Jimmy Rushton

Editor's note: This article has been updated with a statement from the U.K. government. The United Kingdom on May 20 apologized for the way it "clumsily" handled the roll-out of new sanctions on Moscow after a day earlier it issued what appeared to be an easing of sanctions on Russian energy imports. A license posted on the U.K. government web portal on May 19 permits imports of diesel and jet fuel made from Russian oil if "the products have been processed in a third country." The move was wi

More than four years into a full-scale war Russia started but has no clear plan to win or even stop, the balance of power in the drone war has taken a significant shift in favor of Ukraine. Ukrainian drone programs at every level have begun to outperform Russia’s, and in a war that is increasingly defined by these unmanned platforms, this shift has started to produce tangible results not only on the battlefield, but also now in the skies above Russia. "Moscow from now on never sleeps," Robert

The Ukrainian advance was confirmed by footage of Ukrainian troop movements released by HUR, which shows soldiers from the "Artan" special unit of Ukrainian military intelligence engaging Russian forces in Stepnohirsk.

A Western-funded classified program supported a "non-violent resistance" initiative inside Russian-occupied Ukraine for more than three years that encouraged civilians to engage in "suicidal" activities despite credible reports of the deaths, torture, and imprisonment of activists, the Kyiv Independent can reveal. Russian-occupied Ukraine is one of the most heavily surveilled and most repressive territories in the world, and some of the activities Yellow Ribbon and its sister initiative Zla Mav

"The enemy at the front doesn't have a problem, the enemy has a catastrophe," Serhiy "Flash" Beskrestnov said.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with a response from the White House. A senior U.S. envoy involved in efforts to end Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine has displayed a lack of basic understanding of Ukraine's political system and the war itself while speaking in a closed conversation with a small group of reporters, the Kyiv Independent has learned. The official is engaged in high-level negotiations with both Moscow and Kyiv as Ukraine, Russia, and the United States reenter an

U.S. officials leading the talks are convinced that Russian negotiators have taken a more pragmatic tone behind closed doors than Moscow's public hardline rhetoric suggests, according to two people familiar with the matter. The Kremlin has consistently used public statements before and after each round of talks to reiterate — and at times escalate — its maximalist demands on Ukraine, including territorial and political concessions. "They usually say their maximalist demands, and then they allo

Ukraine needs at least $27 billion in military equipment from non-European Union sources in 2026, highlighting the bloc's dependence on American technology to support Kyiv, negotiating documents show. The EU is set to spend 60 billion euros ($70 billion) on Ukraine's defense as part of a larger 90-billion-euro support package agreed in December, an unprecedented sum that European leaders hope will reboot its military industrial base and support the Ukrainian military’s continued operation durin

A day before President Volodymyr Zelensky met U.S. President Donald Trump, European leaders privately warned the Ukrainian president that the talks could go badly and urged him to "be careful," according to detailed notes from the call shared with the Kyiv Independent by a senior diplomatic source. The caution came ahead of Zelensky's Dec. 28 meeting with Trump at the U.S. president's Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago — a high-stakes encounter focused on Washington's latest push to broker a peace f