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DONETSK OBLAST — The Donbas battlefront meanders for over 1,000 kilometers through a land that has not known peace since 2014. In some points like Bakhmut, it flares into a meat grinder of incalculable human loss. At others, it appears to be coiled and waiting, limited to probing attacks by
Key developments on March 16: * ISW: Wagner Group’s offensive on Bakhmut appears to be nearing culmination * UK military advisor: 20,000-30,000 regular Russian soldiers, Wagner fighters have been killed, wounded in Bakhmut since May * Poland to send 4 MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine in coming days * Politico: China
Editor's note: The Kyiv Independent is not revealing the soldiers' full names or the exact location of their deployment due to security concerns amid the ongoing war. Donetsk Oblast – Just a few dozen kilometers from Bakhmut, Ukrainian infantry train to ready themselves for brutal days ahead. Nearly 20 soldiers from
Key developments on March 15: * Media: Russia plans on drafting 400,000 soldiers to fight against Ukraine * Russian Su-24 supersonic tactical bomber shot down near Bakhmut * Politico: US senators from both parties pressing Pentagon to send F-16s to Ukraine * 9 countries pledge to transfer more than 150 Leopard 2 tanks
Editor's note: The Kyiv Independent is not revealing the soldiers' surnames or the exact location of their deployment due to security concerns amid the ongoing war. Some military personnel spoke without the authorization of their commanders or a press officer. DONETSK OBLAST – Just days before heading back to fight in
Key developments on March 14: * Zaluzhnyi: Bakhmut defense ‘key in stability of entire front’ * Prigozhin claims his Wagner mercenaries crossed river, took ‘full control’ of plant in northwestern Bakhmut * Russian fighter jet crashes into US drone over the Black Sea Ukraine vowed on March 14 that it would hold on
A year into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there is little doubt in the West that Ukraine needs to win. Led by the U.S., Western support helped Ukraine push back Russian forces and kept Russian President Vladimir Putin from achieving his major warmongering goals. But Russia’s war
Key developments on March 13: * Commander: ‘Fierce’ fighting rages over central Bakhmut as Russia’s Wagner mercenaries storm into the ruined city * Media: Chinese leader Xi Jinping expected to visit Russia next week, speak to Zelensky afterward * Russian attack on village in Sumy Oblast kills 1, injures 4 * Russian forces
The so-called “anti-war” rallies in Europe and the U.S. have marched against arming Ukraine, which in the demonstrators’ view would bring an end to Russia’s war of aggression. In reality, such protests play into Russia’s hands.
Key developments on March 12: * Security Service names the Ukrainian POW executed by Russians in a video that left the nation shocked after it circulated earlier this month * Zelensky awards the Hero of Ukraine title to the executed soldier * Police: Russia launches 48 attacks against civilians in Donetsk Oblast over
Key developments on March 10: * Russia continues its assaults on Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast * At least 8 wounded in Russian attack of Kostyantynivka, Donetsk Oblast * Norway says it will send Ukraine 2 NASAMS air defense systems * Finland's Prime Minister visits Kyiv, meets Zelensky Ukraine's Defense Ministry acknowledged on March 10 that
It was another one of those losses. A young, bright Ukrainian who had a long life to live. Somebody who many perceived as “immortal” because the country’s future was hard to imagine without their dedication and patriotism. Somebody for whom thousands, both friends and strangers, would gather in central
Apart from defense and security, President Volodymyr Zelensky and Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin also discussed the significance of halting Russia's attempts to evade sanctions by trading with third-party nations.
Key developments on March 9 * Russia unleashes 16th large-scale missile attack * Zaluzhnyi: Russia fires 81 missiles against Ukraine * Prime Minister: Russian attack hit energy sites in 8 Ukrainian regions * Polish Defense Minister: 10 more Leopard 2 tanks transferred to Ukraine * Prosecutor General's Office: Russia shells Kherson, kills 4, injures 3
The Kyiv Independent's Illia Ponomarenko sits down with military analysts Michael Kofman, director of the Russia Studies Program at CNA, and Rob Lee, senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Research Institute's Eurasia Program.
