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Donbas
Celebrated tank brigade braces for harder battles in Donbas
DONETSK OBLAST — The Donbas battlefront meanders for over 1,000 kilometers through a land that has not known peace since 2014. In some points like Bakhmut, it flares into a meat grinder of incalculable human loss. At others, it appears to be coiled and waiting, limited to probing attacks by
Year of war fails to dislodge residents from front-line town
VELYKA NOVOSILKA – Lyubov Andreeva, a retired builder, helped create the small town of Velyka Novosilka with her own hands. “All that there is in Novosilka, my hands were there,” the 73-year-old recollected, sitting in one of the town’s underground shelter-communes. “We had a stonemason, a plasterer, a painter, a
One night in Bakhmut: Civilians wait for the end as Russia draws closer
Editor’s Note: This piece tells the story of the lives of civilians and first responders in Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, directly through the personal experience of a Kyiv Independent reporter who stayed overnight in the embattled city in January, traveling together with a colleague from Moldova. BAKHMUT, Donetsk Oblast – Moments
Ex-Roscosmos head Rogozin, Donetsk proxy leader injured in possible targeted strike
Former Russian Deputy Prime Minister and ex-сhair of space agency Roscosmos Dmitrii Rogozin was wounded along with top proxy official Vitalii Khotsenko in an attack on a restaurant outside occupied Donetsk on the evening of Dec. 21. According to Russian media outlets as well as Rogozin himself, two people were
Understanding Russia’s relentless assault on Bakhmut
Water-logged trenches, shredded tree lines, and an undulating, colorless landscape of mud: The visual experience of the battles outside Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast have proved to transcend centuries. When Ukrainian machine-gunner Viktor Borinets’ photos of conditions on the first line of defense went viral, the comparisons to the notoriously grim
As Russia digs in along Donbas front line, no end in sight for civilian suffering
PERSHOTRAVNEVE, Kharkiv Oblast – Less than two kilometers from front-line positions on the border with Luhansk Oblast, silence is deceptive and never lasts long. In one moment, the scene in any given village in this gray zone can be described as almost peaceful, as children play on sunny streets and flocks
As Russia destroys Donbas, people leave homes in mandatory evacuation drive (PHOTOS)
Editor's note: The photos were provided by Alex Chan Tsz Yuk, a Hong Kong-based photojournalist, now covering the war in Ukraine. Heavy Russian bombardment continues to pummel eastern Donetsk Oblast nearly six months into the full-scale war. Russian forces have fired missiles and shells across the entire region, indiscriminately killing
Inside a volunteer mission to evacuate civilians from Donbas
People call them angels. In a blue van stuffed with bags of food, sleeping mats, water, and medicine, volunteers Artem Belan and Volodymyr Antonov, both 41, drive out of Kyiv’s suburbs for a daring mission: evacuating civilians from the frontline towns of Donetsk Oblast. The fighting in Donbas, an
Volunteers keep Donbas running through its darkest hours
As the four-van convoy rolls into the village of Stepanivka in Donetsk Oblast, volunteers hop out and raise a large tent to shield them from the summer sun. A small group of local onlookers quickly grows as people stream out of their homes towards the tent. The humanitarian aid is
Ukrainian counterattacks exploit Russia’s focus but are stymied by lack of weapons
Over the past several months Russia’s focus on capturing Sievierodonetsk has forced it to pull assets and attention from other positions of attack, giving Ukraine opportunities for tactical counterattacks. Successful Ukrainian offensives have been observed in Kharkiv Oblast as of early May and in Kherson Oblast and the city
People of Kramatorsk endure war by living and helping
KRAMATORSK, Donetsk Oblast — Artur Serdiuk had just climbed under the covers at half past four in the morning, when the Russian airstrike hit 25 paces from his house. When he opened his eyes and came out from under the dust and debris his ceiling had turned into, he saw that
Russia throws untrained civilians from occupied Donbas into hot spots of its war in Ukraine
Editor’s Note: The Kyiv Independent isn’t revealing last names of the people from the Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine interviewed for this story for safety reasons. Nearly every man that Oleksii, a 24-year-old resident of Russian-occupied Khrestivka in Donetsk Oblast, knows – friends, school classmates, and former colleagues from a
Evacuees from occupied Donbas get cold welcome in Russia
Amid Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine, people from Kremlin-occupied Donbas remain the least protected group, having no rights or freedoms, and being dependent on the will of the Kremlin and militant groups under its control. On Feb. 18, heads of Kremlin’s proxies in occupied Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts began
Canada, Japan, Australia join Western allies in Russia sanction sweep
Canada, Japan and Australia have joined the growing list of countries taking a stand against Russia by imposing new sanctions after Moscow officially ordered troops into Russian-occupied parts of Ukrainian Donbas. The U.S., the U.K., and the European Union had already unveiled sanctions targeting Russian officials and financial
Putin says Russia-backed illegitimate 'states' in eastern Ukraine have claim to entire regions of Donetsk, Luhansk
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the rightful borders of the illegitimate Russia-backed "states" in eastern Ukraine extend to the whole region of the Donbas, which is considerably bigger than the currently occupied areas. The announcement further escalates the tension that spiked after Russia officially recognized the two proxies late
Peter Dickinson: Putin escalates his Ukraine war with recognition of separatist republics
Editor’s Note: This op-ed was published by Atlantic Council. It is republished here with permission. Almost exactly eight years to the day since he first ordered the invasion of Crimea, Vladimir Putin struck another blow in his war against Ukrainian statehood on February 21 by officially recognizing the two
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Ukrainian State-Owned Enterprises Weekly – Issue 80
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