The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Nov. 19 that Ukraine had launched the U.S.-made ATACMS missiles against Russia's Bryansk Oblast. Hours prior, Ukraine struck a Russian military facility in Karachev, Bryansk Oblast, a two-hour drive from the Ukrainian-controlled part of Russia. President Joe Biden's decision to finally allow
Amid rising fears of U.S. aid being cut off under a second Donald Trump presidency, Ukrainians are left wondering whether Europe can rise to the challenge and fill the gap. Trump has promised to swiftly end Russia's war against Ukraine, speaking highly of Russian President Vladimir Putin and making
Over the past week, Russia had been gathering forces in what appears to be preparations for a decisive push in the country's Kursk Oblast. "The situation is changing every day. Not long ago, we were on the offensive, and now we are on the defensive," a 35-year-old artilleryman with the
As Russia launched another swarm of killer drones to attack Kyiv on one day in early November, one of them came dangerously close to Petro, a 55-year-old resident of a high-rise apartment building in downtown Kyiv. “I saw this motherf*cker just maybe 200 meters above my head, very low.
Donald Trump claimed victory in the U.S. presidential elections on Nov. 6, bringing additional uncertainty for many Ukrainian soldiers who already struggle to see the future of the war. Though doubt looms over Trump's moves in the coming months, his warm relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his
Amid the looming risk that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump may pull the plug on Washington's support for Ukraine, Kyiv has begun to flirt with the option of nuclear deterrence. The prospect of such a scenario was raised weeks earlier when President Volodymyr Zelensky in October said he had told
As voters in the U.S. head to the polls in presidential elections set to decisively steer the trajectory of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, the situation on the battlefield is beginning to unravel for Kyiv. After two years of brutal attritional warfare across southern and eastern Ukraine, dynamism
Russian losses in Ukraine have passed the 700,000 mark, according to figures released by Kyiv on Nov. 4, just 77 days after they hit 600,000, according to the same source. According to Kyiv, casualty rates among Moscow's forces have surged in recent months — October saw an average of
Russia is increasingly deploying unidentified gas in its latest chemical warfare tactic against Ukrainian troops, who are losing ground across the hotspots of the eastern front line. Ukraine is currently unable to identify the majority of the gas used on the battlefield, compared to previous months when it could diagnose
Beijing was fast at claiming that it had no knowledge of Russia's deepening partnership with North Korea. The U.S. had jumped on the opportunity, hoping to pressure China to dissuade North Korea from taking an active part in Russia's war against Ukraine. Observers, however, are skeptical about China's signals,
Russia's aerial attacks against Kyiv have changed dramatically in recent weeks, becoming far more frequent yet far less destructive. Moscow has ramped up drone strikes on the capital — which overnight on Oct. 31 was attacked for the 20th time this month — and the rest of the country, while dialing down
Ukraine faces a "pretty grim" situation in Donetsk Oblast in the east of the country as Russian forces make some of their swiftest advances since the summer of 2022, according to experts and OSINT analysts. "The last week has been extremely difficult for the Ukrainians — the Russians were able to
Ukraine faces a tricky dilemma as winter approaches. How can it disrupt an expected mass Russian missile campaign targeting the country's infrastructure while simultaneously being barred from using Western-supplied weapons to strike deep inside Russia? Despite being limited to the use of long-range kamikaze drones, one method employed by Kyiv
The desire to receive an official invitation to NATO tops President Volodymyr Zelensky's victory plan. While acknowledging that membership itself is a matter for after the war, Zelensky urged allies to send an invitation before U.S. President Joe Biden leaves office in January. The president also said that Ukraine
The Kyiv Independent spoke with former U.K. Defense Attaché in Moscow, John Foreman CBE, about what this development might mean for the future of Russia's war and the global landscape.
