Key developments on Oct. 25: * Russia strikes Donetsk Oblast 15 times, killing 7 civilians, injuring 3 * Ukrainian forces repel Russian attacks near 10 settlements * UN reports 16,150 civilian casualties in Ukraine as a result of Russia’s war President Volodymyr Zelensky on Oct. 25 asked the world leaders at
On a cold day in March, Vitalii Pcholkin, who uses a wheelchair, lay under three blankets, unable to warm up. He and his wife Uliana, also confined to a wheelchair, had been sheltering in their apartment in then-occupied Bucha, a satellite town just northwest of Kyiv. Bucha was cut off
At least ten locations that had been used as "torture chambers" by Russian forces were discovered after the liberation of parts of Kharkiv Oblast, according to Police Chief Ihor Klymenko. Klymenko reported on Sept. 16 that two of these chambers had been found in the city of Balakliia. He didn’
Editor's note: This story was published on Aug. 24, 2022, Ukraine's 31st Independence Day. Ukraine’s 31st Independence Day on Aug. 24 also marks exactly six months of Russia’s full-scale invasion. This year, there will be no celebrations, only a heightened alert for Russian attacks on a symbolic date.
Maksym Butkevych, a well-known human rights defender in Ukraine, has had anti-militarist views all his conscious life. But when Russia launched a brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, he put pacifism aside and joined the Ukrainian army. "There are times when one needs to be ready to defend
Editor's Note: The names of some of the people in this story who live under Russian occupation have been changed due to security reasons. One morning in early March, Iryna, 33, was frantically going through her closet looking for comfortable shoes. She knew she would have to walk to her
Andriy Smyrnov, a deputy chief of staff for President Volodymyr Zelensky, clarified on July 18 that Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and Ivan Bakanov, head of the Security Service of Ukraine, had been suspended but not fired yet. According to Smyrnov, the top officials' suspension was needed to prevent their potential
Over 40 countries and international organizations such as the European Investment Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development signed the Lugano Declaration on July 5, committing to support war-torn Ukraine in what is expected to be a long and expensive rebuild. Following the two-day, high-profile Ukraine Recovery Conference
Ukraine has pushed Russian forces to abandon the Snake Island, a small but strategic outpost in the Black Sea, the Operation Command South said on June 30. According to the Ukrainian military, "the enemy hastily evacuated the remnants of the garrison in two speedboats and probably left the island." Russia's
Vitallia Mazur, 32, with her then 1-month-old daughter, escaped to Italy in early March, a week after Russian missiles began raining down on Ukrainian cities. Two months later, they returned to Vinnytsia: “My daughter has been growing up so fast. She started to get used to the environment, to people
After Russia began its brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, many multinational companies have announced that they are voluntarily curtailing or halting their business there. Some, like Nestle or PepsiCo, were pressured into making the decision after facing pushback from their employees in Ukraine, customers around the globe,
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi made their first wartime visit to Kyiv on June 16. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis joined them in Ukraine's capital. The four leaders visited Irpin, a Kyiv suburb, where Russian troops committed atrocities. After their return, Macron,
After three missed calls, Kristina picks up the phone and says, barely above a whisper: "I can't talk now. I'm not alone." When calling back, she turns on the tub in the bathroom so her husband can’t hear her. For several months, she had been gathering the strength to
The wives of the last Ukrainian soldiers left in Mariupol, the southern city that is mostly occupied by Russians and 90% destroyed after weeks of constant Russian shelling, called on the world to help save their husbands. Five Ukrainian women whose husbands are among the Ukrainian soldiers holding out at
After Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, businessman Vasyl Yabryk, rushed to help temporarily displaced Ukrainians with housing and humanitarian aid. But soon he learned that it takes more than a desire to help to be an effective volunteer. Yabryk says that the more experienced volunteers,
A Russian strike on a railway station in Kramatorsk has killed at least 50 people, including five children, according to Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko. At least 98 more were wounded, many of which are in critical condition, the governor reported. The spokeswoman of the Donetsk Oblast administration, Tetiana Ihnatchenko,
In a speech wrapping up his two-day visit to Poland, U.S. President Joe Biden blasted Russian dictator Vladimir Putin for unleashing an all-out war in Ukraine and strangling democracy at home. “For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power," Biden said at the end of the speech he
One month ago, just after 4:45 a.m. Kyiv time on Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin went on television to announce what he called a “special operation” to “disarm and de-Nazify” Ukraine. His address was immediately followed by missile strikes on major Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, and multi-directional
Editor’s Note: The Kyiv Independent isn’t revealing last names of the people from the Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine interviewed for this story for safety reasons. Nearly every man that Oleksii, a 24-year-old resident of Russian-occupied Khrestivka in Donetsk Oblast, knows – friends, school classmates, and former colleagues from a
In late February, Kyiv resident Serhii Fokin had a tough decision to make: walk into a bomb shelter during an air raid and risk infecting those around him, or stay at home, risking being killed by a Russian missile. Fokin chose the second option, staying in his apartment’s corridor
A cold basement with a corridor and small rooms on both sides, previously used as a wardrobe for the hospital staff. Chairs, worn benches, and cradles for newborns. This is where Mariia Shostak, 25, met her son for the first time. He was born in Kyiv on Feb. 25, or
“I woke up from a call from a friend. He told me Russia was bombing Kyiv," says Artem Basistiy, a 29-year-old from Crimea, who had lived in Kyiv for the last four years. "Then I heard a siren going off, quickly grabbed the dog, and ran to the shelter. After
Tears streamed down Margaryta Chornobryvets's face as she entered a refugee hostel in Krakow, Poland. The 16-year-old from Kyiv, was now safe from the bombs and rockets unleashed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Ukraine on Feb. 24 but desperate at being separated from her family. "My mother brought me
Amid Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine, people from Kremlin-occupied Donbas remain the least protected group, having no rights or freedoms, and being dependent on the will of the Kremlin and militant groups under its control. On Feb. 18, heads of Kremlin’s proxies in occupied Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts began
