Even after Ukraine cut diplomatic ties with Russia in 2022, prisoner exchanges have continued as one of the few remaining channels of communication between the two countries. Negotiated behind closed doors and carried out irregularly, POW swaps — and the decisions surrounding them — have long been shrouded in secrecy. Controversies have
Russian forces attacked Kharkiv with drones, missiles, and KAB guided bombs overnight on June 7, killing at least three people and injuring 22, according to Governor Oleh Syniehubov.
On a sunny but chilly Monday, after class had already started in Kyiv schools, scores of grim-faced teens filled a crematorium hall at Kyiv's main cemetery instead. They had come to say goodbye to their friend and classmate Danylo Khudia, a 17-year-old whose coffin stood next to those of his
Russian forces dropped FAB-250 bombs on a residential area, damaging 21 homes.
It took several DNA tests to confirm the identity of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, who was killed in Russian captivity in the fall of 2024. Roshchyna, 27, disappeared in August 2023 while on a reporting trip in Ukraine's Russian-occupied territories. Moscow only acknowledged her detention the following year. Ukraine was
After Russia launched a missile strike at the city of Sumy on Palm Sunday — killing 35 civilians, including children, and injuring over 100 others — U.S. President Donald Trump wrote off the attack as a “mistake.” "I think it was terrible, and I was told they made a mistake, but
One month ago, Ukraine agreed to a full 30-day ceasefire in the U.S.-mediated talks in Jeddah, and Russia did not. Russia has soon intensified its attacks against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. Russian attacks on Ukraine have killed over 160 civilians in March alone. According to the United Nations Human
Editor’s note: This story contains graphic images. War leaves behind more than ruins and destroyed cities — it carves an invisible mark in the form of the missing and the dead. One of the most painful and challenging aspects of war is the fate of fallen soldiers, whose bodies remain
According to an investigation by the Kyiv Independent, the Russian military interfered with the work of locals who were evacuating people from the flooded areas on their own — their boats were confiscated, while the volunteers were threatened and forced to stop their efforts.
Branded a terrorist by Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko’s regime for taking part in Ukraine’s fight against Russia, Vasyl Verameichyk was paraded on state-controlled television in late January for a two-part interview titled "Confessions of a Militant." During the so-called interview, Verameichyk spoke of plans for an alleged incursion
The year 2024 was brutal for Ukraine. Last winter saw the fall of Avdiivka when, after several months of brutal fighting, the Russian army captured the city leveled to the ground. Ukraine struggled to hold the front line with limited resources as political infighting in the U.S. Congress had
Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power for 30 years, is looking to reelect himself for the seventh time. In the run-up to the January 2025 presidential elections, Lukashenko has pardoned prisoners convicted of extremism, claiming that it was a "humane gesture" toward those who had "gone astray.
For children around the world, the winter holidays are about gifts and a joyful time with their families. But for some Ukrainian children, the season is bittersweet, as it highlights the absence of one or both parents killed by Russia’s full-scale invasion. Nearly 1,800 Ukrainian children have become
In Alexander Lukashenko's Belarus, helping to defend Ukraine against Russia gets you labeled as a terrorist. Vasil Verameichyk, a Belarusian who enlisted in Ukraine's Armed Forces just four days after Russia launched its all-out war, was detained on Nov. 13 in Vietnam in a suspected covert operation by Belarusian secret
WARNING: This article contains descriptions of graphic scenes. Anna Kotova was chatting with her sister on a video call, admiring her image on the screen. It was her 19th birthday, and for the first time in a while, she was feeling good about how she looked. “I used to dye
On Nov. 11, 2021, a group of young journalists in Ukraine fired for defending their editorial independence decided to launch a new publication that would stand by those principles. This new publication, without a name at its start, would later become known as the Kyiv Independent. Three years in, the
Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, 27, was about to be released from Russian captivity and returned home, when the news of her death broke out on Oct. 10, shocking Ukraine and the world. Roshchyna disappeared in August 2023 while reporting in Russian-occupied territory. More than half a year later, Russia's Defense
Editor’s Note: The following article is the latest in a series of reports by the Kyiv Independent about the memorialization of Ukraine’s fallen soldiers. Ukrainians gathered at war memorials around the country on Oct. 1, the country’s National Defenders Day, to honor the soldiers killed defending their
Two hundred and twenty people remain hospitalized following the Russian attack on Poltava on Sept. 3, with some in critical condition, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address.
Russian forces launched a multiple-launch rocket system (MLRS) attack on a residential area in the town of Derhachi in Kharkiv Oblast on the evening of Sept. 8, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported.
On the morning of their first day of school, the sons of Anna Sushko, 6 and 7 years old, were at a bomb shelter in Kyiv, hiding from Russia’s missile attack. In the early morning of Sept. 2, when Ukrainian children and college students start their school year, Russia
Editor’s Note: The following is the first in a series of reports by the Kyiv Independent about the memorialization of Ukraine’s fallen soldiers. “I'm up for cremation,” Kostiantyn “Kostia” Yuzviuk wrote in a list of funeral requests in his newly created Telegram channel for friends in November 2022
DONETSK OBLAST – Along a bumpy highway that used to link the cities of Pokrovsk and now occupied Donetsk, used to lie quiet and picturesque towns and villages whose names only locals would know. Yet – Novohrodivka, Selydove, Petrivka – are now well-known in Ukraine, stuck between the advancing Russian troops and their
Editor's Note: Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on July 9 that nine people were killed in the building in the Syrets neighborhood following a Russian missile strike a day prior. On a Monday morning, Nataliia Fedorenko and her mother felt lucky to survive their daily routine: walking their dog in
Editor's note: Some of the following images are graphic in nature and might be disturbing. For Kyiv residents, Monday morning started with loud explosions throughout the city. Russia launched a large-scale missile attack targeting the capital as well as cities in Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk oblasts on the morning of July
Russian troops shelled a residential area in Kherson’s Korabelnyi district on July 7, Kherson Oblast Military Administration reported.
Sasha Maslov is a Ukrainian-American photographer who divides his time between Kyiv and New York. At the start of the full-scale invasion, he returned to Kyiv to document the war. His work, which has been showcased in galleries and art spaces across Europe and the United States, includes regular contributions
Key developments on May 25-26: * Russia strikes hypermarket in Kharkiv, killing 16, including a child * Russia launches another attack on Kharkiv, hours after deadly hypermarket strike, injuring 25 * Zelensky, Kuleba, other officials call for more air defense after Kharkiv strike * Zelensky: Russia forming another grouping of forces near Ukraine's northern
Russian attacks across the settlements in Donetsk Oblast killed three people and injured two on May 26, the Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor’s Office reported.
Editor’s note: This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. While hiding from almost non-stop Russian bombardment in the dark and cold bunkers of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Dmytro Kozatskyi took his most famous and arguably most valuable photographs. He showed the world what it was
KHARKIV – In the face of relentless Russian attacks, prolonged blackouts, and a looming threat of a new major offensive, against all odds, life in Kharkiv continues to endure. Located just 30 kilometers from the Russian border, Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, has been under some of the heaviest and most
When Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, attacking the country from multiple fronts and the sky, Ukrainian actress Ivanna Sakhno was thousands of kilometers away. She has been living in the U.S. for nearly 10 years at that point, ever since deciding to pursue her dream of acting
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