.

In Ukraine’s drone-dominated battlefield, critically wounded face slim chance to survive

by Asami Terajima
For Ukrainian medics, one of the hardest parts of the drone war is accepting that critically wounded soldiers often cannot be saved. "If it's a critical injury, it's usually lethal," Ukrainian medic Dmytro, who goes by his callsign Winnie, told the Kyiv Independent in his evac vehicle not far from the front. Wounds in areas where tourniquets can't be used are often the deadliest, such as the head, chest, torso, or groin injuries, he explained. "We would like to do something, but there is just

Ukraine war latest: 200 Ukrainian POWs return home in latest exchange, Zelensky says

by Asami Terajima
Ukraine has brought home 200 soldiers held in Russian captivity in the latest prisoners of war (POW) exchange on March 5, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed releasing 200 Ukrainian POWs in exchange for the same number of Russian soldiers captured by Ukraine, in a swap brokered by the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates. The released Russian POWs are currently in Belarus, receiving medical and psychological assistance, according to the ministry. "Every