Editor's Note: This story includes interviews with people living under the Russian occupation. Their names have been changed to protect their identity as they have shared sensitive information that could place them and their families in danger. Mariupol resident Oleksandr, 53, had just entered a hardware store when Russian soldiers
Warning: This story contains graphic images and descriptions that some readers may find disturbing. Scrolling through photos from the mass burial site in Izium, Oksana Sova immediately recognized her husband's bracelet on a corpse's wrist. "I immediately knew it was him," Sova, 37, told the Kyiv Independent. It was that
ORLIVSHCHYNA, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast – It doesn’t look like a typical camp for internally displaced persons. Once a place to unwind and enjoy nature, the Lisovyi resort located on the Samara River near Dnipro, a large city in south-central Ukraine, was turned into a shelter when Russia launched a full-scale invasion
In August, Russia's war against Ukraine returned to where it all started, to Crimea. Starting with the attack on the Saky air base in Novofedorivka on Aug. 9 that destroyed around a dozen Russian fighter aircraft, military targets were hit on a regular basis on the peninsula over the next
Editor’s Note: The Kyiv Independent is paying tribute to the Ukrainian soldiers who have been killed defending their country in the six months since the start of Russia's all-out invasion on Feb. 24. We don’t know how many have been killed, since the government doesn’t disclose the
Maksym Butkevych, a well-known human rights defender in Ukraine, has had anti-militarist views all his conscious life. But when Russia launched a brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, he put pacifism aside and joined the Ukrainian army. "There are times when one needs to be ready to defend
Editor’s Note: The names of some of the people interviewed by the Kyiv Independent for this story have been changed to protect their identity as they have shared sensitive information that could place them and their families in danger. Three months after Russia’s brutal months-long siege of Mariupol
Editor’s Note: The name of the person interviewed by the Kyiv Independent for this story has been changed to protect his identity as he has shared sensitive information that could place him and his family in danger. “If Russia orders us to invade the entire galaxy, we will,” the
Editor’s Note: The names of the people interviewed by the Kyiv Independent for this story have been changed to protect their identity as they have shared sensitive information that could place them and their families in danger. Stepan didn’t see daylight for nearly four months. Since mid-February, even
Editor's Note: The Kyiv Independent spoke with the children interviewed for this story with the permission of their parents. Ten-year-old Kyiv resident Valeriia Yezhova never imagined that one day she would meet renowned Ukrainian comedian, politician and volunteer Serhiy Prytula, let alone make him cry. Tears ran down Prytula's eyes
A crowd of dozens gathered near the highway in Kyiv’s historic Protasiv Yar neighborhood on June 16. Many of them knew each other well, united by past rallies against illegal construction in the area. But they were sadly quiet that day, hugging one another occasionally, and wiping off their
Editor’s Note: As June 3 marks 100 days of Russia’s all-out war, the Kyiv Independent publishes its staff’s takes on what they have learned or understood over this time. Olga Rudenko, editor-in-chief 100 days. When Russia started its invasion in February, it was impossible to imagine this
On March 23, Kyiv resident Olena Sukhenko got the most terrifying phone call of her life. “Russians came to our house,” her younger brother told her. “They took our mother. Our father went with her.” She felt the ground slipping out from beneath her feet. Olena asked her brother to
ZAPORIZHZHIA – A large white tent in a shopping center parking lot in Zaporizhzhia, welcomes hundreds of evacuees who left everything behind after Russian forces destroyed peace in their hometowns. Under the marquee, displaced people sit at long communal tables and silently gulp down warm meals prepared by volunteers. Still in
Early in the morning on March 9, Rostyslav Kotenko dialed the number of his father, Ukraine’s Armed Forces Colonel Serhii Kotenko. The two hadn't spoken since Kotenko’s father left to fight Russian forces in the war's hot spots, near Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. The long-awaited but brief conversation ended
