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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.

a.terajima@kyivindependent.com
For media & speaking inquiries:
press@kyivindependent.com

Articles

War

As Russia closes in on Sloviansk, this taxi driver keeps working

by Asami Terajima
SLOVIANSK, Donetsk Oblast — From a brick-walled garage that barely fits the blue car parked inside, Oleksandr Richak carefully backs his taxi cab out onto the narrow street. The 42-year-old usually starts work around 8 a.m., once the early-morning rush hour of deadly Russian drone activity in the eastern front-line city subsides. As he briefly parks the car outside a damaged one-story house, his wife, Nataliia, walks over and hands him a bottle of lemon-flavored water. Her worried eyes follow
Russian citizens drafted during the partial mobilization in Moscow, Russia, on Oct. 10, 2022.
War

We asked Ukrainian soldiers about Russian losses passing 1.5 million

by Kateryna Hodunova, Jimmy Rushton, Tania Myronyshena, Yuliia Taradiuk, Asami Terajima
Russia's total military losses in Ukraine have reached 1,500,870, Ukraine's General Staff said on Sept. 9, marking another grim milestone in the war for the Kremlin. It took roughly two years and three months for the Russian Armed Forces to incur their first 500,000 casualties. Moscow has now suffered roughly the same number in just the past 15 months, as technology increasingly shapes the battlefield and drones expand the kill zone almost daily. The Kremlin's total personnel losses in Ukraine
A rescuer deals with the aftermath of a Russian attack in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, on August 16, 2026.
War

'The city is dying' — Ukrainians in Kramatorsk brace for worst as Russian forces inch closer

by Asami Terajima
KRAMATORSK, Donetsk Oblast — Morning sunlight settles over a narrow street in Kramatorsk, lined with vendors selling their homegrown vegetables and meat at what used to be a bustling market. Intensified Russian attacks on the front-line city, which had long served as a key logistics hub tucked away in the rear of eastern Donetsk Oblast, have driven most potential customers away. But the vendors still need to make a living and arrive at around 6 a.m., enduring constant power and water outages in
Children on bicycles watch a fire near their home in Pavlohrad, Ukraine, on August 15, 2026.
War

Once a hub in the rear, Pavlohrad is now in Russia's glide bomb crosshairs

by Asami Terajima, Yuliia Taradiuk
PAVLOHRAD, DNIPROPETROVSK OBLAST — When Russia launched its full-scale invasion, the city of Pavlohrad in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, roughly 75 kilometers (45 miles) from the front line, became a relatively safe haven for those fleeing the war further east. But as the war drags on and the range of Russian weaponry increases, those living there fear their home now faces the same fate as cities in neighboring Donetsk Oblast, many of which Russia has reduced to rubble. Just a month ago, on July 20, t
War

'I'm skeptical' — Ukrainian soldiers react to Fedorov's bombshell election video

by Chris York, Kateryna Hodunova, Asami Terajima, Yuliia Taradiuk
Former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov dropped a bombshell of a video on Aug. 18, calling for elections in Ukraine and becoming by far the most high-profile person to advocate for such a move during Russia's full-scale invasion. In an address posted on YouTube, Fedorov said Ukraine needs a "legal, safe, and realistic mechanism" for holding elections during a prolonged war while ensuring voting rights for military personnel, Ukrainians abroad, and people living in front-line regions. "We must

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