Editor’s note: In accordance with newsroom policy on reporting on children and the policies of organizations interviewed, the Kyiv Independent is not using the names of children under 18 or the last names of their parents who appear in this story. When the children arrive at a basement shelter
Garrett, 42, from the Isle of Man, was widely known for his high-risk volunteer work removing mines and unexploded ordnance left behind by Russian forces.
According to the SBU, the attack on Serhii Sternenko was an attempted assassination involving a firearm. His life is not in danger.
Every time Daryna Koryagina enters her Budapest flat rented to her by a Hungarian friend, she sees the same sticker on a wardrobe inside the entrance. "Sorry about our prime minister," it reads. The 33-year-old refugee and PhD student is one of tens of thousands of Ukrainians who fled Russia's
A 20-year-old Finnish volunteer soldier was killed in action while fighting for Ukraine, Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat reported on April 15.
For members of the U.S.-based charity organization Razom for Ukraine, U.S. President Donald Trump’s Feb. 28 verbal assault on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky felt like “a punch to the gut,” as it undermined years of the country’s diplomatic support for Ukraine in its ongoing fight
A team of foreign volunteers had just finished dinner at a cozy hotel restaurant in Kryvyi Rih — a city in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast where they had recently arrived to bring locals humanitarian aid — when a notification on their phones suddenly made the atmosphere tense. A Russian ballistic missile was heading toward
The volunteer initiative, called "A Gift for Putin," began crowdfunding money for the helicopter in November 2023, rallying more than 20,500 donors to contribute a total of 72.3 million Czech Koruna ($2.9 million).
It could have been a tragic story costing British volunteer Edward Scott his life. As a humanitarian aid worker with the Ukrainian NGO "Baza UA" (the "Base UA" in Ukrainian), 28-year-old Scott has made multiple trips to the front-line areas to evacuate civilian Ukrainians. But the mission on Jan. 30
Maria Zaitseva joined the Ukrainian army after the start of Russia's full-scale war and fought with the 2nd International Legion Battalion.
Recruitment for voluntary service in the Ukrainian army has increased by 3.5 times over the past two months compared to the period from late 2022 to spring 2024, Roman Horbach, head of Ukraine's General Staff's personnel department, said on July 19.
Yampil, a bear that was evacuated from a zoo in Donetsk Oblast in 2022, has died after not waking up from anesthesia, Five Sisters Zoo in Scotland announced on July 13.
Martin Jaager, an Estonian citizen who served in Ukraine's defense forces, was killed in combat in the Luhansk region, Estonian news outlet Postimees reported on June 23.
At a bar in Moscow leading up to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, reporter Jen Stout interrupts a local parroting lines of propaganda from state-controlled television about so-called Ukrainian Nazis by asking him if he’s ever actually been to Ukraine. He seems taken aback by such a simple
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, volunteers from around the world have come to Ukraine to support the country’s struggle. They have not only joined the foreign battalions to fight on the front line but have also helped various volunteer initiatives: from weaving camouflage nets for the
The Swiss volunteer had come to Ukraine to help evacuate people and animals from the areas of active combat operations. He was injured on May 30 during a humanitarian mission in embattled Vovchansk and received medical treatment, the prosecutors said.
In his battle for Ukraine, Pavlo Petrychenko used not only weapons but also his voice. A renowned Kyiv activist, he fought for the prosecution of corrupt Ukrainian officials, demanding justice for his fellow activists, including Kateryna Handziuk, who was murdered in 2018. As a team member of the Serhiy Prytula
To see some of the horrors Russia’s war has brought to Ukraine, one just has to click on the #RussiaIsATerroristState hashtag on social media. Given the scale of Russia’s ongoing attacks, which have left entire cities blacked out and destroyed, and thousands of people killed, the hashtag is
Georgian volunteer fighters Nodar Nasirov and Giorgi Gogiashvili have been killed in Ukraine, the Georgian Legion reported on March 9.
Foreign volunteers, NGO workers, and embassy staff are banned from entering parts of Kherson Oblast without permission from the authorities after two French citizens were killed in a Russian strike on Feb. 1, the Kherson Oblast Military Administration announced on Feb. 5.
Every head turns in a downtown café in Kyiv when U.S. citizens Ron Wallace and Michael Edison enter. Edison, 61, is wearing a cowboy hat and a vyshyvanka – a traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirt – while 62-year-old Wallace is dressed in a kilt, part of his bagpiper uniform. He’s also
When the famous U.S. pop band Backstreet Boys released their signature hit "I Want It That Way" in 1999, they could hardly have imagined that nearly a quarter of a century later it would be used to help the Ukrainian military fight off a brutal invasion by Russia. But
For many Ukrainians young and old, perception of time, memories, and dreams are split between two worlds, that before Feb. 24, 2022, and that which came after. Even in cities far from the front lines, wartime Ukraine is a world of sirens, blackouts, curfews, donation drives, and an enduring wish
When Ukrainian soldiers were entering the village of Yampil in Donetsk Oblast after five months of Russian occupation, they discovered an abandoned zoo on the outskirts. Dozens of animal corpses, either killed by Russian troops or dead of starvation, were lying throughout the zoo’s territory. But in one locked
KHERSON – When Russia captured Kherson in March, disrupting supply chains to the city, local Ukrainian volunteers kept it running. When people had no food, they set up free hot meal cafeterias. When people had no medicine or hygiene goods, they brought them in from Odesa. When children needed to take
Located a mere 30 kilometers from the war’s southern front lines, Ukraine’s shipbuilding capital Mykolaiv has been a constant target for the Russian military throughout its full-scale invasion. Shelled almost daily, the regional capital with a pre-war population of 480,000 has seen over 500 residential buildings destroyed
As the four-van convoy rolls into the village of Stepanivka in Donetsk Oblast, volunteers hop out and raise a large tent to shield them from the summer sun. A small group of local onlookers quickly grows as people stream out of their homes towards the tent. The humanitarian aid is
After Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, businessman Vasyl Yabryk, rushed to help temporarily displaced Ukrainians with housing and humanitarian aid. But soon he learned that it takes more than a desire to help to be an effective volunteer. Yabryk says that the more experienced volunteers,
Sixteen-year-old Ukrainian Anna Liutyk will never forget that early morning when she woke up to her mother screaming the most terrifying words she had ever heard. “The war has started,” Liutyk's mother cried out.“ (Russian dictator Vladimir) Putin started a war.” Multiple Ukrainian cities were shelled that same day on
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