Ukrainian counteroffensive on southern front line ongoing, Syrskyi says
According to Syrskyi, one main attack grouping of Air Assault Forces alone regained control of 285.6 square kilometers.
Team
Francis Farrell
ReporterFrancis Farrell is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent. He is the co-author of War Notes, the Kyiv Independent's weekly newsletter about the war. For the second year in a row, the Kyiv Independent received a grant from the Charles Douglas-Home Memorial Trust to support his front-line reporting for the year 2025-2026. Francis won the Prix Bayeux Calvados-Normandy for war correspondents in the young reporter category in 2023, and was nominated for the European Press Prize in 2024. Francis speaks Ukrainian and Hungarian and is an alumnus of Leiden University in The Hague and University College London. He has previously worked as a managing editor at the online media project Lossi 36, as a freelance journalist and documentary photographer, and at the OSCE and Council of Europe field missions in Albania and Ukraine.
Articles
General Staff: Russia has lost 1,274,040 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022
The number includes 750 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
Inside Russia's everyday manhunt of Ukrainians in Kherson
At the moment the grey mass of radio static gives way to a clear image on the drone detector screen, the hunter still seems deceptively far away.
Looking down on the central neighbourhood of Kherson from a bird’s-eye view, it remains unclear where the Russian drone is coming from or who it is stalking.
Catching the analog radio signal of the first-person-view (FPV) drone’s video transmitter, the detector shows exactly what the Russian pilot sees through his goggles as he flies from the occupi
Ukraine's experience priceless as Iran war sees long-range strike drones go global
The Trump administration's move to launch a large-scale strike operation in Iran has seen state-on-state war return to the Middle East with a vengeance.
Hours after the first U.S. and Israeli strikes began hitting the country on Feb. 28, Tehran — despite its leadership being decapitated on the first day of the fighting — retaliated with large-scale missile and drone attacks across the region, with a focus on U.S. military bases and embassies.
On top of its arsenal of ballistic missiles, Iran's
Chart of the week: Russia lost more territory than it gained for the first time since 2023
Russia lost more territory than it gained in February for the first time since Ukraine's failed counteroffensive in 2023, according to independent Finnish open-source intelligence collective Black Bird Group.
Russia lost 37 km² on balance last month, causing the total area of Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia to modestly drop to 118,917 km², according to the group’s analysis.
The independent assessment comes after Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi also claimed on March 2 that
Ukraine captured more territory than it lost to Russia over February 2026, Syrskyi says
The claim came amid a slowdown in Russian advances on most parts of the front line over winter.
Is Donbas key to ending Ukraine-Russia war?
As peace talks continue and the U.S. pushes for compromise, one proposal keeps returning: Ukraine should withdraw from the remainder of Ukrainian-controlled Donetsk Oblast to end the war. The Kyiv Independent’s Francis Farrell explains why the Battle of Donbas remains at the center of the peace process.
Flamingo threat triggers unprecedented missile alert across Russia, 1 claimed shot down
A total of 13 Russian regions raised the alarm in the afternoon, eight of which did so for the first time over the full-scale war.
Russia, Ukraine, agree to 'local truce' at occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to repair key backup power line
"Demining activities are ongoing to ensure safe access for the repair teams," said IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi.
From Starlink to 'digital officers,' Fedorov on first month as Ukraine's new Defense Minister
The first month of the ministry's renewed team was focused on improving Ukraine's air defense capabilities.
'Our sacrifices are worth freedom' — Ukrainian troops who have fought since 2014 look back
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago today — Feb. 24, 2022. For many Ukrainians, particularly those from Donbas and Crimea, the war began in 2014.
To mark the anniversary, the Kyiv Independent spoke with three soldiers in the Ukrainian Armed Forces who have fought not just since the start of the full-scale invasion, but since 2014 — when Russia seized Crimea and began its war in eastern Ukraine. They described what keeps them going, the toll of years of sacrifice, a
Ukraine liberates 300 square km in southern counteroffensive, Zelensky says — here's what that means
"I won't go into too many details, but today I can congratulate our army first and foremost —all the defense forces — because as of today, 300 (square) kilometers have been liberated," Zelensky told Agence France-Presse.
Analysis: Syrskyi's flawed, unfinished corps system key for Ukraine's front-line stability
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.
Whether or not this apparent Chinese proverb is authentic, it applies for the Ukrainian military's corps reform as much as it does for trees.
The Ukrainian leadership's announcement in February 2025 that its Armed Forces and National Guard would transition to a corps-based command system sparked a glimmer of hope that the chronic command issues plaguing the country's defense could be alleviated, if not solved.
The ch
SBU strikes chemical factory used for explosives production deep inside Russia
The attack on the Metafrax Chemicals plant in Perm Krai was carried out overnight between Feb. 16-17 by deep strike specialists from the SBU's Alpha unit.
Kremlin threatens to deploy navy if Europe seizes more Russian shadow fleet vessels
Presidential aide Nikolai Patrushev called the European raids on shadow fleet ships "piracy," and expressed concern that the next step would be a full-fledged blockade.
