Russia-Ukraine War

PMCs legally don't exist in Ukraine. They're booming anyway
War

PMCs legally don't exist in Ukraine. They're booming anyway

by Polina Moroziuk

Editor's note: Tetiana Kebkalo's position was incorrectly listed as deputy director general and has been corrected to managing director. Across Ukraine, dozens of private firms train drone operators, clear minefields, maintain military hardware, and teach foreign clients how to fight a modern war. Some go as far as calling themselves private military companies. Yet, in the eyes of Ukrainian law, they do not exist. Ukrainian legislation prohibits armed formations outside state control and has

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Attack on Kyiv Pechersk Lavra exposes the truth behind Russia's Christianity

Every empire eventually becomes trapped by its own mythology. Russia happens to be built on a peculiar combination of holy relics, imperial nostalgia, and endless lectures about "traditional values." The problem is that reality keeps interrupting the performance. In 2022, Margarita Simonyan (the Kremlin's propagandist) declared that Russia would never bomb Kyiv because "our shrine is there." The implication being: unlike everyone else, Russia supposedly possesses some special reverence for fait

burning Cathedral during a Russian strike on Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 15, 2026.

About War

The Kyiv Independent's coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, after eight years of aggression against Ukraine that began in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea and fighting in Donbas. The war has resulted in tens of thousands of military and civilian casualties and displaced millions of Ukrainians. NATO and Western allies have provided military aid to Ukraine while the conflict continues across fronts in Ukraine’s south and east.

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