As Russia is obsessed with conquering Ukraine, there is one region that is rapidly slipping out of its grip: the South Caucasus. Russia's influence in the region is decreasing, while Azerbaijan and its main ally, Turkey, are emerging as new regional leaders. "Russia's ability to be a hegemon has been weakened, and its influence continues to wane (in the region)," John DiPirro, a senior fellow at the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, told the Kyiv Independent. "Russia has left a void that Azerba

The Aug. 30 murder of ex-Speaker and current lawmaker Andriy Parubiy was the latest in a string of killings and assassination attempts targeting Ukrainian nationalists and activists of pro-Western revolutions. While the perpetrators of the attacks have been detained, the question of who ordered the assassinations remains unsolved. Evidence has been mounting that Russia could be behind at least some of the attacks. Kremlin propaganda has consistently demonized Ukrainian nationalists and pro-Eur

The U.S. and European leaders are continuing to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine, claiming that a breakthrough has been made in peace talks. At the same time, Russia has been storming the front in Ukraine's east and bombarded Kyiv with ballistic missiles on Aug. 28, killing at least 23 people and damaging the EU delegation headquarters. Experts agree that the so-called peace talks are a farce, with no party expecting any meaningful results. The core issue appears to be that both U.S. P

As peace talks to end the war in Ukraine gather speed toward a potential trilateral meeting between the U.S., Ukraine, and Russia, the question of what kind of security guarantees Kyiv might receive continues to loom over the flurry of diplomatic meetings. After President Volodymyr Zelensky's Aug. 18 appearance at the White House, European leaders are now expected to draft a skeleton proposal for security guarantees over the next week, according to Kyiv Independent sources. The proposal will ex

When President Volodymyr Zelensky joined U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Aug. 18, the positive mood between the leaders stood in stark contrast to their disastrous encounter in February in the same spot. This shift alone was seen as a victory for Ukraine — offering many of its citizens and allies relief, though the meeting itself was largely inconclusive and failed to secure concrete decisions on the security guarantees and the ceasefire that Ukraine has pushed for. "I think

Russian President Vladimir Putin has laid out a number of demands that he would require to stop his country's war against Ukraine. Most of these demands are non-starters for Ukraine, analysts say. Russia has demanded a full Ukrainian withdrawal from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, de jure recognition of the occupied territories as Russian, a special status for the Russian-backed church and the Russian language in Ukraine, Kyiv's demilitarization, and a ban on Kyiv's NATO membership. In exchange,

Three and a half years into Russia's full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian branch of the Russian Orthodox Church is finally facing its judgment day. Under a law passed in 2024, the branch — the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate —  is supposed to either sever its ties with Russia or be banned. Neither has happened so far. Due to the invasion, the church has faced an escalating crisis due to its affiliation with Russia and some of its priests' collaboration with the Russian auth

The scene of the planned Aug. 15 meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin — the U.S. state of Alaska — has played an outsized role in Russian propaganda and mythology. The choice of Alaska for the summit has re-ignited imperialist narratives, with Kremlin propagandists emphasizing again that the peninsula used to be a Russian territory. Some imperialist Russians have perceived the sale of Russian Alaska to the U.S. in 1867 as treason or a tragic mi

As U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, prepare for a bilateral meeting on Aug. 15 in Alaska, the aims of the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine appear to contradict each other. "At the end of that meeting, probably in the first two minutes, I'll know exactly whether or not a deal can be made," Trump told reporters on Aug. 11. Experts say the hastily organized summit will most likely fail to bring Trump, Putin, and President Volodymyr Zelensky to an agreement on a fu

As President Volodymyr Zelensky was restoring the independence of anti-corruption agencies days after he himself took that independence away, one crucial amendment was not overturned. On July 22, Zelensky signed a bill that subordinated the country's anti-corruption agencies to the prosecutor general, a political appointee, and eliminated prosecutors' procedural independence as a side effect. Following protests in Kyiv and pressure from Brussels, the president on July 31 signed a new bill that

Volodymyr Zelensky's decision to sign a bill targeting the independence of anti-corruption agencies followed mounting investigations that involved high-ranking officials and those close to the president. Zelensky's critics argue that the corruption cases against his associates and top incumbents were the real reason behind the bill. The President's Office did not respond to requests for comment. The officials under investigation have denied the accusations of wrongdoing. On July 25, Zelensky

President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that the purpose of the law dismantling Ukraine's anti-corruption infrastructure was to curtail Russian influence. However, the law passed and signed on July 22 does not have anything to do with Russian influence. Its clauses deprive anti-corruption agencies of their independence, and there is nothing in the law that targets Russian agents in or outside the agencies. "The clause that the prosecutor general can take cases away from the National Anti-Corrupti

Ukraine faced a watershed moment on July 22 as parliament passed, and the president signed, a bill that effectively eliminates the independence of the country's anti-corruption institutions. The bill will subordinate the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) to the prosecutor general. Activists and opposition lawmakers say that this will make it impossible for the anti-corruption agencies to investigate top incumbent officials without

Editor's note: President Zelensky signed the bill into law on the evening of July 22, which you can read about here. Ukraine's independent anti-corruption institutions had a rough Monday. The Prosecutor General's Office, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), and the State Investigation Bureau conducted at least 70 searches in premises connected to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), which investigates top-level corruption. The opened probes target at least 15 NABU employees. Most of

When the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) halted the transfer of critical air defense missiles and other weapons to Ukraine, Kyiv and its partners were caught off-guard and are now left scrambling for clarity on the scope and length of the Trump administration's decision. The White House confirmed the halt after a July 1 report by Politico said shipments were paused due to concerns over the size of domestic stockpiles. The decision "was made to put America's interests first following a DOD rev