One of Kyiv’s biggest shopping malls will slowly reopen this month after a dramatic lockdown shut out hundreds of businesses amid a dispute over the building’s management. The Gulliver shopping and entertainment complex will open up in stages from Dec. 12, starting with the bottom two floors, the mall’s owner, state-owned Oschadbank, said in a statement. The lockdown on Oct. 31, just before the holiday season, shocked Kyiv residents who frequent its 250 stores and rely on its large supermarket

The Kyiv Appeals Court ordered on Dec. 3 the release of Ruslan Mahamedrasulov, a detective with Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), who had been investigating the country's largest corruption case involving the state-run nuclear power monopoly Energoatom.

A fire broke out overnight Dec. 3 at an oil depot in Russia's Tambov region after an alleged Ukrainian drone strike.

Hello, this is Kateryna Hodunova reporting from Kyiv on day 1,379 of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Today's top story so far: The Third Army Corps of the Ukrainian Armed Forces denied Russian claims of a breakthrough in the city of Lyman in Donetsk Oblast, releasing a video on Dec. 3 showing a captured Russian soldier. In the released footage, a soldier with the call sign "Ptitsa" ("Bird" in English), identified as a member of the 37th Regiment, said Russian military correspondent T

European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said that the EU would cover two-thirds of Ukraine's needs over the next two years, which she said amounts to 90 billion euros, leaving the rest to international partners.

The Kyiv Independent’s Martin Fornusek speaks with U.S. Senator Peter Welch about the bipartisan Senate backlash to the Trump administration’s 28-point Ukraine peace plan. Welch explains why the U.S. must defer to Ukraine on the terms of peace and why he supports tougher sanctions and stronger military aid to counter Russia’s aggression.

Sabotage activity in Russian-occupied territories is picking up after a two-year lull, according to a new report by ACLED, an organization that tracks conflicts around the world. Pro-Ukrainian militias were particularly active in the occupied territories in 2022 following Russia's full-scale invasion, the report found — although this declined as Russia consolidated control through suppressing protests, torture, and executions. "In 2023 and 2024, the data shows that Russia's crackdown worked,"

Only about 19.4% of Ukrainians consider a potential entry into NATO as the best possible security guarantee, a 10% drop from last year, according to a survey.

Key findings: * After Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine, China decided to purchase Russian aircraft, combat vehicles, ammunition, and equipment to enhance its paratroopers. * Chinese officers and representatives of defense manufacturers have repeatedly visited Russia to inspect examples of weaponry and negotiate deals. * In 2023 and 2024, Beijing entered into several confidential contracts with Moscow to acquire Russian armaments, with the funds intended for Russian arms man

"The Russian oil network... will continue to explode and burn," a source told the Kyiv Independent.

NATO allies announced two joint PURL packages, each worth $500 million: one co-financed by Germany, Norway, and Poland, and another by Germany, Norway, and the Netherlands.

Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, and Andrii Hnatov, the chief of staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces, will first meet European national security advisors in Brussels on Dec. 3.

"So far, no compromise version of a peace settlement has been found, but some American proposals look more or less acceptable… the work will continue," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.

Hello, this is Chris York, reporting from Kyiv on day 1,378 of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. While the international focus remains on Trump's peace deal negotiations in Moscow, our focus in this blog is on updates from the front: Our top story so far: Drones launched by Ukraine's military intelligence struck Russian air defense systems in occupied Donbas, the agency claimed on Dec. 2, knocking out a launcher from a S-300 SAM system, and two 1L125 Niobium-SV radar stations. "Such s

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has detained British citizen Ross David Cutmore, who came to Ukraine as a military instructor, on suspicion of working for Russian intelligence, an SBU source told the Kyiv Independent on Dec. 2.

A U.S.-backed 28-point peace plan leaked last month caused uproar in Ukraine and among its allies, among other reasons, because it contained a controversial point implying, in vague terms, a "full amnesty" for acts committed during the war. While Ukrainian officials later claimed that this clause had since been removed, critics fear that it could still return to the text, bringing with it a culture of impunity for war crimes. As talks aiming to secure a peace deal continued with a high-level U

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Europe "has no peaceful agenda" and "is on the side of war" just before meeting U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.

In the tumultuous history of modern warfare, the information struggle has often been fought with the same fury as the kinetic. Amid all the attempts to portray success instead of failure, to exude control when there is chaos, there is one hard truth that is difficult to hide from for long: the movement of the front line. What was — for the entire history of conflict until the last decade — once concealed by the fog of war and hostage to the information politics of the belligerents, is now read

About the author: Yuliia Boklah is a PR specialist and board member of the Helping to Leave charitable project, which has evacuated more than 21,000 Ukrainians from occupied territories or deportation since Russia’s full-scale invasion. It’s Friday evening. I am wrapping up urgent work matters and glancing at the news. In Ternopil, the rubble of a residential building destroyed by a Russian missile is still being cleared, and society is being rocked by new painful updates and heartbreaking sto

A Russian oil tanker reportedly came under a drone attack in the Black Sea while en route to a port in northern Turkey on Dec. 2, according to Turkish authorities.

"Ukraine approaches all diplomatic efforts with utmost seriousness – we are committed to achieving a real peace and guaranteed security," Zelensky said.

According to Ukraine’s national "Children of War" database, at least 19,546 Ukrainian children have been abducted from Russian-occupied territories and taken to Russia or Russian-controlled areas since February 2022.

"All of this is done exclusively for Western audiences and to raise the stakes in diplomacy," said Andrii Kovalenko, head of Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation.

The latest incident occurred on Nov. 30, when Vilnius International Airport suspended operations after unidentified objects — believed to be balloons — appeared in nearby airspace.

Russian forces captured about 505 square kilometers (195 square miles) of Ukrainian territory in November, almost twice the gains recorded in September, DeepState said in an assessment Dec. 1.

"The informational 'victories' that the Russian Defense Ministry announces daily on paper have nothing to do with the real situation on the front lines," Ukraine's 11th Army Corps said.

A Ukrainian deep-strike unit hit a Russian "storage and launch area" for Shahed-type drones near Cape Chauda, Crimea, overnight on Nov. 28, the Special Operations Forces said.

Businessman Timur Mindich, a former business partner of President Volodymyr Zelensky, fled Ukraine before the court considered the motion.

The visit follows talks between Ukrainian and U.S. officials in Florida, as Kyiv seeks to negotiate better conditions in the Washington-backed 28-point peace deal.

As U.S. President Donald Trump intensifies his effort to force a negotiated end to Russia's full-scale invasion, a central question hangs over Washington, Kyiv, and Moscow: What happens next — and can this push yield anything at all? The answer, according to analysts, is increasingly clear. Despite weeks of frantic diplomacy and pressure from Washington, the signs emerging ahead of U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff’s trip to Moscow this week look bleak. Just days before the U.S.-Ukraine consultations

U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff held another meeting with Ukrainian negotiator and top security official Rustem Umerov in Florida, a White House official told the Kyiv Independent on Dec. 1.

"No actions by Ukraine are directed against Kazakhstan or other third parties — all of Ukraine's efforts are focused on repelling full-scale Russian aggression," Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said.