Oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, once deemed the most powerful businessman in the country, was allegedly stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship, according to Ukrainian media and several top officials and politicians. The news was first reported on July 20 by Ukrainska Pravda, citing its sources in the presidential administration. What first seemed
The National Bank of Ukraine has devalued the hryvnia against the dollar by 25% on July 21. The new official rate is Hr 36.57 per dollar. The previous rate of Hr 29.25, established in February at the start of the invasion, "no longer corresponds to reality and is
VINNYTSIA – Of the more than 100 people who sought medical attention at the local hospital after Russian missiles struck the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia on July 14, Tetyana Drobotyn was looking for just one, her husband. “It was just a mess. Doctors were performing CPR right in the hallway,
Will the end of Boris Johnson’s tenure as the UK’s prime minister significantly impact Britain’s commitment to help Ukraine fight off Russia? Probably not, believe experts and UK officials who spoke to the Kyiv Independent. They pointed out that, with few exceptions, there’s a cross-party consensus
Russian forces captured the villages of Loskutivka and Rai-Oleksandrivka, south of the city of Lysychansk, Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine’s General Staff reported on June 23. Russian troops are reportedly pushing to encircle Ukrainian positions in the villages of Zolote and Hirske, also located south of Lysychansk. Luhansk Oblast Governor Serhiy
As the four-van convoy rolls into the village of Stepanivka in Donetsk Oblast, volunteers hop out and raise a large tent to shield them from the summer sun. A small group of local onlookers quickly grows as people stream out of their homes towards the tent. The humanitarian aid is
Over the past several months Russia’s focus on capturing Sievierodonetsk has forced it to pull assets and attention from other positions of attack, giving Ukraine opportunities for tactical counterattacks. Successful Ukrainian offensives have been observed in Kharkiv Oblast as of early May and in Kherson Oblast and the city
DRUZHKIVKA, Donetsk Oblast — Love can blossom even on the battlefield. While Russia’s war has been a heavy burden for Ukrainians to bear, even those in the thick of the fighting find the time to celebrate life, love and happiness. Two military couples, both halves of which fight for Ukraine’
One hundred days of all-out war has been plenty of time to get acquainted with the Russian troops. Their lackluster combat performance, artillery barrages against cities, treatment of civilians, intercepted messages home, and interviews with dozens of civilians around Ukraine allow one to put together a mosaic portrait of the
Days after Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine, reports of the invading troops lacking decent provisions have surfaced on the internet. The Kyiv Independent’s defense reporter Illia Ponomarenko and investigative reporter Igor Kossov compare Russian and Ukrainian MREs, debunking some of the earlier misconceptions about Russia’s readiness
KRAMATORSK, Donetsk Oblast – As war bleeds Donetsk Oblast, the surgery center in Kramatorsk’s first city hospital has to shoulder the burden of caring for civilians from a large area. Its handful of remaining doctors and nurses operate on the ill and the wounded before they can be transported west
KRAMATORSK, Donetsk Oblast — Artur Serdiuk had just climbed under the covers at half past four in the morning, when the Russian airstrike hit 25 paces from his house. When he opened his eyes and came out from under the dust and debris his ceiling had turned into, he saw that
KRAMATORSK, Donetsk Oblast – The perfect sunny spring morning in Donetsk Oblast was marred by the constant explosions going off every few minutes a dozen kilometers away. The blasts were varied, coming from artillery and rocket barrages from both sides. A half-dozen soldiers held this outpost a short distance away from
KHARKIV – As the small convoy of journalists rounded a bend outside Kharkiv, two dark-green Ukrainian howitzers could be seen on a hill, etched against the warm blue May sky. A little while later, they vanished, likely moved to another location to continue the ongoing artillery battle against the Russians near
ZAPORIZHZHIA – Along the freshly green riverbanks, the flowers are in bloom. People are outside, enjoying t-shirt weather in the spring sun. The central city streets are busy with life. This is almost enough to take one’s mind off the city’s many checkpoints and barricades and what they signify.
