For Viktoriia Hrinienkova, life came to a standstill in June 2023. Three of her family members — her mother, father, and grandmother — died in their own home in Hola Prystan, a Ukrainian town in the Russian-occupied part of Kherson Oblast. They were killed in the aftermath of Russia’s destruction of
Editor’s Note: The following is a translated transcript of the address delivered by Roman Shvartsman, the chairman of the Odesa Association of Jews and a Holocaust survivor, at the Yalta European Strategy (YES) Special Gathering hosted by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Feb. 24, 2025, marking
After the top diplomats of Moscow and Washington met in Riyadh to discuss “peace” in Ukraine — without Ukraine at the table — the conversation quickly shifted to elections, as if they were the only topic discussed and the sole reason the war continues. And once again, U.S. President Donald Trump
The nuclear dimension has been a key aspect of the Russo-Ukrainian War since its onset in February 2014. Behavior in this war, not just of Moscow and Kyiv but of other states as well, has been conditioned by Russia’s possession and Ukraine’s lack of weapons of mass destruction.
Peace is an attractive, yet elusive, concept. It can mean different things to different people at different times. Ukraine is a case in point. The quest for peace could yield either of two fundamentally different outcomes: a Vichy-style capitulation, perhaps with an interim ceasefire that buys Russia more time to
Among the bombshells coming out of the Trump administration in its first month in office is the president’s demand that Ukraine pledge $500 billion worth of mineral resources to the United States in return for American support. U.S. President Donald Trump appears to see this as payback for
As Ukraine reaches the three-year mark since Russia’s full-scale invasion, the impact on women’s health — and especially maternal health — has grown increasingly dire. Missiles and drone attacks strike without warning, putting pregnant women and their newborns at constant risk. In areas closer to the front line, the challenges
Feb. 24, 2025 marks three years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Three years since Ukraine, and the world, ceased to exist as we knew them. Kyiv Independent staff members have answered the question, "If you could go back in time, what would you tell yourself on the eve
I bet you woke up this morning, read the world news, and couldn’t believe it — how is this really happening? Has the world truly plunged into total chaos and madness? You just want to wake up from this nightmare, but instead, it keeps insisting on becoming the new normal
Editor’s Note: This op-ed was first published by the Ukrainian NGO Civil Network OPORA as an open statement, which garnered nearly 300 signatures at the time it was published by the Kyiv Independent. Democracy during wartime must be protected even more than in peacetime, as the consequences of mistakes
Europe urgently needs to rearm. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the broader threat that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime poses to Europe, requires nothing less. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has also now made clear that neither Ukraine nor America’s NATO allies can count on
The second line of the Ukrainian national anthem — “Fate/luck still smiles on us, fellow Ukrainians” — sadly no longer holds. Much worse, we should extend this retreat of luck to Europe itself: Fate/luck no longer smiles on us, fellow Europeans. The situation is now so serious that the same
As many others have now concluded, this year’s Munich Security Conference (MSC) was pretty remarkable. Indeed, it may have been as defining an event as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s infamous 2007 speech, which marked a shift toward a more openly hostile Russian policy toward the West. That shift
U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants to bring peace to Ukraine. But his approach cannot work, because it fails to address the problem of security guarantees. There will be no peace as long as Ukraine must face Russia on its own. But perhaps this flaw can be overcome.
The U.S. administration is ready to hand Russia a win in its brutal war against Ukraine. That’s the only conclusion we can make after following the news this week. If anyone held onto hopes that U.S. President Donald Trump would be tough on Russia’s Vladimir Putin,
The following op-ed is based on a broader report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), published on Feb. 11, 2025. Some peace deals lead to peace; others lead to more war. The Minsk II deal, aimed at ending Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014, instead
Like people in other regions, Europeans face the challenge of discerning what motives underlie U.S. President Donald Trump’s verbal provocations. After all, what Trump really wants is often unclear, which makes it difficult to devise a strategically effective response. Traditionally, Europeans have interpreted American foreign policy through a
On Feb. 10, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that he aimed to secure “$500 billion worth of rare earth” minerals as part of negotiations over continued U.S. support for Ukraine amid its war with Russia. When history repeats itself, it’s time to reflect. At the beginning
There are still many questions about what to expect from the Trump administration’s approach to ending Russia’s war in Ukraine. With some in Congress questioning continued military aid and loans for Ukraine, the application of economic statecraft measures —such as sanctions, export controls, and tariffs — could be used
“The biggest problem is the lack of people.” These words, heard by journalists, including myself, from Ukrainian soldiers and commanders across the front line for the past year, are no outlier. For most of 2024 and into 2025, Ukraine’s biggest issue on the battlefield has not been firepower but
Another year has passed, and we are once again analyzing Ukraine’s position in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). This year, Ukraine lost one point, now with 35 out of 100 possible points, ranking 105th out of 180 countries. While the loss of a single point falls within the margin
The fall of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has dealt a significant blow to Russia’s ambitions in the Middle East. Yet Russia still retains influence across the region through trade, diplomacy, and military ties. Even now, Moscow maintains a presence in Syria, making it imperative for the West to capitalize
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the international community has sent nearly $11 billion in humanitarian aid, with billions more from individuals, charities, and Ukrainians. The UN recently announced a new $3.3 billion appeal for 2025. Yet, despite this support, key players in humanitarian aid — state donors,
The European Union and NATO must strengthen cooperation to protect critical energy infrastructure from attacks, which pose a growing threat to European stability. The Kremlin, with its history of weaponizing energy, remains a prime suspect. NATO must properly secure the Baltic Sea — the so-called NATO lake. The Baltic states achieved
Editor’s Note: This article was published by the twice-weekly newsletter “The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak” on Feb. 8, 2025, and has been re-published by the Kyiv Independent with permission. To subscribe to The Counteroffensive, click here. Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine — In the early hours of December 2024, as the sun
Europe’s window to ban Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) is closing faster than we think. As a second Trump administration takes shape, Europe's opportunity to impose new, meaningful measures on Russian fossil fuels is rapidly diminishing. U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war allegedly includes
Ukraine has become a war lab for the future since the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Driven by necessity, it has had no choice but to rely on rapid innovations to fight back. As a result, Ukraine is at the forefront of military technology, leveraging robotics and automation to
Despite the uncertainty surrounding a potential resolution to the war, Ukrainians know one thing for sure: we must ramp up our defense capabilities to effectively defend against current and future Russian aggression. This requires the rapid development of asymmetrical solutions to counter Russia's advantages in personnel, material, and financial resources.
The recent shake-up at the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine (SFMS), responsible for combating money laundering and terrorist financing, has drawn mixed reactions. Some see it as a step toward fighting corruption and financial crime, while others view the changes with caution, uncertain about the motivations behind the overhaul.
Norway’s government has effectively become a war profiteer, we argued in a commentary in December. It is an opinion shared by a number of European politicians, and by European and Norwegian media. But rather than paying attention, Norway’s government is getting defensive. The basic facts are not up
Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, concerns over the security of energy and communication infrastructure in the Baltic Sea intensified. Initially, focus was placed on the threat of hybrid attacks from Russia. However, it became evident that Russian military vessels and so-called "research" ships were actively mapping the
Russian President Vladimir Putin is starting 2025 with a bang. In a nod to U.S. President Donald Trump’s desire for a settlement in Ukraine, the Kremlin has announced its readiness for negotiations “without preconditions.” However, the devil is in the details. For Russia, “without preconditions” translates to cutting
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