Ukrainian Kraken unit killed Sergei Melnikov, the chief of staff of Russia's Storm Ossetia battalion, and his driver in the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast in late December, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) reported on Jan. 5.| The Kyiv Independent
Russian forces are "looking for vulnerabilities in our defense, and conducting active combat operations in several directions simultaneously," Commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi reported.| The Kyiv Independent
Key developments on May 3-4: * Zelensky rejects Putin’s truce proposal as 'theatrical,' backs 30-day ceasefire plan from US * US sanctions depend on whether Russia is 'behaving' on peace deal, Trump says * US to send refurbished Patriot air defense system from Israel to Ukraine, NYT reports * Ukrainian sea drones down 2 Russian Su-30 jets near Novorossiysk, military intelligence chief says * Russian drone attack on Kyiv injures 11 people, including 2 children, damages shopping mall * Czec| The Kyiv Independent
Support for LGBTQ+ rights in Ukraine has grown significantly in recent years.| The Kyiv Independent
President Volodymyr Zelensky approved the law on July 22 despite large-scale protests against the law, which critics say undermines years of pro-democracy reforms.| The Kyiv Independent
The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad is once again in the news, after a senior U.S. military commander on July 17 issued a stark warning to the Kremlin that NATO forces could take control of it "in a timeframe that is unheard of." The remarks from U.S. Army Europe and Africa commander General Chris Donahue are some of the strongest yet from a Western military official — a direct threat to the Kremlin about the consequences of further Russian aggression beyond Ukraine. They come amid ever-he...| The Kyiv Independent
News, analyses, investigations, opinions, podcasts and more. On-the-ground reporting from Ukraine| The Kyiv Independent
News, analyses, investigations, opinions, podcasts and more. On-the-ground reporting from Ukraine| The Kyiv Independent
The cyberattack allegedly destroyed large volumes of data and installed custom software designed to further damage the company's information systems.| The Kyiv Independent
Editor's note: The full names of the soldiers introduced in the story are not disclosed due to security concerns amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. DONETSK OBLAST – As artillery began pounding the cold-hardened ground ahead of them, two Ukrainian soldiers listened warily to shell impacts creep closer. They were squeezed together in a roughly dug hole no deeper than half a meter, in a meager defensive position on the front line north of Avdiivka – an embattled city just outside Russian-occup...| The Kyiv Independent
Trump has repeatedly said he could end Russia's war "in 24 hours." What is his plan?| The Kyiv Independent
The Russian Federation is the largest country in the world, with a total territory of approximately 17.1 million square kilometers (6.6 million square miles). Spanning eleven time zones across Eastern Europe and Asia, an estimated 146 million people are thought to live in Russia in 2025. Russia’s capital city is Moscow, which is home to almost one in 10 Russians. Russia’s official currency is the Russian Ruble.| The Kyiv Independent
News, analyses, investigations, opinions, podcasts and more. On-the-ground reporting from Ukraine| The Kyiv Independent
Editor's note: The article was updated to reflect Friedrich Merz's latest comments regarding the debt brake. For the second time in his life, Friedrich Merz is a step away from taking charge of Germany. Losing the fight to control the Christian Democratic Union in 2002 to future Chancellor Angela Merkel| The Kyiv Independent
At first, there should be an appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop attacking civilian targets in Ukraine. If Moscow does not concede, Ukraine should be free to use already delivered weapons without restrictions, said the German opposition leader.| The Kyiv Independent
The official, who requested anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly, noted that these discussions happen in individual capitals, not within NATO.| The Kyiv Independent
A French military task force named "Champagne" is concluding its mission of training a newly formed brigade of several thousand Ukrainian troops. The brigade will include infantry battalions, engineers, artillery units, and other specialists.| The Kyiv Independent
Ukraine sold state-owned UMCC-Titanium for Hr 3.94 billion hryvnia ($96 million) to Cemin Ukraine, the country’s State Property Fund said on Oct. 9th in a statement.| The Kyiv Independent
"Currently, more than 40 aircraft are known to have been hit, including the A-50, Tu-95 and Tu-22 M3," a source told the Kyiv Independent.| The Kyiv Independent
Germany's conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz said on Dec. 4 that any speculations about deploying German troops to ensure a ceasefire are irresponsible at this time.| The Kyiv Independent
News, analyses, investigations, opinions, podcasts and more. On-the-ground reporting from Ukraine| The Kyiv Independent
Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov on Oct. 29 apparently boasted about using Ukrainian prisoners as human shields, claiming there were casualties among the captives after a drone strike on Chechnya.| The Kyiv Independent
"There are witnesses, there are people from whom they tried to commission, whom they asked how much they would take for the order," Ramzan Kadyrov said in Chechen to other officials from the North Caucasian republic.| The Kyiv Independent
Since the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States, the question on everyone's mind is whether Europe, including the U.K., can replace the military assistance the U.S. is giving Ukraine. The short answer is no. The reasons for this are a mix of politics and| The Kyiv Independent
News, analyses, investigations, opinions, podcasts and more. On-the-ground reporting from Ukraine| The Kyiv Independent
Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko said he later managed to speak to Ukrainian officials through special channels and the situation was resolved through diplomatic means.| The Kyiv Independent
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 Kyiv Independent
Tankers bearing sanctioned Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) have clustered off Russia's eastern coast following suspension of operations at the Arctic LNG 2 plant, indicating that Moscow is unable to find buyers for its product amid sanctions.| The Kyiv Independent
The drones hit the building of the Russian Special Forces University named after Vladimir Putin in the city of Gudermes, the independent news outlet Agentstvo reported.| The Kyiv Independent
Nate Ostiller is a former News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast, covering Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and focused primarily on digital misinformation, memory politics, and ethnic conflict. Nate has a Master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow, and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. Originally from the USA, he is currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.| The Kyiv Independent
Belarus' Armed Forces are "concentrating a significant number of personnel" as well as weaponry along Ukraine's northern border with Belarus "under the guise of exercises," Ukraine's Foreign Ministry warned on Aug. 25, citing information gathered by the country's intelligence sources.| The Kyiv Independent
Russian sovereign territory is once again under attack after Ukrainian forces launched an ambitious operation across the state border in Kursk Oblast in large numbers on Aug. 6. This time, the attack is led not primarily by small units of pro-Ukraine Russian nationals and other assorted foreign formations, like in| The Kyiv Independent
Russian pro-war Telegram channels claimed that fighting was ongoing in the region's towns of Sudzha and Korenevo, writing that the Russian military has retreated from the Sudzha gas metering station, which transits gas to Europe through Ukraine.| The Kyiv Independent
Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine is in a "new phase," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with the Associated Press published on Dec. 1. “We have a new phase of war, and that is a fact...winter as a whole is a new phase of war,” he said. When asked about the counteroffensive, he acknowledged it had not gone as Ukraine had hoped, admitting that it "did not achieve the desired results."| The Kyiv Independent
