For years, foreigners seeking a Ukrainian passport faced a tough choice: renounce their original citizenship or give up on becoming Ukrainian. Now, that barrier will likely be removed, as Ukraine prepares to allow dual citizenship for the first time. Since taking office in 2019, President Volodymyr Zelensky has declared his
After more than three years of Russia’s full-scale invasion, each new revelation of cruel treatment of Ukrainians in Russian captivity hardly surprises anyone. But when a photo recently emerged online, showing a “Glory to Russia” scar on the body of a Ukrainian prisoner of war (POW), it sent shockwaves
Ukrainian children are growing up in a world entirely reshaped by Russia’s war. Sirens, blackouts, and bomb shelters are nothing extraordinary — but a part of everyday childhood. This photo story follows five families as they raise their children in the shadow of the ongoing invasion. It’s not about
Warning: This article contains descriptions of graphic scenes. A bullet fired by a Russian sniper hit Azov Brigade member Artem Dubyna in the head and passed through his neck. "He's dead," crackled the message over the radio to his comrades. But Dubyna's heart was still beating. Evacuating his unconscious body
Editor's Note: This article contains graphic descriptions. Soldiers interviewed for this article are identified by their callsigns only due to security reasons. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, shocking the world, thousands of foreigners flocked to defend Ukraine – many with little to no connection with the country. More
An abandoned bed that often remains empty until morning as its usual occupants seek shelter during Russian attacks. A backpack with essentials to take along during each air raid. A family hug during a blackout, when a flashlight brings out the invisible on a mother’s face in daylight. After
When Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna’s body was returned from Russian captivity with organs missing to hide evidence of torture, the revelation sent shockwaves around the world. Roshchyna died in Russian captivity in the fall of 2024, but her body was only returned to Ukraine in February and officially identified
It took several DNA tests to confirm the identity of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, who was killed in Russian captivity in the fall of 2024. Roshchyna, 27, disappeared in August 2023 while on a reporting trip in Ukraine's Russian-occupied territories. Moscow only acknowledged her detention the following year. Ukraine was
For nearly two years in Russian captivity, Leniie Umerova clung to a single hope: that one day, she would return home — to Crimea. “I thought about Crimea all the time,” Umerova told the Kyiv Independent. “I dreamed of going there without the permission of the occupying forces, without going through
Liudmyla Kapatsii, 75, and her daughter lingered in their apartment for a couple of extra minutes, doubting whether to go to the shelter after the air raid alarm woke them up around 1 a.m. on April 24, warning of a potential Russian missile attack. Though they were tired of
In the battered southern city of Kherson, where Russian drone strikes and artillery target civilians daily, residents cling to traditions for both a semblance of normality and as an act of defiance. This year, just like every year before the start of the full-scale war, Kherson locals baked Easter bread,
On a quiet morning on April 13, Maryna Illiashenko and her 13-year-old son Kyrylo were taking a bus through the city of Sumy to see his grandmother, as they often do on Sundays. It was a route they knew by heart — one they'd taken countless times. But that morning, out
A team of foreign volunteers had just finished dinner at a cozy hotel restaurant in Kryvyi Rih — a city in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast where they had recently arrived to bring locals humanitarian aid — when a notification on their phones suddenly made the atmosphere tense. A Russian ballistic missile was heading toward
Editor’s note: In accordance with the security protocols of the Ukrainian military, soldiers featured in this story are identified by first names and callsigns only. American volunteer soldiers fighting in Ukraine say that they feel “betrayed” by their own country after the U.S. halted military aid and stopped
It could have been a tragic story costing British volunteer Edward Scott his life. As a humanitarian aid worker with the Ukrainian NGO "Baza UA" (the "Base UA" in Ukrainian), 28-year-old Scott has made multiple trips to the front-line areas to evacuate civilian Ukrainians. But the mission on Jan. 30
In a small town in Kyiv Oblast, 10th grader Alina Marynenko just beat her entire class to be the most accurate shooter on an AK-47 simulator. "Fourteen out of fifteen! I set a record! We beat the boys!" Marynenko yells out to her class. Marynenko and her classmates fired the
