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Team
Asami Terajima photo

Asami Terajima

Reporter

Asami Terajima is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent covering Ukrainian military affairs and front-line developments. 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 on the Media Development Foundation's 2023 "25 under 25: Young and Bold" list of emerging media makers in Ukraine. She is among the finalists for the U.K.'s One World Media Award 2026 in the Print category and the French Bayeux Calvados-Normandy award 2025 for war correspondents in the Young Reporter category.

For media & speaking inquiries:
press@kyivindependent.com

Articles

Ukraine keeps changing defense ministers. Is that hurting the war effort?

President Volodymyr Zelensky's unexpected dismissal of Ukraine's defense minister triggered protests across the country and caught some of Ukraine's foreign partners off guard. Mykhailo Fedorov is the fourth person to leave the post since Russia launched its full-scale invasion, an extraordinary turnover at one of the country's most critical ministries. His removal comes at an especially precarious moment, as Ukraine races to secure additional Patriot interceptors and launches multi-billion-do

We asked Ukrainian soldiers what they think about Drapatyi, their new commander-in-chief

Editor's note: The full names of some service members quoted in this story have not been disclosed for security reasons. Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi took over as Ukraine's commander-in-chief on July 21 after President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Oleksandr Syrskyi, elevating one of the military's most battle-tested commanders to its top post. "Drapatyi commands tremendous respect within the Ukrainian military — something that is extremely difficult to earn," Artem Kariakin, a soldier of th