The Kyiv Independent's Deputy Chief Editor Oleksiy Sorokin spoke with Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa during her visit to Kyiv on July 15, following U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of his deal with NATO to arm Ukraine and his threat to impose severe sanctions on Russia if it doesn't reach a peace deal with Ukraine within the next 50 days.

Oksana Markarova has held the post since April 2021, and played a central role in coordinating U.S. military and financial support during the early phases of Russia's full-scale invasion.

The Kyiv Independent’s Oleksiy Sorokin sat down with Eivind Vad Petersson, state secretary to the Norwegian foreign minister and co-chair of the joint Norwegian-Ukrainian Working Group on Nuclear Safety and Security.

"Both teams are working to ensure we meet," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

A source in the President's Office told the Kyiv Independent that Trump and Zelensky spoke twice on May 19 — once before the scheduled call with Putin and again after it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin may have gotten more than he bargained for when, on May 11, he rejected calls for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire and invited Ukraine to engage in direct talks in Istanbul later this week. In what may have been a surprise for the Russian leader, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded by accepting the invitation, saying he was ready to meet Putin in Turkey on May 15. "This is not what Putin was expecting," Oleksandr Merezhko, a Ukrainian lawmaker and

"We are ready for all options. But of course, we are separately waiting for a response on the ceasefire," a source close to President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Kyiv Independent.

The documents, obtained by the Kyiv Independent, list the names, personal data, brigades, and ranks of Chinese nationals fighting for Russia.

Ukrainian and U.S. government and legal teams continue discussions on the mineral deal, a source in the Presidential Office told the Kyiv Independent on March 31 as U.S. President Donald Trump is escalating his rhetoric on the agreement.

Speaking at a press conference attended by the Kyiv Independent, Deputy Prime Minister and National Unity Minister Oleksii Chernyshov stressed the demographic challenges facing Ukraine in the fourth year of the full-scale war.

Kyiv officials will meet their Washington counterparts in Jeddah on March 11 for talks which will impact the future of diplomatic relations between the two countries and likely the future of the war in Ukraine. The Ukrainian side hopes the meeting would help mend ties with the White House and ensure that the future U.S.-led peace process doesn't pose an existential threat to Ukraine. "The advice for Ukraine is just get yourself aligned with the United States," Ambassador Kurt Volker, who serve

President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump held a 45-minute-long press briefing in the Oval Office that ended in a heated argument about American aid to Ukraine.

"The conversation went very well. He, like President (Vladimir) Putin, wants to make peace. We discussed a variety of topics having to do with the war, but mostly, the meeting that is being set up on Friday in Munich, where Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the delegation," U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The Kyiv Independent sat down with Timothy Ash, an associate fellow in the Russia and Eurasia program at Chatham House, to discuss Russia's current economic situation.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha expressed Kyiv's position on Russia's military presence in Syria to leaders of the new Syrian administration during a diplomatic visit to Damascus on Dec. 30, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said at an online meeting attended by the Kyiv Independent.