'From Bohdan Khmelnytsky to Ivan Mazepa, there were no hetmans.'
This old, hyperbolic Ukrainian saying shows just how large Mazepa looms in the region's history.
A man of many worlds, the Orthodox nobleman born near Kyiv climbed from the Polish royal court and studies in Western Europe to become hetman — a military and political leader of the Ukrainian Cossack Hetmanate, a state that once spanned much of central and eastern Ukraine — and a trusted ally of Russian Tsar Peter I.
When he ultimat
Russia’s ballistic missile attacks are hitting Ukraine’s cities harder than ever, with July 2026 seeing the highest number of civilians killed or injured in Ukraine in a single month since March 2022. As Russia ramps up its use of ballistic missiles, Ukraine is struggling to defend its cities from attacks far beyond the front line.
The U.S.-made Patriot remains Ukraine’s most effective defense against ballistic missiles, but there are not enough interceptors to protect the country from Russia’s
Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) has concluded that Russian warships are effectively confined to the port of Novorossiysk on the southeastern Black Sea due to Ukrainian drone strikes, Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Agricultural Minister Taras Vysotskyi said attacks on logistics infrastructure could affect the range of goods available in stores, but assured that there is no risk of Ukrainians running out of food.
The Khortytsia Distillery, launched in 2003 by Global Spirits, a Ukrainian firm headquartered in the U.S., was hit four times, sparking a three-hour-long fire, the company’s press service said.
Oleksandr Shyrshyn, a former battalion commander in Ukraine's 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade, said on Facebook on Aug. 28 that cannabis had been planted in his car in an apparent attempt to implicate him in the illegal production and possession of drugs.
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.
The package will include four SAMP/T NG air defense batteries — capable of shooting down Russian ballistic missiles — along with Aster 30 interceptor missiles and seven long-range radars, the Italian outlet La Repubblica reported on Aug. 26.