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Exclusive: We discovered what's going on inside Russia's shadow fleet
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Exclusive: We discovered what's going on inside Russia's shadow fleet

by Tanya Kozyreva

The vessels are old, their hulls streaked with rust, and their ownership obscured behind layers of shell companies. Yet the tankers that make up Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, the armada used to move sanctioned oil across the globe, are kept running with modern Western technology including Starlink, an investigation by the Kyiv Independent can reveal. To gain an insight into how the shadow fleet operates, the Kyiv Independent spoke to two Ukrainian sailors who claim they unwittingly became p

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In Hungary's most consequential election in years, JD Vance did too little too late

The visit of U.S. Vice President JD Vance to Budapest was intended to provide a timely boost to Prime Minister Viktor Orban ahead of Hungary's parliamentary elections this Sunday. Instead, the visit just highlighted the widening gap between the government's international agenda and the domestic realities facing Hungarian voters. In a campaign defined by economic hardship and the sudden rise of a formidable opposition, the arrival of a senior American official felt more like a desperate distrac

U.S. Vice President JD Vance (R) and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (L)  in Budapest, Hungary, on April 7, 2026.

About Russia

The Kyiv Independent’s coverage of news on Russia. Spanning eleven time zones across Eastern Europe and Asia, Russia has an estimated population of 146 million people. Russia’s capital city is Moscow, which is home to almost one in 10 Russians. Russia’s official currency is the Russian Ruble.

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