In February 2026, a group of women stood outside Kenya's parliament in Nairobi holding photographs of their sons and brothers. One, Winnie Rose Wambui, was looking for her brother, Samuel Maina, who had left for Russia believing he had a job as a mall security guard; the last she heard was a distress voice note recorded from a forest. Winnie's story is part of a bigger effort of illegal military recruitment conducted by Russia. At least 3,000 Africans from 37 countries have been recorded figh

A person matching the description of Kyrylo Budanov, head of the President's Office, allegedly asked his deputy, Iryna Mudra, to launder cash to pay bail for former Energy and Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko.

The Kyiv Independent's Kateryna Denisova speaks with Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania’s former foreign minister, about Russia’s war against Ukraine, growing pressure on the Baltic states, and Europe’s response to Russian hybrid attacks.

According to Gradus polling, safety is the main factor that would prompt Ukrainians to relocate. However, only one in five respondents said they would consider going abroad – the rest would look for temporary relocation within Ukraine.

Air raid alerts were issued for residents of the Lublin and Podkarpackie regions this morning, as Polish fighter jets scrambled preventively amid Russian drone attacks on Ukraine

As Russia shifts its bombardment tactics to near-hourly drone attacks throughout the day, increasingly targeting civilian infrastructure, more businesses are joining the program.

This story was produced by Grist and co-published with the Kyiv Independent. On a spring day earlier this year, 10 men stood on the rooftop of a door manufacturing facility in the central Ukrainian town of Bila Tserkva, surveying the rows of solar panels that surrounded them. Since Russia invaded in 2022, the town has endured repeated attacks, triggering mass power outages. For the factory, which supplies doors to homes and businesses, keeping production going had become extremely challenging.

Apart from occupied Kherson Oblast, Russia plans to build the complexes in Kaluga, Astrakhan, and Tyumen oblasts, Buryatia, and Zabaykalsky Krai, while the first is expected to open in Tatarstan by 2030.

Ukrainian forces also struck three ground control stations for Russian drones, alongside other targets, the General Staff said.

"Our agent, after a long study of the facility, detailed planning, and searching for weak points, managed to infiltrate an electrical substation near the VZPP-Sborka plant," Atesh said.

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie met with Ukrainian teachers and coaches who continue teaching and training children despite relentless Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure.

"The U.S, in turn, will lift sanctions from two Belarusian companies" — Lakokraska and Bellesbumprom, said Washington's special envoy John Coale.

"The Black Sea blockade is part of his plan," Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said, as Russian strikes against ports and vessels in Ukrainian waters are choking off Ukraine's agricultural exports.

"The general Grunis was eliminated on Sept. 12, 2026, in his nighttime lair in the temporarily occupied territory of Donetsk Oblast," Robert "Madyar" Brovdi, commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, said.

"The Verkhovna Rada … has a decisive role in turning reform commitments requiring legislative action into tangible results for Ukraine," reads a letter sent to the Ukrainian parliament by two EU commissioners.

Russian forces launched 80 drones at Ukraine overnight, including Shahed-type attack drones, jet-powered variants, Gerbera drones, and decoy drones, the Air Force said.

The new mechanism will include a "counter-hybrid playbook" and "a mechanism to flank NATO's Article 4" against incidents which "fall below armed aggression but clearly threaten our security," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced.

The General Staff said a direct hit and fire were recorded at the Syzran refinery, part of Russia's state-owned oil giant Rosneft. The AVT-6 primary oil refining unit and the facility's tank farm were hit, according to the statement.

The figure includes 1,530 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

Ukraine's oil infrastructure attacks have aggravated a domestic fuel supply crisis in Russia, contributing to export bans, price increases, and sales restrictions across the country.

The global network has operated since at least 2024 and most recently attempted to recruit multiple people in the U.S. to surveil and kill Russian dissidents, prosecutors claimed.

The sanctions bill passed its final procedural vote in the House of Representatives on Sept. 15 by a narrow 214-211 margin. Additional debate and the final vote to approve the legislation will take place Sept. 16.

"(A)ny apparent ties to members of Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle raises serious questions about pay-to-play schemes and foreign intelligence infiltration of the President's family," Rep. Robert Garcia wrote.

"So in Moldova, my presidential jet was there, and that's why they attacked Moldova," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

August news about the Kyiv Independent: interviews, awards, events and more

Key developments on Sept. 15: * Ukraine has 'successfully tested' new interceptor against Russian jet-powered drones, Zelensky says * Russia launches drone attack on Kyiv, killing at least 1, injuring 12 * Russia suffers over 300,000 military losses in Ukraine since start of 2026, General Staff says * Belarus holds 'defensive' military drills near borders with Poland, Lithuania Ukraine has "successfully" trialed another interceptor drone designed to target Russian jet-powered Shahed drones

DALLAS U.S., Texas — As the U.S. Republican Party convened for its first-ever national midterm convention in Dallas on Sept. 9-10, neither U.S. President Donald Trump nor Vice President JD Vance made Russia's war against Ukraine a significant part of their convention appearances. The convention was designed primarily to rally Republicans ahead of the November elections. The official program featured more than 100 speakers and focused on domestic issues and the president's agenda. But Russia's

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha stressed that the country urgently needs replacements and called on Western allies to help find and finance the procurement of locomotives compatible with the 1520 mm gauge.

Ukrainian forces under the command of the 3rd Army Corps are conducting a series of counterattacks north of the front-line city of Lyman in Donetsk Oblast, corps commander Brig. Gen. Andrii Biletskyi confirmed on Sept. 15. "The 3rd Army Corps has launched an offensive operation in this direction under the name Vivaldi," Biletskyi said. "This operation is being conducted under conditions of maximum information silence." Biletskyi said Ukrainian troops had cleared 75 square kilometers in northe

In late August and early September, it began to look as though Russia was winning the exchange of strikes. According to Zelensky, in late August, jet-powered drones made up more than half of all unmanned aerial vehicles launched. Ukraine shoots them down at a rate of six in ten, compared with more than nine in ten for propeller-driven ones. There is almost nothing to shoot down ballistic missiles with: the interception rate was 40% in June and 15% in July; on the night of Aug. 1, Russia launch

The ruling comes amid media reports that Yermak kept his political influence on Zelensky after resigning in November amid a corruption investigation. The move also followed an earlier court ruling that eased the restrictions on Yermak.

SLOVIANSK, Donetsk Oblast — From a brick-walled garage that barely fits the blue car parked inside, Oleksandr Richak carefully backs his taxi cab out onto the narrow street. The 42-year-old usually starts work around 8 a.m., once the early-morning rush hour of deadly Russian drone activity in the eastern front-line city subsides. As he briefly parks the car outside a damaged one-story house, his wife, Nataliia, walks over and hands him a bottle of lemon-flavored water. Her worried eyes follow