The Kyiv Independent launches war investigations department

The Kyiv Independent is launching a new department specializing in journalistic investigations of war crimes and other topics related to Russian aggression in Ukraine and beyond.

The new department begins its work on March 6. It is staffed by a team of leading Ukrainian investigative journalists that will be producing investigative documentaries in English and Ukrainian.

The first documentary is set to be released this summer.

"If during the first year of the (full-scale) war, journalists mostly just recorded war crimes against Ukrainians, now it's time to show their systematicity and scale," said Yevheniia Motorevska, the head of the Kyiv Independent's new war crimes investigation department. "Torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians, crimes against children, Russian influence on political processes abroad — these are the topics we plan to work with in the near future."

Motorevska is an award-winning Ukrainian journalist, editor, and video producer who previously worked at the Slidstvo.Info investigative journalism agency and served as the chief editor of the independent Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske in 2021-2022.

The new department is staffed by journalists Danylo Mokryk and Olesia Bida. Mokryk is a high-profile Ukrainian investigative journalist best known for his work with Bihus.Info and as the author of his own YouTube project MokRec. Bida is a Ukrainian journalist best known for her reports on human rights issues and Russian war crimes. She has previously worked for Hromadske.

The Kyiv Independent will soon announce additional vacancies in the newly-created department.

"Since the first days of the full-scale war, the Kyiv Independent has become a voice that speaks to the world about Russian aggression in Ukraine, so creating a war investigations department was a natural step for us. We have a unique platform to tell the world about Russia's war crimes — and now we'll have a powerful team to do it," said the Kyiv Independent editor-in-chief Olga Rudenko.

Along with the new department, the Kyiv Independent's main investigative desk, headed by Anna Myroniuk, continues its work. On March 2, its team was honored with the #AllForJan Award for their investigation into alleged leadership misconduct in the Ukrainian army's International Legion.

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