DRUZHKIVKA, Donetsk Oblast — A loud explosion goes off, followed by a second. People begin to run in different directions. Despite the chaos, taxi driver Serhiy Pohrebnyakov sits calmly behind the wheel, waiting for customers. Pohrebnyakov’s wife and daughter fled Druzhkivka after the start of the full-scale invasion, leaving him
Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko declared himself the victor in the country's latest so-called presidential elections on Jan. 26, in which no political opposition was allowed to take part. The country's authorities claim Lukashenko won 86.82% of the vote, securing a seventh consecutive term in power. Despite international condemnation and
On either side of a basketball court in Kyiv, prostheses of various sizes rest alongside piles of water bottles, as two teams in wheelchairs fiercely compete for the ball just tossed up in the air to kick off the game. The players — wounded Ukrainian service members and veterans — are training
BILOZERSKE, Donetsk Oblast — Less than 30 kilometers north of embattled Pokrovsk, a market was in full swing in the town of Bilozerske. Meters away, however, a crowd has gathered in front of a building, nervously awaiting the doors to open. Tensions were visibly mounting as the doors remained closed and
Last winter as Olena Morozova braced for a long and arduous trip to Ukrainian-controlled territory from her Russian-occupied home in Lysychansk in Luhansk Oblast, her friends were traveling in the opposite direction. The friends — a family with two sons — came back to their house in Lysychansk because they couldn’t
Warning: This article contains descriptions of graphic scenes. For a moment, Oksana Latanska could not believe her eyes when she looked down at a cold, little body, gray from dust and ashes. It hardly resembled the little boy that she knew so well and whom she saw almost every weekend
For children around the world, the winter holidays are about gifts and a joyful time with their families. But for some Ukrainian children, the season is bittersweet, as it highlights the absence of one or both parents killed by Russia’s full-scale invasion. Nearly 1,800 Ukrainian children have become
WARNING: This article contains descriptions of graphic scenes. Anna Kotova was chatting with her sister on a video call, admiring her image on the screen. It was her 19th birthday, and for the first time in a while, she was feeling good about how she looked. “I used to dye
KUPIANSK — Volodymyr paused his Sunday stroll from a shopping center in Kupiansk to take pictures of rubble from a Russian strike that almost killed his wife late last month. "It was broad daylight when they struck," he said. "Our only luck was that my wife was in the kitchen, so
Two weeks before Ukraine's pivotal 2004 presidential election, 22-year-old filmmaker Iryna Tsilyk found herself at the center of a heated exchange during a trip to Moscow. The upcoming elections were a topic of group conversation and one Russian woman, bristling with anger, demanded, “How dare you Ukrainians think you are
Marharyta Koldanova was standing at a bus stop in a residential area in Kyiv when a sudden loud noise went off, prompting her to take out a tourniquet from her bag and prepare to quickly apply it in case she got injured by an aerial attack. "I was overwhelmed with
Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, 27, was about to be released from Russian captivity and returned home, when the news of her death broke out on Oct. 10, shocking Ukraine and the world. Roshchyna disappeared in August 2023 while reporting in Russian-occupied territory. More than half a year later, Russia's Defense
Editor’s Note: The following article is the latest in a series of reports by the Kyiv Independent about the memorialization of Ukraine’s fallen soldiers. Ukrainians gathered at war memorials around the country on Oct. 1, the country’s National Defenders Day, to honor the soldiers killed defending their
The wedding of Olha Shevchenko and Mykyta Pukhkan earlier this September was unique. It was online. The couple was among the first to marry using a Ukrainian-developed Diia mobile application. “One day in May, my husband saw a notification about the beta version in Diia, which offered an online wedding
For the past eight years, Anton Lytvynov, a stage director at Lviv National Opera, has celebrated New Year in Kyiv with his three friends – Sandra, Mykhailo, and Volodymyr. However, on Dec. 31, 2022, work commitments kept Lytvynov in Lviv longer than he had expected. Determined to reunite with his closest
"They are barbarians," 80-year-old Mustafa Dzhemilev tells the Kyiv Independent on Sept. 2, as he assesses the damage caused to the Islamic Cultural Center in Kyiv by a Russian missile attack in the early hours of the morning. "If they targeted a children's hospital, why wouldn’t they destroy a
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