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Francis Farrell photo

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

Articles

War

Ukraine’s defense of Pokrovsk on a knife-edge as high command resists calls to withdraw

by Francis Farrell
Ukrainian forces continue to stubbornly defend the pocket around Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, despite relentless Russian assaults in and around the two cities, leading to an ever-increasing threat of encirclement. Over two weeks since Russian soldiers were filmed breaking into the urban area of the mining city in Donetsk Oblast en masse, the city has descended into a deep gray zone, in which the concept of territorial control is lost in a fog of chaotic movement. "The situation hasn't changed that
War

What we know now about the 'encirclement' of Ukraine's Pokrovsk

by Francis Farrell
Russian soldiers have advanced further into the city of Pokrovsk, threatening not only to take the city, but to complete a larger encirclement of the surrounding area, as independent analysts and commanders report a serious deterioration of the Ukrainian position in the area. The defense of the major city in Donetsk Oblast, which has held out for over a year of heavy fighting as one of the main hotspots of the front line, looks to have begun falling apart as Russian soldiers in their hundreds h
War

With a web of drones and infiltrating infantry, Russian troops overrun Kupiansk

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 names and call signs only. KHARKIV OBLAST- Dug deep within walls of black soil in the rolling hills of northeastern Ukraine, what was once the undisputed god of war can no longer afford to rise above ground for long. With an 8-meter barrel designed by Soviet engineers for long-range and accuracy, the Ukrainian Giatsint towed howitzer is pointed to the skie
War

Analysis: Ukraine learns hard lessons from Russia's evolving tactics after clearing Dobropillia 'breakthrough'

by Francis Farrell
After two and a half months of intense fighting, the red rabbit-ear-looking shape on the battlefield map of Donetsk Oblast is gone for good. With the liberation of two more villages, Sukhetske and Kucheriv Yar, announced by the Ukrainian military over the weekend, the operation to clear the major Russian breach of Ukrainian lines near the city of Dobropillia is all but over. Compared to the dramatic alarm of mid-August, when hundreds of Russian troops pierced through a porous and chaotic defen
War

Ukraine war latest: Russian mass attack kills civilians in Kyiv, blackouts begin as energy grid damaged

by Francis Farrell
Hi, this is Francis Farrell reporting from Kyiv on day 1,337 of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Our top story so far today: A large-scale missile and drone attack on energy infrastructure across Ukraine killed six people and injured at least 36 overnight on Oct. 22, according to authorities. In Kyiv, two people were killed and 21 injured, while four were killed in the Brovarsky district of Kyiv Oblast, regional authorities said. In Zaporizhzhia Oblast, at least 15 civilians were inju
War

Analysis: Pokrovsk on the brink as Russian troops, drones infiltrate deeper into Ukraine’s fortress city

by Francis Farrell
At first, the pictures went viral for another reason. Two Ukrainian civilians were shot dead and another injured on the roadside, the victims of another Russian war crime that was as everyday as it was horrific. Ordinary, peaceful residents of the city of Pokrovsk — the very people Russia claims to be “liberating” in its war of destruction in the Donbas, who held on to life in their homes for a year after their city became a war zone — snuffed out in an instant. But beyond the shock and anger
Polish Air Force MiG-29 fighter jets take part in a NATO shielding exercise at the Łask Air Base, Poland, on Oct. 12, 2022.
War

'A careful calculation' — Russia's drone incursion into Poland tests NATO's red lines

by Francis Farrell
Russia and NATO are currently in the most open confrontation since the collapse of the Soviet Union ended the Cold War — but only one side seems to be acknowledging it. The incursion of 21 Russian drones into Polish airspace on Sept. 9 — unprecedented in the history of Moscow’s relations with NATO — has brought the prospects of a direct military exchange between the two adversaries into the forefront. “Even though NATO is not at war, Russian aggression strikes beyond Ukraine,” Polish Foreign M

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