“Mom, you just have to get out,” I was saying into the phone, again and again. “I’ve bought you a ticket, take the night train and come to Kyiv. It’s for your safety, just leave the town for some time. Nobody knows if the worst is to happen
News on potential disruption in grain exports from the Black Sea region, primarily from Ukraine, due to the full-scale military aggression of Russia against Ukraine, caused a significant price spike and raised concerns about global food security. Reduced grain supply from Ukraine will generate inflationary pressures, elevating the global price
On 14 April 2022, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted a declaration on the genocide committed by Russia in Ukraine. Can the atrocities committed by Russia in Ukraine since 24 February 2022 be really called “genocide”? Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, also
I have written before that I am a man of conflicted faith. Yet even though I lecture as a professor of political geography, I cannot but bear witness to Ukraine's agony through the lens of my religion, the faith of my Ukrainian Catholic ancestors. To that I confess, wholeheartedly. And
When a drunk-with-rage husband takes a knife to his wife, when a child is abused by a parent, when a bully strikes innocents, most humans are moved to protect the victim and punish the offender especially if they have an advantage. To do less is cowardly. To do business with
On 6 April 2022, Euronews reported that the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell Fontelles told the European Parliament: “We've given Ukraine nearly €1 billion. That might seem like a lot but €1 billion is what
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in the op-ed section are those of the authors. The withdrawal of the Russian forces from the northern part of the Kyiv Oblast was great news to hear. The Ukrainian capital of more than three million people at last felt relatively safe – with the
Images of dead civilians lying on the streets of Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, with their hands tied behind their backs shocked the international community and shamed Putin’s apologists, including all those who had felt sympathy for the “young demoralized Russian soldiers” – as these atrocities were committed by Russian
Editor’s note: Editorials are articles that present the opinion of the editorial team of the Kyiv Independent. We write this editorial with difficulty. Journalists are the people of words, but right now it’s hard to find the ones to reflect what we feel. The uncovered atrocities of Russians
Editor's Note: Natalia Datskevych is a journalist with the Kyiv Independent. An endless feeling of fear that seems to never go away. Every loud sound, every sudden spark in the sky, causes panic. My life, together with the lives of millions of Ukrainians, turned into hell when Russia launched a
Editor’s Note: This editorial was originally published by the New Pathway - Ukrainian News on March 29. The Kyiv Independent is republishing it with permission. For a country that prides itself on its “special relationship” with Ukraine, Canada’s reaction to the worldwide crisis created by Russia’s invasion
Today, Russia's egregious armed aggression against Ukraine as an X-ray highlights a chronic disease of a united Europe that has long required radical "surgery". The acute energy crisis that EU is facing now comes as the culmination of decades of flawed energy policy and the result of a pernicious dependence
An Extraordinary Summit of NATO Heads of State and Government will take place on 24 March 2022 in Brussels. It needs to be a game-changer. The focal point of this Summit will be the all-out war launched by Russia against Ukraine one month earlier, namely on 24 February 2022, and
A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in Ukraine on a scale Europe has not seen since World War II. Thousands are dead, millions are displaced, entire cities are being leveled to the ground by airstrikes and artillery fire. And the worse is yet to come. Unable to defeat the Ukrainian army,
On 14-16 September 2005, over 170 heads of state and government met at the United Nations Headquarters in New York during the 2005 World Summit, later described as the “largest gathering of world leaders in history,” and adopted the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document. The UN website states: “In paragraphs
To all our friends in the West: We know that you want to postpone a possible direct engagement, a direct war with the Russians… I’d like to be wrong, but I think it’s quite obvious that the direction we are heading in… is a direct war and direct
The Treaty on European Union, also known as the Maastricht Treaty, establishes how a country can become a member state of the European Union. The relevant provisions of this treaty regarding membership stipulate that: “Article 2 The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy,
It’s infuriating that Russia’s serial killer, autocrat Vladimir Putin, is telling Western powers what they should be doing. What is worst, they are listening. The war-crime nominee has launched an incomprehensible war on global democracies by attacking Ukraine for no reason other than he thinks that he can
Many struggle to understand world powers’ refusal to enforce a no-fly zone (NFZ), at least on the western rest of Ukraine not (yet) occupied by Russia. It has been repeatedly requested by its legitimate democratically elected President Volodymyr Zelensky for the whole of this sovereign independent and democratic country, itself
Following a call with the Russian President on 3 March 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron indicated that “the worst is yet to come” and that Putin wanted to take all of Ukraine. It is difficult to imagine what could be worse than perpetrating war crimes by indiscriminate daily bombardment of
Ukrainian bankers, analysts and economists have joined forces to develop a list of sanctions that have not yet been introduced, but could substantially hit Russia and force Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to retreat. Of course, these measures could hurt not only Russians, but also the economies of the collective West.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in the op-ed section are those of the authors. The Kyiv Independent is reposting it with permission. Against all the odds, Ukraine has won this war militarily. It has won because it has fought bravely and skillfully and now there is nothing Russia can
As NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs prepare for their extraordinary meeting on 4 March 2022 in Brussels, they will need to address the following existential question raised by former President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė in her 2 March 2022 letter to NATO: “If we do not stop Putin in Ukraine,
Russia’s treacherous attack on Ukraine shocked the entire civilized world. The planned Blitzkrieg that failed led to the collapse of Russian troops and their transition to terrorist methods of warfare, in violation of the laws and customs of war. On the first day of the occupation, it became known
Ukrainian people are dying, and civil infrastructure is destroyed from increasing Russian air-to-ground attacks. And there is no other help from the United Nations member states needed more than closure of airspace from any unapproved military aircraft flying into Ukrainian airspace. According to the article 42 of the UN Charter,
The heroic feats of Ukraine are a balm for our heart and soul. It’s been a long time since anything like its national resistance to Russia’s war has nurtured the spirit. Humanity loves heroes. The Ukrainian people, its military and president have shown it in spades. Respect, love
On 24 February 2022, in violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty, Russia unleashed a full-scale military assault on Ukraine by air, ground and sea, attacking airports, ports, urban areas, civilian infrastructure and the nuclear exclusion zone in Chernobyl. On the same day, the President of Ukraine called for the
Editor’s Note: Victor Tregubov is a Ukrainian columnist, political blogger and the former editor-in-chief of Petr and Mazepa online news outlet. He is also a co-founder of the Democratic Axe (Demokratychna Sokyra) political party. Some foreign friends have asked what they can do for Ukrainians, to help us survive
As I write this, Kyiv defenders are fighting on the streets and on the outskirts of the city. A Russian missile hit a residential apartment. There are air raid alerts in Vinnytsya, Kherson, Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Lviv, Rivne, Lutsk, air strikes in Uman’. Chernihiv is preparing for street fights. The Ministry
Since the beginning of the year, Western leaders have repeatedly warned that Russia would face the toughest sanctions ever if it would further invade Ukraine. Russia brazenly challenged these warnings and doubled down. Indeed, on Feb. 24, Russia launched the biggest war in Europe since WWII with a vicious all-out
With Russia’s ruthless and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in the early morning hours of 24 February 2022, Vladimir Putin has brazenly challenged the West. Ukraine is courageously holding the fort at a high cost of human lives, both military and civilian, as well as an inestimable destruction of property.
On 5 December 1994, at an OSCE conference in Budapest, Ukraine, the United States of America, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland signed a Memorandum on Security Assurances in connection with Ukraine’s accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
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