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Asami Terajima
ReporterAsami 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.
Articles
Explainer: What Russia could achieve in Ukraine by Trump's 50-day deadline
U.S. President Donald Trump gave a 50-day ultimatum to Russia to end the war in Ukraine, promising to impose harsh sanctions otherwise.
Experts who spoke with the Kyiv Independent, however, say that Russia can take advantage of the once again extended deadline and scale up its summer offensive, ongoing since May.
Russia could realistically advance closer to Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka in the eastern Donetsk Oblast by trying to encircle them as much as possible in the next few months, but the c
Trump's big Russia announcement fails to lift spirits in a fatigued Ukraine
The teasing on July 11 of U.S. President Donald Trump's "big announcement" on Russia had raised hopes in Ukraine over the weekend that the White House was finally going to take concrete action to pressure Moscow to end its full-scale invasion.
Those hopes would not be met.
On July 14, Trump instead said the U.S. will impose "severe tariffs" on Russia unless it agrees to a deal on ending the war in Ukraine within 50 days. It comes after previous deadlines to end the war of 24 hours, two weeks,
Analysis: Ahead of Trump's 'major' Russia announcement, what will happen next to Ukraine?
Amid ever-escalating aerial assaults, accelerating Russian advances in the east, and the weariness that comes with nearly 3.5 years of war, all eyes in Ukraine are once again focused upon one man — U.S. President Donald Trump.
"I think I'll have a major statement to make on Russia on Monday," Trump said in an interview with NBC News on July 10, the latest development in a tortuously long and so far wholly ineffective U.S.-led peace process.
Short of a massive injection of military aid, or crus
Dnipropetrovsk village likely contested despite Russia's claim of its capture
The village of Dachne in the southern part of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast appears to be contested, according to the Finnish Black Bird Group open-source intelligence collective.
The Russian Defense Ministry on July 7 claimed to have seized Dachne, which would mark the first village to be under Russian control in the industrial Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, located just west of the war-torn Donetsk Oblast.
The Ukrainian military denied the claimed capture, calling it "disinformation."
Viktor Tregubov, spok
Ukraine to exit mine ban treaty, citing war demands, realities on the ground
Ukraine looks to withdraw from a major international treaty on anti-personnel landmines to bolster its defense on the battlefield, where its troops are trying to hold off Russia's intensifying offensive.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, on June 29, had requested that Ukraine withdraw from the 1997 Ottawa Treaty that banned the production and use of indiscriminate anti-personnel mines. Though acknowledging the "complexities" that Ukraine may face in exiting such a treaty during war, he stressed tha
As Russia inches closer to Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, new Ukrainian region might soon be at war
Moscow said its troops had crossed into Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and were conducting offensive operations in the region, a claim Kyiv quickly denied as “Russian disinformation.”
Russian troops have been pushing toward Dnipropetrovsk Oblast for months, trying to solidify the southern flank to capture Pokrovsk and the remaining parts of the adjacent Donetsk Oblast.
Western military experts who spoke to the Kyiv Independent said it was clear that Russian troops would eventually penetrate the southea
As 50,000 Russian troops amass, Ukraine's Sumy Oblast braces for potential large-scale offensive
Reports of an imminent Russian summer offensive and troop build ups on Ukraine's border are raising alarms in Sumy Oblast and fears that a large-scale assault could be on the horizon.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 22 said he had ordered his military to create a "security buffer zone" along the border, and President Volodymyr Zelensky later claimed 50,000 of Moscow's troops were amassed "in the direction of Sumy."
"These are trained combat units — airborne troops, marines, those that
Russia ‘testing’ Europe’s capacity to help Ukraine by intensifying air attacks
As Russia ramps up its missile and drone strikes countrywide, all eyes are on Europe’s capacity to continue supporting Ukraine, with the future of U.S. military aid growing ever more uncertain.
Ukraine should have enough air defense missiles despite the persisting shortage to avoid the worst of the attacks, but much depends on the intensity of the Russian campaigns, according to experts who spoke to the Kyiv Independent.
“I think what the Russians are doing now is trying to test how deep the p
Bracing for more Russian attacks, an anxious Ukraine waits for Trump to do… something
After an unprecedented three-day wave of Russian aerial attacks in Ukraine over the weekend, the world is once again looking to U.S. President Donald Trump to take his first steps toward forcing Moscow to end its violence.
From May 24 to 26, Russian forces fired more than 600 drones and dozens of missiles across Ukraine, with the third night amounting to the single largest drone attack of the full-scale war.
In Ukraine, as well as being terrifying for those who experienced it, it was also a da
Russia pushes forward in Donetsk Oblast, threatening Ukrainian pocket around Toretsk
Russian troops have upped the intensity of their Donetsk Oblast offensive in recent weeks, increasingly pressuring a relatively large Ukrainian pocket between some of the last cities in the region.
An unsettling situation for Ukrainian troops is now unfolding south of the town of Kostiantynivka, which has long served as a relatively safe logistics hub around the now Russian-occupied Bakhmut.
Russian troops have been pushing toward Kostiantynivka from two directions, slowly closing in on the Uk
We need to push Russia to stick to ceasefire, Estonian ambassador says
The Kyiv Independent’s Asami Terajima sits down with Estonian ambassador to Ukraine Annely Kolk to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and why there’s little trust in Russia honoring any ceasefire agreements.
‘There we go again’ — For war-weary Europe, Trump-Putin call yet another signal to ‘wake up’
After a two-hour call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia reiterated its refusal for a full ceasefire in the war in Ukraine while the U.S. once again failed to respond with any significant pressure.
For observers across Europe, watching the way the negotiations have been unfolding was an unpleasant reminder that the U.S. can no longer be relied on as a partner — but it was not a surprising revelation.
"Chewing the same gum which has lost its taste i
'Like a game of tennis' — Russia, Ukraine court Trump to avoid being blamed for peace talks failure
In the middle of the night, Russian President Vladimir Putin gathered Russian state TV to inform them that he is ready to begin direct peace talks with Ukraine on May 15.
A day later, President Volodymyr Zelensky said he'll be waiting for Putin in Turkey.
"We expect Russia to confirm a full, durable, and reliable ceasefire starting May 12, and Ukraine is ready to meet," Zelensky said.
The statements by Moscow and Kyiv caught the attention of the main viewer — U.S. President Donald Trump.
"I
Amid missile shortage, Ukraine's air defenses are struggling under Russian ballistic attacks
As the air defense missile stocks run low and the future of U.S. military aid to Ukraine grows increasingly uncertain, Kyiv is under pressure to defend its sky.
The concerns mount as Russia scales up its aerial attacks across Ukraine, combining ballistic missiles and drones to overwhelm air defenses. Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, are "definitely facing a shortage of (air defense) missiles," a source in the Air Force told the Kyiv Independent.
Ukrainian aviation expert Anatolii Khrapchynsky
Trump said Ukraine 'will be crushed very shortly' — this is why he's wrong
U.S. President Donald Trump has said he believes Ukraine will be "crushed very shortly," as it is up against Russia's "big war machine" that it cannot defeat.
"I think I'm saving that nation. I think I'm doing a great service to Ukraine. I believe that," he said in an interview with The Atlantic published April 28.
Trump's comments come as his administration's self-declared deadline of 100 days to end the war in Ukraine approaches this week, with the goal still a long way from completion.
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