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'Impossible to ban grief' — how Russia tries and fails to hide its casualties in Ukraine
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'Impossible to ban grief' — how Russia tries and fails to hide its casualties in Ukraine

by Karol Luczka

Russia has tightened control over information about its battlefield losses in Ukraine, cutting off data and closing one public loophole after another. The effort has not stopped the evidence of the dead from surfacing. As 2025 came to an end, Western governments and independent groups alike tallied staggering figures for Russia's battlefield losses in Ukraine, reaching no fewer than 400,000 killed, wounded, and missing that year. According to some estimates, Russia could have lost more soldiers

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Friday, January 30

'We are all used to this now' — Inside one of Kyiv’s hardest-hit buildings this winter

Upon entering Daria’s apartment in a large complex in Rusanivka on Kyiv’s left bank, a faint smell of gas lingers in the cold, dim rooms. After Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure cut heat and power across parts of the city,  she uses the stove daily to raise the indoor temperature by a couple of degrees, but even then it barely reaches 13 degrees Celsius (55 degrees Fahrenheit). The warmth comes with consequences. "We don't want to live in mold. You come in from the street and

Daria and her daughter Taia in their apartment in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Jan. 27, 2026.

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The Kyiv Independent’s coverage of news on Russia. Spanning eleven time zones across Eastern Europe and Asia, Russia has an estimated population of 146 million people. Russia’s capital city is Moscow, which is home to almost one in 10 Russians. Russia’s official currency is the Russian Ruble.

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