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Olena Goncharova

Special Correspondent

Olena Goncharova is the Special Correspondent for the Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.

o.goncharova@kyivindependent.com
For media & speaking inquiries:
press@kyivindependent.com

Articles

Children in a car along with others from Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine, arrive at a temporary camp in Russia, on Sept. 14, 2022.
Russia

US hearing exposes links between Russia’s energy sector and abduction of Ukrainian children

by Olena Goncharova
During a recent hearing before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, U.S. lawmakers blasted the Trump administration's decision to lift sanctions on Russian oil giants Gazprom and Rosneft — companies now accused of aiding the mass abduction of Ukrainian children. "One thing that we should not do is abet Russia's crimes. But shockingly, it appears that we are," said Representative James P. McGovern, citing evidence from the newly published Yale Humanitarian Research Lab report. "Camps owned or
A mobile phone displays the Telegram app login page.
Russia

What Russia's push to ban Telegram means for its economy — and war effort

by Olena Goncharova, Karol Luczka
“Why do you block the internet?” reads one of the comments under the latest post on Roskomnadzor’s official VKontakte social media page — a bland Women’s Day greeting from the very censorship agency leading Russia’s harshest crackdown on online communication in years. Russian authorities have set April as the target for finally blocking Telegram, one of the last popular international messenger apps still accessible in the country, and force users toward the Kremlin’s glitchy “national messenger
President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, on Sept. 22, 2023.
KI Disinfo Check

Russia’s disinformation campaign tests Canada’s support for Ukraine

by Olena Goncharova
To the average Canadian, the moral lines of the war in Ukraine remain clear. But behind the closed parliament doors, a different picture is emerging. National Security Advisor Nathalie Drouin warned parliament in February that more Canadians are beginning to believe the Kremlin's narrative: that Kyiv, not Moscow, provoked the 2022 invasion. On the surface, this shift isn't visible. Public polling commissioned by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) shows that nine in 10 Canadians still blame R

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