Editor’s note: Some soldiers, local police officers and residents of Kupiansk district, Kharkiv Oblast, are not identified by name due to security concerns. All of the reporting and interviewing for this story was completed before the order was announced on Aug. 10 to evacuate 12,000 district residents from
Editor’s Note: Some of the soldiers interviewed in this piece declined to give their last names for security reasons or because they had relatives in occupied territory, and are identified by first names and callsigns instead. KHARKIV OBLAST – At an undisclosed part of the front line in Ukraine’s
The artillery shelling damaged a five-story residential building, and caused extensive damage to several private homes, according to the report.
KUPIANSK, Kharkiv Oblast — For the handful of Ukrainians left in the center of Kupiansk, life since liberation from Russian occupation has been reduced to an exercise in survival. The city in Kharkiv Oblast is shelled throughout the day by Russian artillery on the other side of the Oskil River, where
WARNING: This article contains very graphic scenes that readers may find disturbing. KOZACHA LOPAN, Kharkiv Oblast — Ten days have passed since his town was liberated from Russian troops, but Vitaliy Oliia is still afraid to leave his home at night. “I never go any further than the next house, that’
IZIUM, Kharkiv Oblast – Six months into the occupation of Izium in Kharkiv Oblast, Russian forces announced a mysterious strict 24-hour curfew on Sept. 8. Roman, a bread vendor at the local market who declined to give his last name, drove north the following morning on an errand in defiance of
At least ten locations that had been used as "torture chambers" by Russian forces were discovered after the liberation of parts of Kharkiv Oblast, according to Police Chief Ihor Klymenko. Klymenko reported on Sept. 16 that two of these chambers had been found in the city of Balakliia. He didn’
Editor’s Note: This is an analysis by Andriy Zagorodnyuk, ex-Defense Minister and the chairman of the Center for Defense Strategies, a Kyiv-based think tank. It was originally published in Ukrainian by Ukrainska Pravda on Sept. 14. The Kyiv Independent has translated it and is republishing it with permission. The
Ukraine’s surprise counteroffensive in Kharkiv Oblast forced Russian soldiers to beat a hasty retreat, abandoning ammunition and equipment to be captured by Ukrainian forces. Since the beginning of the advance on Sept. 7, Ukraine has liberated about 3,000 square kilometers, or over 40 settlements, in Kharkiv Oblast, according
Four days into Ukraine’s surprise counteroffensive in Kharkiv Oblast, Russian forces have retreated from the key cities of Kupiansk and Izium, signaling a near-total collapse of the Russian line of defense in the area. Reports are also circulating on social media and Telegram channels indicating that Russian troops have
KHARKIV – As the small convoy of journalists rounded a bend outside Kharkiv, two dark-green Ukrainian howitzers could be seen on a hill, etched against the warm blue May sky. A little while later, they vanished, likely moved to another location to continue the ongoing artillery battle against the Russians near
Editor's Note: The Kyiv Independent isn't revealing last name of the person interviewed for this story and the name of his native village for safety reasons. Ukrainian farmer Ihor escaped the “living hell” of Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine in late March after he had spent a month in
