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A Russian serviceman stands guard by a military truck part of the Franz Josef Land archipelago, in Russia, on May 17, 2021.
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Russia's Arctic shadow war: How Moscow’s most-probed front fuels its Ukraine invasion

by Olena Goncharova

Norway’s Svalbard fiber optic cables — a pair carrying vital Arctic satellite data from SvalSat, the world’s largest commercial ground station — thread through waters dangerously close to Russia’s reach. The Kremlin's Nagurskoye air base on Franz Josef Land is just 260 kilometers (161 miles) from Svalbard’s shores. These cables transmit satellite signals and sensitive data that European governments, research institutions, and militaries rely on, including infrastructure bolstering Ukraine’s de

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Tuesday, February 10

'Everyone is waiting for spring' — How Kyiv's hardest hit district is coping with no heating

The left bank of Kyiv has been hit hardest by Russia’s latest attacks on the capital’s energy infrastructure, leaving tens of thousands of residents facing much of the winter without central heating as nighttime temperatures drop to -19°Celsius. "They destroyed our thermal power plant," 73-year-old Nina Pavlivna told the Kyiv Independent whilst standing bundled against the freezing afternoon air in the Darnitskyi District of the capital. "We don't know when it will be repaired". The most seve

Analysis: More drones for Europe? What Ukraine's 'opening' of weapons exports really means

President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Feb. 8 the opening of 10 offices for weapons export throughout the European Union by the end of 2026. "Today, we are opening exports," Zelensky wrote. But the reality is a little different. Ukraine's arms makers often lament that they can make far more weapons than the Ukrainian government has money to buy. Selling or building new weapons internationally can help, they say, but export restrictions keep them bottled up in-country. While the news that Zele

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The Kyiv Independent’s coverage of news on Russia. Spanning eleven time zones across Eastern Europe and Asia, Russia has an estimated population of 146 million people. Russia’s capital city is Moscow, which is home to almost one in 10 Russians. Russia’s official currency is the Russian Ruble.

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As Russians and Belarusians compete at Olympics, Ukraine pushed to the margins

As Russians and Belarusians compete at Olympics, Ukraine pushed to the margins

One of the most talked-about moments at the Olympics came from Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych. After his race in Beijing in 2022, just days before Russia launched its full-scale invasion, he held up a sign reading "No war in Ukraine." But his appeal went largely unheard. Four years later, Heraskevych is preparing to represent Ukraine at the Olympic Games again — at a time when the war continues to escalate, while restrictions on athletes from Russia and Belarus are gradually be

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