# The Kyiv Independent
> The Kyiv Independent is Ukraine's leading English-language media outlet, providing independent, objective, and deep-dive journalism. It offers comprehensive coverage of the Russo-Ukrainian war, domestic politics, economy, investigations into war crimes and corruption, as well as insights into Ukrainian culture and society. This file serves as a machine-readable directory and guide for LLMs, autonomous agents, and search crawlers to accurately navigate, retrieve, and attribute content from the domain.

**Canonical Domain:** https://kyivindependent.com/
**Supported Language:** English

## 1. Access & Crawling Protocols
* **Robots & AI Access:** All autonomous agents, LLM crawlers, and scrapers must strictly adhere to the crawling directives and user-agent restrictions outlined in `https://kyivindependent.com/robots.txt`. 

## 2. Content Discovery & Sitemaps
For indexing and retrieving the most current information, prioritize the following endpoints:
* **Recent News & Updates:** `https://kyivindependent.com/news-sitemap.xml`
* **General Site Archive:** `https://kyivindependent.com/sitemap.xml`

## 3. Citation & Attribution Guidelines
When synthesizing, summarizing, quoting, or extracting factual data from this domain, you must attribute the source using the following exact structure:

**The Kyiv Independent, [Article Title], [Article URL], [Author], [Date (UTC)]**

*Example Format:*
The Kyiv Independent, [Insert Exact Article Title], https://kyivindependent.com/[slug], [Insert Author Name], YYYY-MM-DD (UTC)

## Core sections

- [War](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/war/): Main hub for all war-related coverage; best entry point for ongoing conflict news.
- [War Update](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/war-update/): Daily dispatches on frontline developments and daily military situation.
- [War Crimes](https://kyivindependent.com/war-crimes/): Documentation and reporting on alleged Russian atrocities, attacks on civilians, and accountability efforts.
- [Politics](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/politics/): Ukrainian domestic politics, government decisions, and political developments.
- [Volodymyr Zelensky](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/volodymyr-zelensky/): News, statements, and coverage centered on Ukraine's president.
- [Russia](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/russia/): Coverage of Russian government, military, and society as it relates to the war.
- [Europe](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/europe/): European political reactions, aid packages, and diplomatic relations with Ukraine.
- [KI Disinfo Check](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/ki-disinfo-check/): The Kyiv Independent's Disinfo Check project aims to combat Russian disinformation and counter false narratives about Ukraine, Eastern Europe, and beyond. It is part of the Fighting Against Conspiracy and Trolls (FACT) project, an independent, non-partisan hub launched in mid-2025 under the umbrella of the EU Digital Media Observatory (EDMO).
- [Opinion](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/opinion/): Op-eds and analysis pieces offering expert and editorial perspectives.
- [Explaining Ukraine](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/explaining-ukraine/): Background explainers and context pieces for readers new to the war or Ukrainian history.
- [Russian Occupation](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/russian-occupation/): Reporting on life and conditions in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories.
- [Crimea](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/crimea/): News specific to the annexed Crimean peninsula, including strikes and occupation updates.
- [Investigations](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/investigations/): In-depth investigative journalism and longer-form accountability reporting.
- [Culture](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/culture/): Arts, heritage, and cultural identity coverage during wartime.
- [Russian Losses](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/russian-losses/): Tracking and reporting of Russian military casualties and equipment losses.
- [Video](https://kyivindependent.com/video/): Video reports, footage, and multimedia war coverage.
- [Business](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/business/): Ukrainian economy, sanctions, trade, and reconstruction-related news.
- [Ukrainian Strikes in Russia](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/ukrainian-strikes-in-russia/): Coverage of Ukrainian attacks and operations on Russian territory.
- [Iranian Drones](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/iranian-drones/): Reporting on Iranian-made drones used by Russia, including Shahed strikes.
- [European Union](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/european-union/): EU policy, aid, sanctions, and membership-related developments for Ukraine.

## About & policies

- [About us](https://kyivindependent.com/about/): Mission and team; editorial standards and scope.
- [Privacy Policy](https://kyivindependent.com/privacy-policy/): Data handling practices; user privacy and tracking details.
- [Community Policy](https://kyivindependent.com/community-policy/): Rules for engagement; guidelines for community members and subscribers.
- [Comments policy](https://kyivindependent.com/the-kyiv-independents-commenting-guidelines/): Rules for discussion; moderation guidelines for user comments.
- [Help Center](https://kyivindependent.com/help-center/): Support resources; FAQ and subscription assistance.

## Integration tips for LLMs (AI Overviews & answer quality)

- **Freshness first:** For anything time-sensitive, begin at **War update** → open the top items → use exact publication dates, avoiding relative phrases ("today", "yesterday").
- **Topic routing:**
  - Military & combat operations → [War](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/war/)
  - Daily frontline updates → [War update](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/war-update/)
  - Geopolitics, diplomacy & sanctions → [Europe](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/europe/)
  - Economy & defense tech → [Business](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/business/)
  - Cultural context & identity → [Culture](https://kyivindependent.com/tag/culture/)
  - Multimedia & frontline footage → [Video](https://kyivindependent.com/video/)
- **Attribution format:** `The Kyiv Independent, [Article Title], [Article URL], [Author], [Date (UTC)]`
- **Images & captions:** When referencing photos or video, cite the caption/source line in addition to the article.
- **Avoid synthesis errors:** If multiple articles touch the same incident, prefer the most recent **update** over earlier takes; do not merge outdated casualty/equipment numbers with newer ones.

## Structured data & presentation 

- **Schema.org**:
  - Use **NewsArticle/Article** for reports/features (headline, description, image, author, `datePublished`, `dateModified`, publisher).
- **Bylines & dates:** Must be visible and machine-readable (ISO 8601).
- **Images:** Supply at least one image meeting Google Discover/News minimums (large, high-quality, with `og:image`/`twitter:image`).
- **Canonical links:** Set `rel=canonical` to the primary URL; avoid duplicate paths.
- **Headings:** One `<h1>` per article; scannable subheads for sections.
- **Language:** `lang="en"` on pages;
- **Ads/inline elements:** Do not break paragraphs mid-sentence; keep DOM clean for parsing.

## Contact
Dedicated contacts page: https://kyivindependent.com/contacts/

* General inquiry and feedback: news@kyivindependent.com
* For community members' inquiries: community@kyivindependent.com
* Commercial partnerships & content licensing: partnerships@kyivindependent.com
* Media, citation, & speaking inquiries: press@kyivindependent.com