Britain has been among the frontrunners in providing support to Ukraine, ranking second only behind the U.S. A month prior to Russia's all-out war, the U.K. was able to provide around 3,000 NLAW anti-tank missile systems helping Ukraine deter Russia's initial offensive. Soon, the U.K. was
Russia launched a mass missile and drone attack across Ukraine in the early morning hours of March 9, killing at least 5 people and injuring 7. Numerous critical energy infrastructure sites were targeted. Attacks were recorded in Kyiv, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kharkiv Oblasts.
Key developments on March 8: * Stoltenberg: Bakhmut could fall 'in the coming days' * German and Portuguese tanks to arrive in Ukraine by end of March * General Staff: Ukraine repels over 100 attacks within 24 hours * Governors: No reported civilian injuries over past 24 hours NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said
VELYKA NOVOSILKA – Lyubov Andreeva, a retired builder, helped create the small town of Velyka Novosilka with her own hands. “All that there is in Novosilka, my hands were there,” the 73-year-old recollected, sitting in one of the town’s underground shelter-communes. “We had a stonemason, a plasterer, a painter, a
Kindergarten teacher Olena Naumova was struggling to breathe as she sat in the back seat of a car driving through the streets of her hometown of Kherson on the morning of Aug. 23. There was a tight plastic bag over her head and three Russian soldiers surrounded her. Naumova knew
Key developments on March 7: * General Staff: Ukraine's military repelled over 140 Russian attacks in five areas over the past day * Officials: 1 killed, 11 injured in Russian attacks across four Ukrainian regions * UK Defense Ministry: Situation in Bakhmut 'likely stabilized' * 130 service people released from Russian captivity * Hero of
On the battlefields of eastern Ukraine, with the first days of March came the all-consuming mud. Videos of trucks and armored vehicles bogged down in fields heralded the arrival of a time traditionally known in Ukrainian as bezdorizhzhia, or “roadlessness.” Though the mud may present a brief challenge to both
The search for the identity of the alleged Ukrainian prisoner of war executed in a video that emerged on March 6 appears to be coming to an end. On March 6, a video was shared by popular Ukrainian bloggers in which an unarmed man in a military uniform with a
Semen Kryvonos, the newly-appointed head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), has previously held jobs associated with anti-corruption reforms. Kryvonos was appointed as head of the NABU by the Cabinet of Ministers on March 6 after being selected from a shortlist of three people chosen by a commission
Editor’s note: The Kyiv Independent is not revealing the soldiers’ full names or the exact location of their deployment due to security concerns amid the ongoing war. DONETSK OBLAST – At a cottage-turned-base some two kilometers from the front lines in Donetsk Oblast, soldiers from Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade lay
Key developments on March 6: * Military: Russia throws more Wagner mercenaries on Bakhmut, fierce battle rages on * Bild: Zelensky, Zaluzhnyi have conflicting views on Bakhmut * Local authorities: Russia attacks Avdiivka with 6 guided air missiles Kh-59 over the past day * Air Force: 13 out of 15 Russian drones downed by
Key developments on March 5: * Military Intelligence Chief: Russia likely to run out of 'military tools' by end of spring * Air Force: Modern fighter jets needed to counter new Russian gliding bomb * Two people still missing after Zaporizhzhia missile strike * Couple killed in a car due to Russian artillery attack
KOSTIANTYNIVKA, Donetsk Oblast – Russia’s relentless assault on Bakhmut is sacrificing waves and waves of unprepared men being sent to their deaths. But multiple defenders of this embattled city in Donetsk Oblast feel that they are in a similar boat, according to interviews with more than a dozen soldiers currently
Russia’s missile strike on Jan. 14 caught Kyiv residents off-guard. After nearly a year of Moscow’s repeated attacks, something unusual happened: The explosions sounded before the air raid alert went off, which is rarely the case in what is believed to be the most protected city in Ukraine.
Key developments on March 3: * Pentagon announces new military aid package for Ukraine * CNN reports Russian hit on vital bridge to Bakhmut as Wagner Group leader claims city is 'practically surrounded' * Ukraine's General Staff says Battle for Bakhmut continues * Ukraine's Ground Forces Commander comes to Bakhmut * Air Force says it
Key developments on March 2: * Military says withdrawal from Bakhmut considered, but only if it is 'absolutely necessary' * Governor: About 5,000 people, including 37 children, remain in Bakhmut * Prosecutors: 4 killed, 8 wounded, 5 missing after Russian overnight missile strike on Zaporizhzhia * Russia uses drones to attack civilians lining
