"Here I spoke with President Biden, and it was right here that I heard: Volodymyr, there is a threat. You need to leave Ukraine urgently," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Editor's note: Klaas Knot and Olaf Sleijpen visited Ukraine as part of a Dutch delegation invited by the governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, Andriy Pishnyy. The gloom and doom on Europe's future is overblown, says the frontrunner to succeed Christine Lagarde as head of the European Central Bank — but still, says Klaas Knot, the continent has unfinished business if it wants to reach its potential. Speaking in Kyiv at the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) in a double interview with the curren

Russia launched 133 drones and an Iskander-M ballistic missile at Ukraine overnight, the Air Force said.

"We demand Budapest stop dragging Ukraine into Hungary's domestic politics," Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said.

The year is 2030. With spring around the corner, Ukraine has just endured the toughest winter of the war yet. It was Russia’s eighth winter campaign against the country’s energy infrastructure. Ukraine’s air defenses have improved. Its grid has grown more resilient. But Russia’s weapons are deadlier, its drone swarms larger, its tactics more adaptive — inflicting severe damage and forcing millions to live in darkness. Another U.S. administration has come and gone after promising to end the war

The visits coincide with gatherings of the Coalition of the Willing and the Ukraine–Nordic–Baltic summit.

The number includes 920 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

We’re entering the fifth year of Russia’s full-scale, unprovoked war against Ukraine. The war has grown more technologically sophisticated and lethal. Russian missiles and drones strike Ukrainian cities every night. Russia is weaponizing the coldest winter of the decade. Yet Russia’s war is failing. The Kremlin has not achieved its battlefield objectives. Contrary to its propaganda, its economy is collapsing, losses are immense, and advances remain minimal. According to the CSIS, Russian force

President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with Belarusian independent outlet Dzerkalo that Russia has deployed Shahed drone repeaters in Belarus to help coordinate attacks on Ukraine, warning that Minsk can no longer deny responsibility while also expressing hope for future EU integration between the two countries under democratic leadership.

An explosion occurred at a Ukrainian school in the city of Dnipro on Feb. 23 during a classroom demonstration of ammunition, injuring two children, according to regional police.

An explosion at Moscow's Savyolovsky railway station square killed one traffic police officer and wounded two others late on Feb. 23, according to Russia’s Interior Ministry and Investigative Committee.

"This is a setback and a message we didn't want to send today," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.

"The enemy is deliberately trying to kill Ukrainian police officers who stand guard every day to protect the people and the state," the chief of Ukraine's National Police, Ivan Vyhivsky, said.

The plant, legally owned by Energoatom, once employed 159 licensed specialists — the only people authorized to directly operate the plant’s six nuclear reactors, which, prewar, provided over a fifth of Ukraine’s electricity.

While no casualties were reported in the Dnipro incident, the blast caused significant damage to the building's interior, office equipment, and a nearby vehicle.

However, Ukraine's state grid operator, Ukrenergo, said it received a notice from Slovakia's energy regulator about new flexible price conditions for emergency imports, Vitaliy Zaichenko, Ukrenergo's CEO, told the Kyiv Independent.

Key developments on Feb. 23: * Ukrainian drones strike 'critical' Druzhba oil pipeline hub in Russia's Tatarstan, SBU source confirms * Ukraine strikes logistics warehouse, ammunition depot, other military targets in Russian-occupied territories, General Staff says * Ukraine has liberated 400 square kilometers, 8 settlements on southern front since January, Syrskyi says * 'No coincidence' — Explosion in Mykolaiv injures 7 police officers, day after fatal terrorist attack in Lviv * Ukraine

A former member of Advanced Company, a Brazilian-led foreign fighter unit operating under Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR), has come forward on the record to corroborate details of a recent Kyiv Independent investigation into the death of 23-year-old recruit Bruno Gabriel Leal da Silva at the unit’s base in Kyiv late last year. Daniel Santos Reis told the Kyiv Independent the unit regularly used beatings and torture as "discipline," and that a beating preceded the death of Leal da Silva.

The conflict is seen as part of a broader struggle between the President's Office and the NABU, which says the authorities are trying to eliminate its independence.

"The attempt to impose the legitimization of peace agreements on Ukrainians through a referendum is unlawful and unacceptable, contradicts Ukraine's Constitution and laws, and threatens the national interests of our state," the statement read.

Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that despite successful offensive operations, the situation in the area remains "complicated."

A month ago, I put my work as a writer and volunteer on hold and enlisted in the Ukrainian army. As I left for service, some of my acquaintances said goodbye to me as though I were already dead. Yet my reasoning was the exact opposite: if you want to survive, defend your family, your home, and your country, you must be fully trained and prepared to protect yourself. There is no better school for that than the Ukrainian Armed Forces on our continent. So when I put on the military uniform, it fe

Ukrainian forces struck four Russian military targets on the occupied Crimean Peninsula and in the occupied parts of Donetsk and Mykolaiv oblasts, the General Staff said on Feb. 23.

Drones operated by Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) struck a "critical" Russian oil transportation hub, the Kaleykino oil pumping station, in the Republic of Tatarstan overnight on Feb. 23, an undisclosed source in the agency told the Kyiv Independent.

"We are in the process of preparing," the President's Office head Kyrylo Budanov said.

"The same thing (Vladimir) Putin is doing: he pays each person money for a contract. We want this as well, but we do not have enough funds," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

As Ukraine pushes for a fast-tracked entry to the EU, senior European officials say they are worried about progress on key reforms needed to secure the country’s European aspirations. Ukraine failed to complete 11 reforms in the last three months of 2025 required to unlock European funds, according to RRR4U, a consortium of Ukrainian think tanks, and is on track to miss more reforms in the first three months of 2026 — putting a total of five billion euros ($5.8 billion) of EU funding at risk.

A woman has been arrested in connection to a suspected terrorist attack that killed a police officer and injured 25 others in the Western city of Lviv in the early hours of Sunday morning, Ukrainian authorities said.

Russia launched 126 drones and an Iskander-M ballistic missile at Ukraine overnight, the Air Force said. Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 105 drones.

The Kyiv Independent’s separate analytical unit, KI Insights, is excited to announce the launch of its podcast, Ukraine Insights — a show dedicated to unpacking Ukraine’s politics, security, economy, and international relations through in-depth, expert-driven conversations.

The documentary has received wide acclaim for the fact that it shows how the war against Ukraine is not just "(Russian President Vladimir) Putin's war" but a war sustained by both a climate of fear and open support among the populace within Russia.

The number includes 720 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.