Russia-Ukraine War

Rescuers dig for bodies after Russia bombs village aid center to rubble, killing dozens inside
War

Rescuers dig for bodies after Russia bombs village aid center to rubble, killing dozens inside

by Tania Myronyshena

After three days of uncertainty, police found 56-year-old Olha alive and unharmed on Nov. 5. Her family had not been able to reach her since Russian bombs devastated the front-line settlement of Komyshuvakha on Nov. 2, and feared she might be buried under the rubble. Olha is the seventh person police have located since, but dozens of others remain missing. For a fifth consecutive day, rescuers are searching through the ruins of an underground humanitarian aid center, where the death toll contin

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Neighbors from hell — How one Oleshky family survived living next to Russian soldiers

For years, the Samarsky family lived in the embattled, occupied Oleshky alongside neighbors no one wished to have — Russian soldiers. Serhii Samarsky, his wife Olha Liutikova, and their son Vladyslav remained in the town after Russian forces occupied it during the early stages of its full-scale invasion until October 2026, when a humanitarian mission, mediated by U.S. First Lady Melania Trump, allowed them to be evacuated. Together, they survived relentless air attacks, cold winters without he

Vladyslav Samarsky at the Ukraine-Belarus border in Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine, on Oct. 31, 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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