Kyiv Independent held its first live event in New York
The Kyiv Independent on Dec. 9 hosted its first live event in New York City, an evening dedicated to storytelling, investigative journalism, and front-line reporting.
The evening supported the work of the Kyiv Independent’s War Crimes Investigations Unit — a department formed in May 2023 to investigate Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine.
The evening was hosted by editor-in-chief Olga Rudenko and CEO Daryna Shevchenko. The team members, reporter Francis Farrell, videographer Olena Zashko, and War Crimes Investigations Unit reporter Olesia Bida, shared their personal wartime stories with the Kyiv Independent members and partners.
Olesia’s story was about Oksana, a Ukrainian teenager from an occupied region in southern Ukraine who was taken to Russia under the guise of a summer camp and forced to undergo military training.
“Her experience reveals a broader policy of pressure and indoctrination targeting Ukrainian children in occupied territories. By contrasting Oksana’s story with memories of a normal Ukrainian childhood that I had, I highlight the injustice faced by a generation growing up under occupation — and the future Russia is trying to take away.”
Francis shared the story of a Ukrainian volunteer-turned soldier Serhii, whose home town in the embattled Donetsk Oblast is now occupied by Russia. The two met during one of Francis’ reporting trips to the east.
“Often, people ask me, ‘Are Ukrainians not tired, how long can the soldiers keep fighting without rotation, and how long can cities live with regular blackouts? Peace deal, maybe, soon?’ My reply is always the same. The only alternative to fighting on is annihilation.
“For Serhii, his home is already lost, but Serhii's Ukraine, just like mine, is not a place on the map, it is people.
“He, together with hundreds of thousands of other Ukrainian soldiers, remain the only thing holding back that wave of annihilation.”
Olena told the story of her home and her family, which was forced to flee their native Mezhova in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast as the front line approached and Russian glide bomb and drone attacks intensified. “Now I’m standing here, in the center of New York, the city from my childhood movies and dreams. But I never thought I would come here to share a story about losing my home. As of today, Russian troops are seven miles away from Mezhova.
“A few months ago, I read a book about human psychology. There, I found this detail about our brain — when we feel danger, the most important thing for us is to go home, because there we feel safe. Russia stole my home, and now I don’t have a place where I can go if I feel in danger.”
The Kyiv Independent also presented “The War They Live” an exhibition сurated by our photo editor Irynka Hromotska in collaboration with Ukrainian photographer and creator of the project, Sergey Melnitchenko.
In early 2025, Melnitchenko distributed 25 disposable film cameras to Ukrainian soldiers across the front line, inviting them to document their everyday lives. The resulting exhibition offers a rare historical snapshot from within the war, told directly through the eyes of those who fight it.
The photographs were accompanied by personal letters and small artifacts from the soldiers, creating an intimate, first-person archive of wartime experience.
The event was made possible thanks to the support of our partners. The event was organized in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute of America, our host, and Veselka restaurant, which has been sharing Ukrainian hospitality in New York since 1954. We also thank the partners Nova Ukraine, United Help Ukraine, and donors Razom for Ukraine, whose support enabled this evening.
