According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), over 836,000 people have left Ukraine since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion on Feb. 24. With Russian troops shelling Ukrainian cities, hitting schools, kindergartens and nurseries, hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing to Ukraine's westerns frontiers. Despite
As Russian missiles rain down on their homes, many people of Kyiv have moved permanently into the safe shelter of the metro. After being thrown back from the capital numerous times over the past week, Russian forces have decided to revert to their doctrinal terror tactics of pounding the city
Editor’s note: This is a guest story by Euractiv, a pan-European media network specializing in EU policies. Amid Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky made a historic push to bring the country closer to European Union membership. On Feb. 28, Zelensky signed an official request to
Ukraine and Poland opened two new pedestrian refugee crossings overnight, reducing the long queues of people fleeing on foot, according to Deputy Interior Minister Mary Akopyan. “There are still a lot of cars,” she told the Kyiv Independent. “But the pedestrian queues are no longer so extreme.” On Feb. 28,
Tears streamed down Margaryta Chornobryvets's face as she entered a refugee hostel in Krakow, Poland. The 16-year-old from Kyiv, was now safe from the bombs and rockets unleashed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Ukraine on Feb. 24 but desperate at being separated from her family. "My mother brought me
On 24 February 2022, in violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty, Russia unleashed a full-scale military assault on Ukraine by air, ground and sea, attacking airports, ports, urban areas, civilian infrastructure and the nuclear exclusion zone in Chernobyl. On the same day, the President of Ukraine called for the
Russian forces have blasted Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, with Grad multiple rocket launcher systems on Feb. 28, striking residential buildings. Eleven people have been killed in the attacks, Oleh Synehubov, the head of the regional government, said in a statement on Telegram. Earlier, the Kharkiv City Council said that one
It took a full-scale invasion by Russia into Ukraine to get the international community to apply a range of sanctions against the attacking country. The most severe penalty was the move to sever certain Russian banks from the international payment order system SWIFT and prevent the Russian Central Bank from
Ukraine has been defending itself from Russia's all-out invasion since Feb. 24. While Ukraine has so far been successful at pushing back Russian forces, Russia's advance into Ukraine continues on multiple fronts as heavy fighting takes place in different cities and regions. There are several options to help the Ukrainian
American fast-food chains McDonald’s and KFC have begun offering food to militants and others in need to help Ukrainians fight off the Russian invasion. The companies have temporarily shut down local eateries since Russia launched an all-out war against Ukraine on Feb. 24. The Russian advance into Ukraine continues
Editor’s Note: Victor Tregubov is a Ukrainian columnist, political blogger and the former editor-in-chief of Petr and Mazepa online news outlet. He is also a co-founder of the Democratic Axe (Demokratychna Sokyra) political party. Some foreign friends have asked what they can do for Ukrainians, to help us survive
More than 72 hours after the start of the all-out invasion on Feb. 24, Russia has failed to inflict a quick defeat to Ukraine’s armed forces or gain a foothold in any of the country’s key cities. As of Feb. 27, all the biggest cities – Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv,
A message was shared in the diplomatic circles on Feb. 27 that Belarus airborne forces were preparing to invade Ukraine. Unnamed Belarusian opposition journalists were said to be the source. According to the report, Belarus special forces were boarding planes on Feb. 27, preparing for deployment in or near Kyiv
People around the world, including Russia, are taking to the streets to protest against Russia's invasion in Ukraine, waving placards and flags in Ukrainian colors and calling on their governments to take action and place sanctions against Russia. A number of rallies around the world will take place on Sunday,
Russia lost 14 planes, 8 helicopters, 102 tanks, 536 BBM, 15 heavy machine guns, and 1 BUK missile since Feb. 24, according to Ukraine's military. The Kremlin also lost over 3,500 soldiers, Ukraine’s Armed Forces said on Feb. 26. Nearly 200 service members have been kept hostage. Russia
Russian forces have launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, killing at least 198 people so far. Multiple Ukrainian cities and villages were shelled, attacked with missiles, helicopters, tanks and ships, while ground forces have begun invading multiple parts of the country. The following is a live blog
Russian forces have launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, killing 137 people on the first day, as they pushed in from multiple directions. Multiple Ukrainian cities and villages were shelled, attacked with missiles, helicopters, tanks and ships, while ground forces have begun invading multiple parts of the
Dozens of people were killed by Russian fire, and at least 19 went missing as of 1 p.m. on Feb. 24, just seven hours after Russia started the all-out invasion of Ukraine from several directions. One civilian was killed by Russian shelling in Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast. Six people were
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia will conduct "a special military operation" to "demilitarize" Ukraine, effectively declaring a major war on the country. In a televized announcement that aired just before 5 a.m. Kyiv time, Putin said that NATO was threatening the existence of Russia and that to
Companies in Ukraine are about to receive temporary tax and legal relief amid growing threats of a full-scale war with Russia. On Feb. 22, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a program on “economic patriotism,” which will ease the tax burden, including possibly reducing value-added tax from current 20% to 8%
U.S. President Joe Biden has added sanctions on the Russian company that built the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to its series of penalties targeting Moscow as Russia continues its military escalation in eastern Ukraine. The move comes a day after Germany had halted certification of the $11
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 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
The National Security and Defense Council proposed a state of emergency on Feb. 23, following the escalation of Russia’s war against Ukraine. If approved by parliament, the state of emergency will be declared in all of Ukraine except for Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. The two eastern regions already have
Russia's blatant "recognition" of its own puppet enclaves in Ukraine's Donbas bears a striking resemblance to the events of 2008, when the Kremlin tore off a part of Georgia and invented the “states” of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In its ongoing war in eastern Ukraine, Moscow has so far followed
Western leaders began swiftly imposing sanctions on Russian officials and financial institutions following the blunt move of Russian President Vladimir Putin to recognize Kremlin-controlled regions as independent states. In his speech, the Russian autocrat questioned Ukraine’s right to exist. He also ordered the Russian army to officially move into
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s bellicose speech on Feb. 21 was full of false narratives and half-truths that he used to justify his aggression against Ukraine. The speech was ostensibly his rationale for his recognition of the Kremlin’s proxies in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied areas in the Donbas as independent
Editor’s Note: This is an analysis by experts from the Center for Defense Strategies: Andriy Zagorodnyuk, Alina Frolova, Oleksiy Pavliuchyk, and Viktor Kevlyuk. It was originally published in Ukrainian by Ukrainska Pravda on Feb. 22. The Kyiv Independent is republishing it with permission. This analysis focuses on the possible
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
One cold day in early February, Ukrainian Maria Giedroyc put her two sons to bed for a daytime nap, just like she usually does. She spent the next two hours packing backpacks for the entire family. But they were not going on vacation. Giedroyc packed those go-bags with essentials so
German economy minister Robert Habeck has ordered the country's energy regulator to halt the certification of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in response to Russia's military escalation in eastern Ukraine, Spiegel reports. The decision comes a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized occupied Ukrainian territories in Donbas as independent
President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the nation amid Russia’s call to deploy its troops to the occupied territories of Donbas for “peacekeeping” operations. Zelensky said Ukraine requested an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council and added that the OSCE’s monitoring mission in Ukraine must continue its work
