Editor's Note: This story was sponsored by the Ukraine-founded international tech service company SupportYourApp. When Russia invaded Ukraine, the international tech service company SupportYourApp, founded in Kyiv, wasn’t sure what would happen to its business. Its clients were worried: How would the company provide its services when its own specialists faced the constant threat of missile strikes and later – power outages? The company’s managing partner, 33-year-old Daria Leshchenko, told th

U.S. tech giant Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, no longer designates Ukraine’s Azov Regiment as a “dangerous organization.” This means that Azov Regiment members will be allowed to have accounts on Meta platforms, while content posted by other users about Azov Regiment will no longer be removed, Meta’s spokesperson told the Kyiv Independent in an emailed statement. Ukraine has been negotiating with Meta for a long time to convince the company to allow publishing content a

“Breaking: This lettuce outlasts Russian annexation of Kherson,” reads a meme posted a few hours after Russia announced its retreat from the city of Kherson. This is a remake of a joke about the former U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss, whose short term in power " was compared to "the shelf life of a lettuce." pic.twitter.com/aw3pDp0x6Q — Saint Javelin (@saintjavelin) November 9, 2022 Ukrainians have created a trove of war-related memes since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 2

Editor's Note: This story was sponsored by the Ukrainian software development company Kitrum. Ukrainian tech entrepreneur Vlad Kytainyk, 34, has spent substantial time in the U.S. building his global business in the past seven years. Still, he has no intentions of settling there for good. “I'm a Ukrainian on a long business trip,” he says. During an online interview with the Kyiv Independent, he wore a T-shirt with President Volodymyr Zelensky's name printed on it and proudly showed the camer

Editor's Note: This story was sponsored by Ukrainian tech company Merge. Ukrainian Pavel Tseluyko is not your typical CEO. A 21-year-old college drop out, he is running his tech company Merge in the middle of both a war and global financial crisis. Despite all the challenges, Tseluyko says business is continuing to grow. Last year, UI/UX design and development agency Merge generated almost $1 million in revenue. This year, it aims to reach $2 million. These figures may not be much compared to

Editor's note: Ivan Tolchinsky visited Ukraine in October to speak at the IT Arena, Ukraine's major technology conference held at the Lviv National Opera on Sept. 30-Oct. 2. Despite the war, the event featured speakers from around the world, including Tolchinsky, US cybersecurity journalist Kim Zetter, Draganfly CEO Cameron Chell, and Baykar's CEO Haluk Bayraktar, who joined the conference online. The Kyiv Independent was the official media partner of the event. Ukraine-born Ivan Tolchinsky,

Europe's largest technology conference, Web Summit, sparked a raft of criticism in Ukraine when it invited pro-Russian speakers to its event in Lisbon in November. Among Web Summit’s controversial invitees were Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate, journalists at The Grayzone, a far-left news website known for its misleading reporting and sympathetic coverage of authoritarian regimes. Another participant, American philosopher Noam Chomsky, has been criticized for justifying Russia’s war in Ukraine an

Mykhailo Fedorov and his team “make things happen,” Time magazine wrote when it selected Fedorov as one of its 100 emerging world leaders in September. “It is like it is in his DNA to take action,” his profile read. Fedorov, Ukraine’s 31-year-old deputy prime minister and minister of digital transformation, keeps it modest about making it onto Time’s list. “I was pleasantly surprised,” he said in an interview with the Kyiv Independent. “It motivates me to keep working.” Wearing a black hoodi

Ukrainian comedian turned politician Serhiy Prytula said spending the $17 million fundraised by Ukrainians to purchase a satellite from the Finnish microsatellite manufacturer ICEYE was a “great decision.” Ukraine’s military is satisfied with the data provided by the satellite, Prytula said.

Editor’s Note: This story includes interviews with people living under Russian occupation. Their full names are not disclosed to protect their identity as they have shared sensitive information that could place them and their families in danger. Every time Ukrainian engineer Yevhen wants to connect to the internet, he gets dressed and leaves the house to find one of the few public Wi-Fi hotspots in his town in southern Ukraine. The town, located not far from the port city of Mariupol, has been

A New York-based firm FF Venture Capital launched a $30 million fund to support Ukrainian-founded startups. The Blue & Yellow Heritage fund is reportedly the first Western venture capital fund focused exclusively on the Ukrainian startup market. Over the next five to 10 years, the fund will invest in 15-20 early-stage startups founded by Ukrainian entrepreneurs or employing Ukrainian refugees. For that, FF Venture Capital aims to raise another $20 million, making the overall support reach $50 m

Among the Ukrainian military, Elon Musk, the richest tech entrepreneur in the U.S., is often half-jokingly referred to as “Saint Elon.” The reason is Starlink, Musk’s satellite communication system that keeps many Ukrainians, most importantly the military, online despite power outages and Russia’s attacks on the country's internet infrastructure. Starlink allows access to the internet even during power outages or in the absence of other internet infrastructure. It is also more secure than othe

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has relied on foreign partners when it comes to space intelligence. Ukraine doesn’t have its own satellite in orbit. That is why it requests satellite imagery from its allies in order to track Russian troop movements and document Russia’s alleged war crimes. But that is about to change. On Aug. 18, Ukraine’s Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation purchased a Finnish-produced ICEYE satellite for the country’s armed forces. The charity ma

There is a dilemma dividing Ukrainian society: whether to allow the country’s male tech specialists to temporarily leave the country during the war. Martial law, introduced on Feb. 24 and extended until Nov. 21, prohibits Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country, except under special circumstances. The Ukrainian information technology industry has been particularly affected by martial law, as its business models rely heavily on outsourcing. Ukrainian tech companies

Nude photos are an art form with the power to raise money for the military. At least that is the philosophy behind the movement Teronlyfans, founded by Ukrainian artist Anastasiya Kuchmenko, 26, and Belarusian native Nastya Nasko, 23. Teronlyfans is a combination of two words – Ukraine’s territorial defense force, a branch of the Ukrainian Armed Forces created in the months leading up to Russia’s invasion, and Onlyfans – an online platform where subscribers pay to see risqué content. Since the