It was a beautiful wedding ceremony at the St. Michael’s monastery in Kyiv downtown. Lit with dozens of candles, the usually crowded church was almost empty when Sviatoslav Fursin and Yaryna Arieva, both dressed in traditional Ukrainian vyshyvanka embroidered shirts, were pronounced husband and wife. But there were no
Viktoria Dubovitska, 24, and her two children survived the Russian bombing of the Mariupol Drama Theater by pure luck. Like hundreds of Mariupol residents, Dubovitska's family was sheltering near the theater’s main stage. But on March 16, her two-year-old daughter Anastasia got sick, and the family was offered a
“Sometimes hope returns to me. But sometimes it leaves, and I think that we are all going to die,” says Anastasiia Kiseliova, a 40-year-old mother of three, as she walks through the streets of Mariupol, voice-recording herself on an iPhone. “The city is gone,” she adds, her voice trembling. She
Editor's Note: Natalia Datskevych is a journalist with the Kyiv Independent. An endless feeling of fear that seems to never go away. Every loud sound, every sudden spark in the sky, causes panic. My life, together with the lives of millions of Ukrainians, turned into hell when Russia launched a
When the war began, Anton Dovgopol, the 36-year-old director of the Irpin City Polyclinic, got a phone call early in the morning. He learned that Ivankiv, a little village some 80 kilometers northwest of Kyiv, was under a Russian attack. He told his wife to get their go-bag ready, reached
As Russian bombs and rockets land on Kyiv’s residential buildings, the city’s utility services’ workers drudge overtime to clear the streets of the damage, debris and garbage left behind in the wake of Russia’s attacks. As many as 4,000 homes across Ukraine have been damaged by
Oleh Baturin, a journalist for the Novy Den, a newspaper in Ukraine’s southern Kherson Oblast, was kidnapped by the Russian military on March 12. Baturin lives in Kakhovka, a city of 35,000 people 90 kilometers to the west from the regional capital Kherson. For many years he has
Six days after a Russian missile destroyed their homes, residents of one nine-story apartment building in Kyiv’s northern district Obolon are back to the site of the tragedy. It’s a short visit as the building is falling apart and it's dangerous to stay for long. Despite the risks,
In the early morning of March 1, Svitlana Zhulina was driving her family away from war-torn Kyiv Oblast. Her husband, Andriy Vilson, was sitting next to her, their two sons of eight and 10 in the back seat. They were driving along Zhytomyr Highway, a westbound road very familiar to
In late February, Kyiv resident Serhii Fokin had a tough decision to make: walk into a bomb shelter during an air raid and risk infecting those around him, or stay at home, risking being killed by a Russian missile. Fokin chose the second option, staying in his apartment’s corridor
At noon on March 4, an SUV drove through the streets of Bucha, formerly a cozy green town near Kyiv, now a hotspot of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Three people were in the car: Serhiy Ustymenko, 25, a co-founder of a car repair shop, Maxym Kuzmenko, 28, a hookah
A cold basement with a corridor and small rooms on both sides, previously used as a wardrobe for the hospital staff. Chairs, worn benches, and cradles for newborns. This is where Mariia Shostak, 25, met her son for the first time. He was born in Kyiv on Feb. 25, or
Sixteen-year-old Ukrainian Anna Liutyk will never forget that early morning when she woke up to her mother screaming the most terrifying words she had ever heard. “The war has started,” Liutyk's mother cried out.“ (Russian dictator Vladimir) Putin started a war.” Multiple Ukrainian cities were shelled that same day on
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
Cold sleety rain washes against the derelicts of what used to be a big asphalt refinery on the outskirts of Kyiv. Small groups of people in mixed tactical gear and sports jumpsuits bend down in the dirty snow. The motley squad is armed with airsoft guns and fake Kalashnikov models,
In the last 72 hours, Russia’s eight-year-long war against Ukraine has rapidly escalated. On Feb. 18, OSCE reported 870 ceasefire violations in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, which is nearly a fourfold increase compared to the 2021 daily average of violations. Russian-led militants have been actively shelling Ukrainian territory all
'The threat of Russia’s invasion might be new for most of Ukraine. To millions of natives of eastern Ukraine and Crimea, it is a flashback to what we went through eight years ago.'
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