Team
Francis Farrell
ReporterFrancis Farrell is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent. He has worked as managing editor at the online media project Lossi 36, and as a freelance journalist and documentary photographer. He has previously worked in OSCE and Council of Europe field missions in Albania and Ukraine, and is an alumnus of Leiden University in The Hague and University College London. The Kyiv Independent received a grant from the Charles Douglas-Home Memorial Trust to support Farrell's front-line reporting for the year 2024-2025. Francis is the co-author of War Notes, the Kyiv Independent's weekly newsletter about the war.
Articles
Humanitarian crisis in Kherson escalates but Russian river crossing remains unrealistic
After enduring a Russian occupation, a manmade flood, and drone attacks that turned its streets into a human safari, the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson could soon be made completely unlivable.
The extended range of Russian drones flown from across the Dnipro River has brought the main roads supplying Kherson — particularly the main highway connecting the city to Mykolaiv — under attack from the skies.
Meanwhile, on Aug. 2 and 3, Russian forces struck the road bridge to the Korabel neighbor
'We spot them, we destroy them' — Ukraine fights for Kostiantynivka as Russia closes in on three sides
Editor’s Note: In accordance with the security protocols of the Ukrainian military, soldiers featured in this story are identified by first names and callsigns only.
KOSTIANTYNIVKA, Donetsk Oblast — As recently as four months ago, the drab streets of the city of Kostiantynivka were full of life. With all the trademark signs of a buzzing front-line hub — from dozens of soldiers lining up for coffee and pizza after coming back from positions to hardy civilians living, working and playing as usual
Inside the Battle of Kostiantynivka under drone-infested sky
The Kyiv Independent's Francis Farrell and Olena Zashko spent a day with two drone teams of the 20th Brigade of Ukraine's National Guard, known as Liubart, that are holding a sector south of Kostiantynivka.
West not ready for modern war, Ukrainian drone commander says
Deputy commander of one of the flagship units of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces specializing in the use of FPV (first-person view) drones discusses the current state of drone warfare in Ukraine
24 hours inside Pokrovsk as Russia closes in on key Ukrainian city
In what could be one of the last visits by journalists to Pokrovsk, the Kyiv Independent spent 24 hours in the front-line city, embedded with a drone team of Ukraine’s 68th Jaeger Brigade.
As Russia closes in on Pokrovsk, battle for key city enters its final act
Editor’s Note: In accordance with the security protocols of the Ukrainian military, soldiers featured in this story are identified by first names and callsigns only.
POKROVSK, Donetsk Oblast – Light rain and the dying light of a cool summer evening accompany the Ukrainian drone team’s preparation to begin their shift.
The men are silent as the military pick-up truck, full of drones and other supplies, turns off the village track onto the main road south into Pokrovsk.
Every trip in and out of
Beneath the problematic surface, the New York Times’ Kursk reporting reveals a deeper moral rot
Editor’s Note: Following the publication of this opinion piece and another article on our website criticizing The New York Times, the publication responded to The Kyiv Independent with a statement sent via email. The full response has been included in this article.
I really don't want to write what I'm about to write. As someone who regularly tries to get close to the active combat zone of Russia's war against Ukraine, tell the stories of those in the middle of it — soldiers and civilians — and
Analysis: Ahead of Trump's 'major' Russia announcement, what will happen next to Ukraine?
Amid ever-escalating aerial assaults, accelerating Russian advances in the east, and the weariness that comes with nearly 3.5 years of war, all eyes in Ukraine are once again focused upon one man — U.S. President Donald Trump.
"I think I'll have a major statement to make on Russia on Monday," Trump said in an interview with NBC News on July 10, the latest development in a tortuously long and so far wholly ineffective U.S.-led peace process.
Short of a massive injection of military aid, or crus
What Russian bombardment feels like in Kyiv
The Kyiv Independent staff documented what it feels like to live and sleep in Kyiv, Ukraine, as Russia intensifies its drone and missile attacks on the city. Filmed over several weeks in June and July, our journalists take shelter in bathrooms, basements, and parking garages as explosions ring out overhead.
Ukraine's artillery braces for shell shortage as US halts aid
The Kyiv Independent's Francis Farrell and Olena Zashko spent a day with an artillery crew from the 28th Mechanized Brigade in the front-line city of Kostiantynivka. Following the recent decision by the Pentagon to halt shipments of certain weapons to Ukraine, a looming shell shortage is once again on the horizon for Ukrainian forces.
Warfare in Ukraine has changed… again
The Kyiv Independent’s Francis Farrell explains a new modification of the standard first-person view (FPV) drone that already once transformed the way war is fought. Fiber optic cable now used to connect drone operators to FPVs ensures a perfect image and control experience all the way to the target — and cannot be spotted by enemy drone detectors.
Donetsk Oblast city ‘on brink of humanitarian catastrophe,’ governor says as drones cripple infrastructure
"The Russians are trying to fully control all movement in the city using their drones," a military spokesperson told the Kyiv Independent.
Inside the Special Operations Forces of Ukraine
Forged from the remnants of the Soviet Spetsnaz, Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces have become a vital pillar of the country’s current defense, playing their role in some of the war’s most decisive engagements – from Kyiv to Donbas, and to Kursk Oblast in Russia.
'All of Ukraine is ours' — Putin on Russia's territorial ambitions in Ukraine
Editor's Note: This story was updated with comments from Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said "all of Ukraine" belonged to Russia in a speech on June 20 at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, amid increasingly aggressive official statements about Moscow's final territorial ambitions in Ukraine.
Putin's claim was based on the false narrative often pushed both by himself as leader and by Russian propaganda that Russians and Ukrainians are "one people
From buffer zone to new front: Russia pushes deeper into Sumy Oblast
In March 2025, as Ukrainian forces made their final retreat from Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, new grey spots began to appear on open-source maps on the other side of the state border, in Ukraine’s Sumy Oblast.
For the first time since 2022, when Moscow’s forces retreated frantically from northern Ukraine, Russian troops have once again set their sights on Sumy Oblast.
But for months, as Kyiv continued to claim hold of a thin sliver of Kursk Oblast and Russia’s spring offensive escalated in
Editors' Picks
'We spot them, we destroy them' — Ukraine fights for Kostiantynivka as Russia closes in on three sides
With all eyes on Kyiv, its surrounding villages are unspoken victims of Russian attacks
Invisible prisoners — the struggle to free thousands of Ukrainians in Russian captivity
