Politics

Bohdana self-propelled howitzer at Russian positions in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on May 31, 2026
Politics

Why Ukraine is talking about ending 'hot phase' of Russia's war before winter

by Tim Zadorozhnyy

Kyiv hopes U.S.-mediated peace talks with Moscow could yield results before winter as Ukrainian officials grow concerned about shortages of anti-missile systems and signs Russia may be preparing a new mobilization. President Volodymyr Zelensky told lawmakers from his Servant of the People party in late May that Kyiv sees what he described as a realistic opportunity to end the war, according to two people familiar with the matter. Head of Zelensky's office, Kyrylo Budanov, later publicly echoed

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For Ukraine's mil-tech startups, access to credit remains a battlefield

When a bank asked Ukrainian defense tech company TAF Industries to pledge its assets as collateral for a simple bank loan, the company faced a dilemma: it couldn't reveal the location of its manufacturing facilities. To prove the factory existed, TAF came up with a bold workaround — blindfolding bank officials and driving them to the site. "It worked — they gave us a loan," Volodymyr Zinovskyi, CEO at TAF Industries, told the Kyiv Independent in a cafe in downtown Kyiv. Well into the fifth ye

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