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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

Counterattacking through the kill zone, Ukrainian troops brace for new Russian offensives

by Francis Farrell
Editor’s Note: In accordance with the security protocols of the Ukrainian military, soldiers featured in this story are identified by first name and call sign only. ZAPORIZHZHIA OBLAST – For tonight's clearing mission on the cold windy steppe of southern Ukraine, the munition of choice is the Spear. In a cramped dugout less than eight kilometers from Russian forces, Ukrainian soldiers prepare the bombs, taping wires and tail fins onto long tubes of black steel fitted with menacing iron spikes
War

Failed Ukrainian mechanized attack near Pokrovsk ignites online storm over assault regiment's tactics

by Francis Farrell
A mechanized attack by Ukraine's 425th Assault Regiment — better known as Skelia — outside Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast has sparked a wave of criticism from key Ukrainian figures online concerning the unnecessary loss of manpower in reckless assaults. On April 1, Serhii Sternenko — one of the most prominent Ukrainian volunteers providing support to the military and recently named advisor to newly-appointed Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov — spoke out about the failed attack the previous night, s
Soldier crouches near a "Vector" reconnaissance drone in the Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on Sept. 11, 2025.
War

How Ukraine is 'systematically' destroying Russia's air defenses

by Polina Moroziuk, Francis Farrell
Hundreds of kilometers inside Russia, oil refineries burst into flames, and the sky above airfields and weapons factories is filled with thick black smoke. These scenes, increasingly frequent in videos related by the Ukrainian military over the last several months,  are the visible results of an expanding Ukrainian deep-strike campaign. Its objective: hit critical military and industrial infrastructure far inside Russian territory, bringing the war directly onto its soil. The secret behind the
Video

How Ukraine is pushing back Russia with bomber drones

by Francis Farrell, Nick Allard
As winter ends, fighting on Ukraine’s southern front is intensifying, and drones are leading the battle. The Ukraine’s 423rd Separate Drone Battalion, known as the “Scythian Griffins,” operates in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. With both sides preparing for a larger spring and summer campaign, the battle for Ukraine’s south is entering a new phase.
President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Oct. 13, 2025.
Politics

The trade-off Ukraine won't make

by Tim Zadorozhnyy, Chris York, Francis Farrell, Oleksiy Sorokin
U.S.-mediated peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have stalled as Kyiv refuses to cede territory in the country's east without a fight, a Kremlin demand that officials familiar with the matter say is not opposed by Washington. At the same time, President Volodymyr Zelensky faces scrutiny after offering differing assessments of U.S. readiness to provide security guarantees. Kyiv has insisted that credible security guarantees are necessary to prevent Russia from launching another invasion. Y

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