As the U.S. took months to approve the next package of much-needed military aid to Kyiv, Russia used the moment to step up its offensive operations in Ukraine. After capturing Avdiivka and multiple villages in the east, Moscow now has its eyes on the next primary target, the town
The first Russian Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bomber was reportedly shot down by Ukraine and crashed over Russia's Stavropol Krai overnight on April 19. The aircraft was carrying out a combat mission when a Soviet-era S-200 anti-aircraft system shot it down, an intelligence source told the Kyiv Independent. The Russian Defense
President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a significant milestone in Ukraine’s push to increase domestic weapons production on April 18, saying that Kyiv was on track to produce 10 Bohdana howitzers this month. The Bohdana – or the 2S22 Bohdana to give it its full title – is a self-propelled howitzer, essentially an
The Kyiv Independent’s Alexander Khrebet and Oleksandr Karasiov from the Ukrainian military and tactical clothing brand, M-TAC, examine several samples of Russian military uniforms.
KARLSKOGA, SWEDEN – In a nondescript industrial area nestled among a forest of Swedish pine, a continent-wide effort to ramp up defense production is playing out in real time. A modest, one-story building is home to a seemingly endless ceiling-mounted rail — essentially an upside-down conveyor belt — snaking through machine halls and
Editor's note: This story initially said that Shahed-136 drones are said to weigh 10-15 kilograms. It was corrected since that is the weight of the warhead, and the drones weigh about 200 kilograms. Iran's massive aerial assault on Israel over the weekend felt close to home for Ukraine. In a
Hitting a building, waiting for first responders and the media to arrive, and hitting the same place again to target those who came to put out the fire, help the victims, or document a potential war crime is a well-honed tool of Russia in its wars. This ruthless and illegal
Since March, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said more than once that Ukraine is expecting a major Russian offensive that could start in May or June. Ukrainian experts and military officials now say it might begin even sooner. All eyes are currently on the Bakhmut axis as Russian troops gradually inch
Russia's Engels air base has once again come under attack on April 5 after what the Kyiv Independent's sources in the military intelligence claimed was a drone strike on one of the Kremlin's most strategically important military installations, deep inside Russia. According to a source in the military intelligence, who
Russia's war and occupation of large swaths of Ukraine have led to hundreds of churches being damaged or destroyed, dozens of priests killed or kidnapped, and entire religious groups that don't conform to Moscow's brand of Orthodoxy being banned. With entire Ukrainian cities being leveled by Russian artillery fire, religious
While Russian missile strikes on Kyiv have become horrifyingly routine during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the attack that occurred on March 25 was a rare event. Air raid sirens that normally give people more than enough time to grab a coat and get to the nearest shelter before missiles
In early 2024, Ukraine signed seven agreements with allied countries that span for the next decade, aiming to guarantee Ukraine’s security while negotiating NATO membership. According to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s diplomatic adviser, Ukraine is negotiating 10 more bilateral deals. The biggest question is whether the deals can prevent
In two years of total war, Moscow has tried every trick to keep the death march going. It held a draft, expanded state-sponsored mercenary companies, recruited convicted prisoners, integrated proxies from occupied Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, and forcibly conscripted Ukrainians in occupied territories and Ukrainian POWs. Lately, Russia has seized
Russia’s war machine has shown remarkable stamina despite the hundreds of thousands of troops it is estimated to have lost in Ukraine. But under the hood, it may be less resilient than it looks. With its high oil export revenues, Russia has been able to replace its losses and
Russian attacks on Ukraine's northern Sumy Oblast have left some villages resembling the ruins of Bakhmut and Marinka, officials have said, as Moscow's forces continue to escalate aerial bombardments against homes and civilian infrastructure in the area. In the latest strikes, one person was killed and another injured in Velyka
Ukraine faces a challenging problem: how to stop a resurgent Moscow in its tracks long enough to rotate the troops, resupply, and fortify. Part of the answer is playing out right now in the skies over Russia. Over the past two weeks, at least dozens of Ukrainian drones reportedly struck
When faced with questions from German lawmakers on March 13, Chancellor Olaf Scholz once again said "no" to the delivery of the Taurus long-range missile to Ukraine. "Prudence is not something that one can qualify as a weakness. Prudence is something that the citizens of our country are entitled to,
For global audiences watching Moscow’s tightly-choreographed “election-style event” this weekend, Russia appears to be a country transformed – a militarized society where dissent is simply no longer tolerated. But the truth is that in the two years since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, for the majority, life
When Ukraine received Excalibur artillery shells in March 2022 from the U.S. shortly after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, it was immediately the military’s weapon of choice. Thanks to their GPS navigation system, these expensive munitions had a high-precision flight trajectory and could be used in
Editor's Note: The Kyiv Independent doesn't provide the full names of soldiers mentioned in the story to protect them and their families from persecution in Russia. They are identified by callsigns. KYIV OBLAST – In the early hours of March 12, Russian state media sounded the alarm. A number of Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelensky announced recently that 31,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed in the war against Russia, the first official release of military personnel losses in over a year. "Every person is a very great loss for us. 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers died in this war," Zelensky said on
Ukraine reported the downing of 13 Russian warplanes within the last two weeks, among the highest Russian Air Force losses since the early days of the full-scale invasion. This list includes 10 Su-34 fighter bombers, two Su-35 fighter jets, and one more rare A-50 military spy plane. Another A-50 aircraft
Editor's note: We asked members of the Kyiv Independent community to share the questions they have about the war. Here's what they asked, and how we answered. Join our community to ask a question in the next round. Read our previous answers here, here, here, and here. Question: What is
The capture of Avdiivka is Russia’s first major achievement in nine months, but it doesn’t leave any side looking good. For Russia, it was a Pyrrhic victory that consumed an army’s worth of equipment and killed or mangled estimated tens of thousands of Russian men to capture
President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Feb. 7 that the Ukrainian military would create a separate branch of the Armed Forces dedicated to drones. Throughout the full-scale invasion, Ukraine has been a drone tactics pioneer, from applying purpose-built military UAVs to weaponizing civilian models. Last year, first-person view (FPV) kamikaze drones
Striking Russian pressure points deep behind enemy lines has become a near-daily task for Ukraine — and the country’s long-range arsenal continues to grow to serve the purpose. Ukraine’s latest acquisition, the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb, is due for its combat debut any day now. The GLSDB is the
One of Russia's top narratives is that it invaded Ukraine to "denazify" this multi-ethnic democracy led by a president with Jewish roots and holocaust survivors in his lineage. In fact, Russia's public obsession with "fighting Nazis" masks how its closest relations among European political parties are with those on the
Editor's note: The article was originally published on Jan. 30 and updated on March 11 at 4:17 p.m. Kyiv time. One of the most unexpected developments of the full-scale invasion was how many big, expensive Russian ships were taken out by Ukraine, a country that technically has no
The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American air superiority fighter that Kyiv has begged for since the start of the full-scale invasion and is expected to finally start receiving this year. It’s a versatile workhorse of a jet that’s fought in dozens of wars and is
The sharp uptick in downing planes in recent weeks emerges as a bright spot for Ukraine among a lack of progress on the battlefield.
Russia’s invasion of 2022 may have shocked the world with the brutality of the fighting but it was only a preview for what was coming in 2023. To start with, 2022 had variety. It kicked off with a disastrous Russian blitz into Kyiv Oblast, stalled and picked apart by
“If you want to live, dig.” The words, often spoken by Ukrainian troops, are universal advice for trench warfare in general, but especially for both sides in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Normally expressed as advice to the individual soldier, the maxim now applies to the country as a whole.
