Kyiv Independent meets global membership goal, US push continues

It is official: thanks to readers around the world, we have just hit our biggest membership goal yet.

In May, the Kyiv Independent launched its largest membership drive to date, aiming to bring 4,000 new readers into its community. That target has now been met.

Numbers rarely tell the full story, but this one does: it shows that even as the world's attention drifts toward other crises, people everywhere are still choosing to put their support behind honest reporting from Ukraine.

Over the course of the campaign, 4,000 people joined the Kyiv Independent — increasing our total community size by 14%.

Zakhar Protsiuk, COO of the Kyiv Independent, says: "We are incredibly grateful to everyone who decided to join our community during this campaign and make our journalism stronger. We will do everything we can to turn your trust and support into more stories worth telling".

Readers from the United States made up the largest share of new members, followed by the United Kingdom — adding to a community that now spans more than 100 countries. During this campaign, for the first time in the Kyiv Independent's membership history, we welcomed members from China, Vanuatu, and Jamaica.

The US, however, is where the campaign is not yet finished. Alongside the global goal, we set a separate target: 2,000 new American readers, in addition to the 8,000 who already make up our largest national community. So far, 1,300 have joined — 700 short of the mark.

Along the way, we used the campaign to pull back the curtain on our work, publishing pieces on why readers around the world choose to support us and highlighting the lengths some of our members go to in order to help Ukraine.

Our journalism also reached new audiences through partners in media abroad. Francis Farrell discussed the technology shaping the battlefield on WNYC's The Brian Lehrer Show and wrote about the resilience of Ukrainian drone units for The Bulwark. Investigative reporter Danylo Mokryk spoke with Germany's FAZ about the culture of torture Russia has built in occupied Ukraine, while Spain's RTVE drew on our reporting on the Energoatom corruption scandal for its Diario de Ucrania segment. Krautreporter translated and republished our investigation, and Pacifica Network shared the Kyiv Independent story as told by Zakhar Protsiuk with its listeners.

We have crossed the finish line worldwide, but not yet in the US — and the last stretch counts. Not yet a member? Join us or gift a membership to someone who would benefit from reading us.