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Francis Farrell

Reporter

Francis 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.

f.farrell@kyivindependent.com
For media & speaking inquiries:
press@kyivindependent.com

Articles

War

Analysis: Russia breaks into Kostiantynivka, opening battle for Donbas fortress belt

by Francis Farrell
Amid a wave of positive headlines about Russian refineries in flames and logistics crippled, the battle for the legendary "fortress belt" of Ukraine's Donbas region has begun in earnest, with Russian forces breaking into the city of Kostiantynivka in Donetsk Oblast and steadily overrunning the urban area. As the summer campaign opens up, Russian forces are bucking the trend of offensive stagnation across the rest of the front line and making real headway into the heart of Ukrainian-controlled D
War

Meet the Ukrainian drone team that demolished NATO forces in war game in Sweden

by Francis Farrell
Editor's note: In accordance with the security rules of their unit, the soldiers featured in this story are identified by their callsigns only. In a light pine forest on Sweden's fortress island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, a state-of-the-art Leopard 2 tank was in trouble. The tank had barely begun moving out on an offensive mission before it had been spotted and tracked down by a drone belonging to the opposing forces. Its pilot: 37-year-old Ukrainian reconnaissance drone pilot Kvita, who h
Photos

Road to the kill zone: With Ukrainian troops on the lifeline from Kramatorsk to Kostiantynivka

by Serhii Korovayny, Francis Farrell
Editor’s note: Ukrainian photojournalist Serhii Korovaynyi made two trips on foot toward the city of Kostiantynivka in Donetsk Oblast in spring 2026. Francis Farrell, who has also traveled to the area recently, helped put the article together from Kyiv. In accordance with the security protocols of the Ukrainian military, soldiers featured in this story are identified by first name or call sign only. This April in Donbas, daffodils and tulips are blooming near courtyards destroyed by glide bombs

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