The launch of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 confronted the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) with a new geopolitical reality. Described as "braindead" by French President Emmanuel Macron only a few years prior, the alliance woke up to a threat previously thought consigned to the past: a
Fears of a larger Russian offensive in Zaporizhzhia Oblast are growing as Russian forces have reportedly made progress along the border between Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts and intensified air strikes on the regional capital. "If they achieve a breakthrough, Russia will be able to fire at logistical routes connecting Zaporizhzhia
Russia's war in Ukraine may have reached a new stage this week, with reports that North Korea has moved from supplying Moscow with weapons to sending its own troops. A Western diplomat familiar with the matter told the Kyiv Independent on Oct. 15 Pyongyang has sent 10,000 soldiers to
Editor's Note: This story was updated on Oct. 13 after the monitoring group Hajun reported that the two MiG-31 jets had likely returned to Russia. Two Russian MiG-31K jets were transferred to Belarus this week, potentially signaling Russia’s efforts to protect its warplanes amid increasing Ukrainian strikes on Russian
Russia’s invading army is racing against the weather clock, trying to seize yet more towns in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region before the ground gets muddy this autumn and temperatures later plunge. The coal mining town of Toretsk is on the verge of falling to Moscow’s forces, an
Russia's supply of ballistic missiles from Iran, confirmed last month by the U.S., is not expected to be immediately affected by escalating tensions in the Middle East, but two complicating factors could cause longer term issues. Iran launched its largest-ever aerial attack against Israel on Oct. 1, with nearly
Kyiv’s efforts to secure as many resources as possible from Western allies to tip the scale of Russia's war in its favor will face a critical moment next weekend as leaders of more than 50 countries meet for the final talks on arming Ukraine before the upcoming U.S.
Over the past several months, the war had gradually moved deep inside Russian territory. In September, Ukraine targeted depots in the Russian towns of Tikhoretsk and Toropets with drones, setting ablaze over 30,000 tons of ammunition, which allegedly included ballistic missiles. The warehouse in Toropets was supposed to withstand
For the first time since the full-scale invasion, Russia launched drone attacks on cities and towns across Ukraine on a daily basis for an entire month. According to Ukraine's Air Force, 1,339 Shahed-type kamikaze drones targeted the country in September, 1,107 of which were shot down, with some
September was the second-deadliest month for Russian forces fighting in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion, according to figures released by Kyiv. Adding up, the daily reports from the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces show 38,130 Russian soldiers were reported as casualties last month. The figures
Two years after a series of explosions tore apart Russia’s controversial Nord Stream pipelines, the investigation has largely remained a mystery full of accusations that have exposed political fault lines across Europe. Stretching from northwestern Russia under the Baltic Sea to Germany’s coast, the pipelines completed before Russia’
Years back, Russia began the development of several new strategic weapons, as Russian President Vladimir Putin had called them, to modernize the country’s military and give it an edge against the so-called West, a conflict that was in full swing. Among them was the RS-28 Sarmat ICBM, known as
Ukraine reportedly using two of the highly sophisticated German air defense systems.
The long-embattled town of Vuhledar, key to Ukrainian defenses in the southeastern part of Donetsk Oblast, is under threat of encirclement and is being "razed to the ground," according to reports on Sept. 24. Located 50 kilometers south of Pokrovsk, the strategic roadway junction, Vuhledar is often called a "fortress"
As President Volodymyr Zelensky kicked off a visit to the U.S. this week in a bid to secure more firepower for his army, Ukrainian soldiers on the ground monitored the news with half-hearted hope, questioning whether Kyiv’s top Western ally would provide enough to help them defeat Russia.
Ukraine’s drone attacks on Russian oil refineries are trying to achieve what Western sanctions couldn’t: grinding down what fuels Russia’s war machine and the backbone of its economy in an echo of the Allies' oil bombing campaign on German assets in World War II. Since the start
“Russian intelligence is everywhere. And its propaganda is everywhere, not only in Estonia but all over the world,” Estonian President Alar Karis told the Kyiv Independent during an interview on the sidelines of the 20th annual Yalta European Strategy (YES) Conference in Kyiv. Russia has been actively meddling in the
