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Team

Chris York photo

Chris York

News Operations Editor

Chris York is news operations editor at the Kyiv Independent. Before joining the team, he was head of news at the Kyiv Post. Previously, back in Britain, he spent nearly a decade working for HuffPost UK. He holds an MA in Conflict, Development, and Security from the University of Leeds.

Articles

'Despised' by the Kremlin — 5 things you might not know about Dmitry Medvedev

by Chris York
An international war of words erupted on July 30 when U.S. President Donald Trump squared up on social media to former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. "(...)Tell Medvedev, the failed former president of Russia, who thinks he's still president, to watch his words," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "He's entering very dangerous territory." This particular spat was sparked by Medvedev's July 28 statement that Trump's "ultimatum game" with Moscow amounts to a threat to Russia, further escalating te
Ukrainian soldiers in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine, on June 14, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

‘A fatal mistake’ — Ukrainian soldiers slam Zelensky’s anti-corruption crackdown

Editor’s Note: Some Ukrainian soldiers in this article asked to be identified only by their first name or callsign, citing fears of possible repercussions for speaking to the press about a sensitive topic. Even for Ukrainian soldiers locked in brutal warfare hundreds of kilometers from the capital, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s move to dismantle the country’s anti-corruption infrastructure built over the past decade felt like a blow. Zelensky signed a controversial bill destroying the indepen
A Russian flag is seen from Pagegiai, Lithuania, separated by the river from the Kaliningrad Oblast, on July 10, 2023.

A US general just threatened Russia's Kaliningrad — this is why that's so significant

by Chris York
The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad is once again in the news, after a senior U.S. military commander on July 17  issued a stark warning to the Kremlin that NATO forces could take control of it "in a timeframe that is unheard of." The remarks from U.S. Army Europe and Africa commander General Chris Donahue are some of the strongest yet from a Western military official — a direct threat to the Kremlin about the consequences of further Russian aggression beyond Ukraine. They come amid ever-height
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Washington, D.C., U.S., on July 14, 2025.

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