The Russian soldiers that occupied settlements in Kyiv Oblast killed over a thousand civilians. Many people were hunted down systematically for being local political leaders, Donbas combat veterans, Territorial Defense joinees or other people of interest to the Russians. To find them, Russian forces carried lists with people’s names
BUCHA, Kyiv Oblast – As Ukraine recaptured the town of Bucha, the world saw the extent of the violence Russian soldiers inflicted on the civilian population. Since the Russian forces were driven out of Kyiv Oblast, 412 bodies have been found in the town’s streets, buildings and mass graves as
With her husband’s dependence on cancer treatments, the war is the worst thing that could have happened to Bucha resident Halyna Opalat. “He needs to be on an IV, but we weren’t able to make it to Kyiv,” said the 69-year-old, whose travel was blocked by Russians, then
BUCHA, Kyiv Oblast – Just a bit over a month ago, Bucha was a comfortable, cozy, and rapidly growing suburb just northwest of Kyiv. The town was a place of middle-class apartment complexes and houses, surrounded by woods. Today, Bucha is a synonym of horror known worldwide. Russia’s defeat in
Editor’s Note: The Kyiv Independent used false names for all sources who spoke from Kherson Oblast for this story, for the sake of security. Life is getting worse in the city of Kherson, which has been occupied by Russian forces for nearly a month. The near-total absence of critical
Seven people gathered on March 14 in a tiny church in the hitherto flourishing downtown neighborhood of Podil. The normally packed and bustling area stood eerily empty, like a set of a post-apocalyptic film. A frigid silence hunkered down over the district, interrupted occasionally by the faint thunder of the
STOYANKA-2, Kyiv Oblast – In the village of Stoyanka-2 outside Kyiv, a half-dozen cars line the road, riddled with holes, their bodywork mangled by bullets and an explosion. Their windows, bearing handwritten Ukrainian signs saying “Children” are perforated or shattered. The suitcases inside the vehicles appear to have been searched. The
A city at war needs more than just weapons. To survive, a city needs uninterrupted access to food, medicine and other critical goods. While Kyiv has avoided the worst of Russia’s depredations, which have come close to razing Mariupol and Kharkiv to the ground, the capital city remains the
Editor’s Note: The following is a personal account of the Kyiv Independent’s journalist describing spending a day with a small group of volunteers helping people get out of some of the most dangerous areas outside Kyiv. IRPIN AND STOYANKA, Kyiv Oblast – A clear, frigid day rises over Irpin.
While Ukrainian forces have, so far, successfully held off the Russian troops from taking Kyiv, the towns around the capital have become some of the most intense battlegrounds of the ongoing war. Russia seized the outlying suburban towns with vehicles and infantry, setting up checkpoints and, in many cases, cutting
When surgeon Oleh Godik woke up on Feb. 24, he knew that life had changed fundamentally. A day later, when he had to operate on a boy who'd been critically wounded in the neck by shrapnel from Russian forces, he knew he had been right. Despite his best attempts to
Russian forces have captured Europe’s largest nuclear power plant at Enerhodar in Zaporizhia Oblast, according to state nuclear operator Energoatom. An earlier fire at a non-critical building, caused by a Russian 'projectile,' was contained, without any damage to the plant, the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) reported. The
As Russian missiles rain down on their homes, many people of Kyiv have moved permanently into the safe shelter of the metro. After being thrown back from the capital numerous times over the past week, Russian forces have decided to revert to their doctrinal terror tactics of pounding the city
Ukraine and Poland opened two new pedestrian refugee crossings overnight, reducing the long queues of people fleeing on foot, according to Deputy Interior Minister Mary Akopyan. “There are still a lot of cars,” she told the Kyiv Independent. “But the pedestrian queues are no longer so extreme.” On Feb. 28,
Russian forces have blasted Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, with Grad multiple rocket launcher systems on Feb. 28, striking residential buildings. Eleven people have been killed in the attacks, Oleh Synehubov, the head of the regional government, said in a statement on Telegram. Earlier, the Kharkiv City Council said that one
It took a full-scale invasion by Russia into Ukraine to get the international community to apply a range of sanctions against the attacking country. The most severe penalty was the move to sever certain Russian banks from the international payment order system SWIFT and prevent the Russian Central Bank from
Russian forces have launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, killing at least 198 people so far, as they pushed in from multiple directions. Multiple Ukrainian cities and villages were shelled, attacked with missiles, helicopters, tanks and ships, while ground forces have begun invading multiple parts of the
