Launched to promote Russian literature on the global stage during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the new Dar (“Gift”) literary prize is already mired in controversy — and not just for its troubling timing. After Ukrainian author Maria Galina declined the award for her wartime chronicle of Odesa, attention shifted
Janine di Giovanni, a veteran war reporter and author who has covered decades of conflicts in Rwanda, Syria, Iraq, and Bosnia, reflects on her work in Ukraine and other conflicts.
A lot depends on the circumstances under which you try to define or feel your own loneliness. Let me begin with my biography — my recent story. I joined the army in the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, as an officer in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Kyiv Independent's investigative documentary, "He Came Back," which exposes sexual violence committed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine, has won the 2025 Ukrainian journalism award, "Honor of the Profession."
According to the SBU, the soldier, a rifleman with Russia's 40th Separate Marine Brigade, participated in the point-blank shooting of two detained Ukrainian servicemen on Jan. 9 near Kursk.
The agency noted that this figure includes those cases recorded by HUR, suggesting the actual total may be higher.
According to Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office, the incident occurred on May 22 during an attack on Ukrainian positions in one of the most active combat zones of the front line.
Among the rescued children is a girl whose life was in danger due to the lack of adequate medical care in the occupied territories, and a boy who, along with his mother, was locked in a basement by Russian forces while his father was tortured in a nearby room, Presidential Office chief Andriy Yermak said.
"War crimes have been committed, no doubt, and who is responsible for that, there will be a time and place for that accountability, but right now the job is to end the war," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
Editor's note: This story is based on the Kyiv Independent's investigative documentary, "Curated Theft" – watch it in English here, for free. As Ukraine's liberating forces advanced in the fall of 2022, several trucks stopped near the rear yard of the Kherson Local History Museum. Inside the building itself, dozens of
Ukrainian author Victoria Amelina never got to finish writing her book “Looking at Women, Looking at War.” After she was killed in a Russian missile strike on Kramatorsk in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk Oblast in 2023, it fell upon her closest friends and colleagues to do what they could to
Under former President Joe Biden, the U.S. took the unprecedented step of deepening cooperation with international courts of law. Washington has never been party to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC), and U.S. policy towards the Hague-based international tribunal has varied widely
Lawmakers urged the EU and its member states to step up efforts to hold Moscow accountable through international courts and support for Ukraine’s campaign to bring its children home.
When asked if he considers Russian President Vladimir Putin a "war criminal," U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent replied, saying, "Yes."
Key developments on May 6: * Ukraine brings home 205 POWs in prisoner exchange with Russia * Russian soldiers executed 3 unarmed Ukrainian POWs in Donetsk Oblast, prosecutors say * Russia allegedly downs 3 drones approaching Moscow as Putin prepares Victory Day parade * Ukraine stabilizes Pokrovsk front, seizes tactical initiative in some areas,
Around the world, abducting a child is a serious crime punishable by years behind bars. But when the kidnapper is Russia, justice remains a distant hope. So does the child’s return home. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine has identified over 19,500 children who have been
Thermobaric munitions is a type of weapon known for generating powerful blast waves and high-temperature clouds, causing severe destruction and posing extreme risks to civilians.
When Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna’s body was returned from Russian captivity with organs missing to hide evidence of torture, the revelation sent shockwaves around the world. Roshchyna died in Russian captivity in the fall of 2024, but her body was only returned to Ukraine in February and officially identified
The White House also disbanded the Justice Department's War Crimes Accountability Team and dismantled a program to seize assets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs, the WP reported.
On a quiet morning on April 13, Maryna Illiashenko and her 13-year-old son Kyrylo were taking a bus through the city of Sumy to see his grandmother, as they often do on Sundays. It was a route they knew by heart — one they'd taken countless times. But that morning, out
Among those detained is a former member of the banned Nashi party, linked to former Ukrainian pro-Russian lawmaker Yevhen Murayev, who fled Ukraine in May 2022.
Ukrainian prosecutors have launched a war crimes investigation after a captured and unarmed Ukrainian soldier was allegedly executed by Russian forces in Donetsk Oblast, the Prosecutor General's Office reported on April 16.
April 13 marked Russia’s deadliest attack on the northeastern city of Sumy, killing 35 people and injuring nearly 120. As locals flocked to the city center on the morning of Palm Sunday, Russia launched two ballistic missiles in what is known as a double-tap attack. The second missile, fired
"On April 13, 2025, as a result of a missile strike by Russia, our theater family suffered a pain that words cannot describe. Inflicted wounds killed our colleague, artist of the orchestra theater — Olena Kohut," the Sumy National Theater said.
Editor's note: An original version of this article stated that every passenger on a bus hit in Russia's missile attack on Sumy had been killed in the strike, but reports the following morning found that a boy had managed to escape and rescue fellow passengers, including his mother. The burnt
The Council of Europe's special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine will not try Putin or other top Russian officials in absentia while they remain in office, EU sources said.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Heorhii Tykhyi, condemned the execution as a war crime.
The Kremlin has long-used Bucha in state propaganda, denying the extensively documented crimes committed by Russian forces.
Four children injured in the attack are still in serious condition, including two in "extremely serious condition, Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the city's military administration, he said.
The Trump administration cut funding to an initiative led by Yale University that tracked Russian war crimes, including the forced deportation of Ukrainian children. The database included thousands of Ukrainian children forcibly taken to Russia and there were concerns the data may have been deleted.
Researchers reportedly lost access to the database last month after U.S. officials terminated the contract, cutting off critical evidence from investigators pursuing war crimes cases.
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