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Exclusive: We discovered what's going on inside Russia's shadow fleet
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Exclusive: We discovered what's going on inside Russia's shadow fleet

by Tanya Kozyreva

The vessels are old, their hulls streaked with rust, and their ownership obscured behind layers of shell companies. Yet the tankers that make up Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, the armada used to move sanctioned oil across the globe, are kept running with modern Western technology including Starlink, an investigation by the Kyiv Independent can reveal. To gain an insight into how the shadow fleet operates, the Kyiv Independent spoke to two Ukrainian sailors who claim they unwittingly became p

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Suspect in fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee deemed incompetent to stand trial

Decarlos Brown, the North Carolina man charged with the murder of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska last summer, has been found incompetent to stand trial, according to court documents filed April 7. A key hearing in his case has been delayed to allow additional competency proceedings.

Trump administration is trying to reverse Kissinger, and even Kissinger is probably rolling in his grave

For years, an idea has percolated among certain Western officials that the best way to break the burgeoning partnership between Russia and China is to appease Moscow, including to the point of choking off all support for Ukraine. Known colloquially as the "reverse Kissinger," it is an idea that builds on U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's efforts in the early 1970s to peel Beijing away from Moscow. As the theory goes, it is only in offering Moscow what it wants — sanctions relief, new i

Historian Serhii Plokhy on Russian imperialism, de-colonization, and why Putin is so obsessed with Ukraine

Even before Russia launched its full-scale war in 2022, it set the groundwork by establishing distorted narratives about its “rightful” claim to Ukraine. Misunderstandings about empire, identity, and the legacies of both the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union still shape Western views of Russia — and Ukraine — today. While these narratives aren’t as instantly lethal as Russian drones and missiles, they’re designed to serve the same purpose — hurting Ukraine, often in ways that reach far beyond

Serhii Plokhy during the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2019 in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Aug. 14, 2019

Fact-check: How Kremlin disinformation targets Hungary's election

As Hungary heads into a high-stakes election, Moscow has deployed its propaganda and disinformation machine to bolster its preferred candidate. Viktor Orban, Hungary's Kremlin-friendly strongman, faces a real chance of defeat on April 12 that could end his 16-year grip on power. For weeks, Russian propagandists and bot networks have pushed falsehoods about alleged attempts by Brussels and Kyiv to sway the vote, or even steal it in a "Maidan-style coup." The methods deployed by Kremlin disinfo

A Hungarian election poster depicting President Volodymyr Zelensky in Budapest, Hungary, on March 19, 2026.

About Russia

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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