The company behind the exports, Energoresurs, is registered in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, and has exported nearly half a million tons of coal abroad between 2023 and 2024. According to the investigation, the firm sources coal from suppliers in occupied Donbas and transports it to Turkey by rail and sea.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with comment from a serviceman from Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade communications unit. Reports that the embattled Ukrainian city of Chasiv Yar has fallen to Russian forces have been dismissed by experts and officials speaking to the Kyiv Independent, and the latest OSINT data
Tucker Carlson, a far-right political commentator close to the incoming U.S. administration, released an interview with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Dec. 5. During the 80-minute interview, Lavrov peddled a variety of Russian propaganda talking points with little to no challenge from the interviewer. Carlson has been among
On July 17, 2014, the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH-17, a commercial plane flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, shocked the world. The crash claimed the lives of all 298 passengers and crew, including 80 children. It marked a significant escalation in Russia’s war against Ukraine that had
Editor’s note: Ukrainian soldiers featured in this story are identified by first name only since they spoke without authorization from their command. Nearly four months after Kyiv launched a surprise cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk Oblast, some Ukrainian soldiers are increasingly pessimistic about the costly operation. “Aviation is
This surpasses the previous record of 1,950 set on Nov. 12. The total figure stands at 738,660.
Donald Trump's entrance into the White House on Jan. 20 promises to offer a seismic shift in the U.S.'s approach to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and a potential "freezing" of the war. Trump has repeatedly pledged to end the war within "24 hours," sparking fears he might
The figure surpasses the previous record of 1,770 set just the day before.
The total surpasses the previous record of 1,740 on May 13.
"We have numerous reports about the preparation of North Korean soldiers to participate in combat operations alongside Russian forces," Syrskyi said.
British defense intelligence estimates Russia has likely suffered more than 696,000 losses since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Ukraine faces a "pretty grim" situation in Donetsk Oblast in the east of the country as Russian forces make some of their swiftest advances since the summer of 2022, according to experts and OSINT analysts. "The last week has been extremely difficult for the Ukrainians — the Russians were able to
Editor’s Note: This article was published by the twice-weekly newsletter “The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak” on Sept. 28, 2024, and has been re-published by the Kyiv Independent with permission. To subscribe to The Counteroffensive, click here. Vira Lytvynenko hasn’t been able to bury her son since March 2022,
Ukraine hadn't received enough military aid from the foreign partners to equip "even four out of 14" Ukrainian army brigades that the country "needs to be ready," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with CNN on Sept. 15.
Amid speculation that the Kremlin is considering a new mobilization of conscripts, some potential draftees say they are not enthusiastic about defending Russian territory just over a month after the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk Oblast. "I won't go (to the front). I swore an oath to the Constitution, not to
Ukraine's incursion into Kursk Oblast failed to make Russia "nervous, fuss, and redeploy" troops away from the east of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sept. 5.
"From a military perspective, it is much easier to retake Crimea than Donbas, which has a front longer than 1,000 kilometers and deeper than 200 kilometers," Kyrylo Budanov said during a speech at the Kyiv School of Economics.
Since February, Russian forces have steadily advanced across multiple sectors of the front in Donetsk Oblast. They have occupied villages previously liberated by Ukraine, wiped out entire towns, and introduced new threats to the region's overall defense. Alongside Chasiv Yar, Niu York, and other towns, Russia aims to capture Toretsk,
Two plaques are displayed in the entrance hall of the Dutch Embassy in Kyiv. One commemorates the opening of the building, while the other is simply inscribed with the words “MH17 - July 17, 2014.” At 12:31 on July 17, 2014, flight MH17 departed from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, set
Ukraine announced on July 4 that its troops had withdrawn from the Kanal neighborhood in Chasiv Yar, a strategically important town in Donetsk Oblast, and the scene of an intense, bloody battle that began in early April of this year. Speaking on national TV, Nazar Voloshyn, the spokesperson for the
In a post on Telegram, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said its "intelligence, artillery, aviation, unmanned systems" were all working to repulse five attacks launched simultaneously.
The Mechinkov Hospital receives about 50 soldiers per day, doctors told the Kyiv Independent. The majority of these patients arrive at the facility unconscious.
DNIPRO – Most soldiers are unconscious by the time they arrive at Mechnikov Hospital, the main gateway for the wounded fighting in Donbas. Located in Dnipro, a city of 1 million people 185 kilometers west of the front line, the massive Soviet-era medical facility works around the clock to save as
The man had been staying in a hotel near the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and "products and materials intended to manufacture explosive devices" were found in his room, authorities said.
Nazar Voloshyn, the spokesperson of the Khortytsia group of forces, also said Russian forces are unlikely to capture the embattled town of Chasiv Yar as they do not have enough strength for a full-scale offensive.
Local authorities in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk Oblast have stopped assessing the damage of Russia’s war. Daily barrages of attacks make doing so both futile and extremely dangerous. Russian forces launch up to 2,500 attacks daily at the embattled region’s towns and villages located along 165 miles
Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi's statement comes after his warning that the situation on Ukraine's eastern front "significantly deteriorated in recent days" as Russia has intensified its offensives in the east since last month's presidential election.
An advisor to Donald Trump, the U.S. Republican Party's presumptive nominee for the 2024 presidential run, refuted claims in the media that the ex-president would push Ukraine to give up some of its territory if reelected, The New York Post reported on April 7.
The 45% of respondents who believed that Ukraine would regain all of its territory represented a decrease from a high point in February 2023, in which 74% of respondents believed it was possible.
TORSKE-ZAKINTE, DONETSK OBLAST – An armored minibus speeds through the rubble-lined streets of Torske, a front-line village in Donetsk Oblast precariously close to Russian positions. The bus, which belongs to the White Angels — a special unit of Ukraine’s National Police — is on its way to the village to deliver aid
The Ukrainian forces managed to "stabilize the situation" in the country's east, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on March 21.
Editor's Note: The Kyiv Independent is not disclosing the full names of soldiers due to security concerns amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. DONETSK OBLAST – Watching my friend Vitalii prepare grilled pork skewers during my latest trip to Donetsk Oblast in February, we were thinking about one thing: the summer
