The Kyiv Independent

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, As promised, here is your exclusive link to watch our new documentary, "Last Seen in Crimea": https://youtu.be/4rs2diGcxO0 After watching, we'd love to hear your questions. Our War Crimes Investigations Unit reporters, Olesia Bida and Myroslava Chaiun, will a

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Our War Crimes Investigations Unit is preparing to present "Last Seen in Crimea," a new documentary uncovering Russia's network of secret prisons on the occupied Crimean peninsula. Before the film's public release, we invite our community members to exclusive

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. This week, the Kyiv Independent visited Riga, Latvia. Our Chief Executive Officer, Daryna Shevchenko, and Head of War Crimes Investigations Unit, Yevheniia Motorevska, met with our community there for a conversation about

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. On Monday, Ukraine marked 35 years of independence from the Soviet Union. With Russia’s war showing no sign of stopping, there were no parades or public celebrations. We did, however, get together as a team with a Sunday

Hi! This is Valeriia Snopkova. I’m the Video Production Manager at the Kyiv Independent, and I’ve been in this role for about a year now. I joined the Kyiv Independent back in October 2023 as an editorial assistant, but this is actually my first time writing an email for our community! I’m usually b

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. This week, among other things, our team reported on Pavlohrad, a city in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast roughly 75 kilometers (45 miles) from the front line that once served as a relatively safe haven, but is now increasingly with

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. This week, our team reported from Kyiv, where Russian strikes on supermarket distribution centers have disrupted supplies of everyday goods, leaving some shelves noticeably empty. Yevgeniya Doluda spoke with residents and

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. We launched this newsletter for our members last year — because we heard from you that there's interest in getting more involved in helping Ukraine. Each month, we send one edition of the "How to Help Ukraine" newsletter,

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. We hope you are safe and well. This week saw another Russian ballistic attack on Kyiv and the surrounding region, killing 17 people and injuring dozens more. With Ukraine facing a chronic shortage of interceptor missiles

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, You have stood with us through fundraisers before — you’ve supported the injured photojournalist’s recovery, donated to preserve our video archive, and supported multiple Ukrainian initiatives. Today we’re asking to support the people who make the Kyiv Indepe

Hi, this is Kateryna Hodunova, a War Desk Reporter at the Kyiv Independent, and welcome to a new edition of Team Recommendations. Today, I'd like to recommend "Pamfir," the feature-length debut of Ukrainian director and screenwriter Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk. The film follows Leonid, nicknamed "Pam

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. This week, Russia launched another wave of large-scale missile and drone attacks on Ukraine, killing and injuring civilians — including six members of the same family in a village in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The same night,

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. This week, we were also delighted to meet members of our community in Washington, D.C., where our assistant opinion editor Anna Fratsyvir hosted an informal gathering. It was a wonderful opportunity to talk about the Kyiv

Welcome to a new edition of Team Recommendations. I'm Yuliia Beba, Membership Retention Manager at the Kyiv Independent, and today I want to recommend a novel that has deeply moved me at different moments in my life, filled me with hope, and reminded me of the simple joy of getting lost in a great s

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. This week, a political storm engulfed Ukraine after President Volodymyr Zelensky set a government reshuffle in motion, leading to the dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's defense minister. Fedorov was in the role for

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. This week, our team reported from the NATO summit in Ankara, where U.S. President Donald Trump clashed with allies over the future of the alliance. Ukraine, however, secured new defense commitments, including an $80 billi

Ukrainian embroidery is one of the oldest living visual languages in the world. Long before Ukraine's history was written down, it was recorded through embroidery — every motif has a meaning. Our new collection takes those patterns and uses them to tell the story of Kyiv. The collection features two

Hi there, This is Bogdana, I’m the communications manager at the Kyiv Independent. My job is about making sure that the work of our journalists reaches wider audiences. You might have also seen my work in a different role, as a photographer for some of our e-store collections like the Trident and Vy

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. Overnight on July 2, waves of missiles and drones struck neighborhoods across Kyiv, killing at least 30 people, injuring dozens more, and damaging homes, businesses, energy infrastructure, and public services throughout t

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. We launched this newsletter for our members last year — because we heard from you that there’s interest in getting more involved in helping Ukraine. Each month, we send one edition of the “How to Help Ukraine” newsletter,

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. Last week, our audience development manager, Elsa Court, and community manager, Anastasiia Chernova, were in Vienna — and took the chance to meet some of you in person. Over brunch, we got to hear your thoughts on our cov

Hi, this is Martin Fornusek, a reporter at the Kyiv Independent, here with a recommendation for what to binge-watch this summer if you want to learn more about the turbulent events of 20th-century Ukraine while also getting hooked on the story. "There will be people" (І будуть люди) is a 12-episode

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. This week, we published a heartwarming story about animals rescued from Ukraine’s front-line communities. As part of the "Finding Home" project, Anna Donets spoke with families who opened their homes to dogs and other ani

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you to everyone for your continued support. Before we share the recording, I would like to apologize for the delay at the beginning of the event. Due to unexpected technical issues, we were unable to start on time, and I'm very sorry for the inconvenien

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. This week, we published a powerful story about the long road to recovery for Ukrainian soldiers wounded in Russia's war. Asami Terajima and Sasha Maslov followed the "Face-to-Face" mission, an initiative that brings Ameri

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. This week, we were glad to meet some of our members in Stockholm, where Olesia Bida, author of our latest documentary, along with Yevheniia Motorevska and Anastasiia Mozghova from the War Crimes Investigations Unit, prese

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, As Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine grinds on, the dynamics on the battlefield are continuing to evolve. After months of difficult fighting and defensive operations, Ukraine is increasingly taking more initiative on the front lines — reshaping the temp

Hello everyone, this is Oleksandra, community manager of Kyiv Independent. You may know me from my support emails or from Discord, where you can see me adding you to the chats. The topic of this recommendation email came directly from our Discord community, where you may have seen pictures of printe

We're finally ready to share what we've been working on over the past few months — and dreaming about for much longer than that. The first-ever vyshyvanka by the Kyiv Independent, inspired by traditional embroidery motifs from Kyiv, is ready to meet the world. This vyshyvanka is a limited edition; o

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. Almost a year ago, we launched the “How to help Ukraine” newsletter for our members because we heard from you that there’s interest in getting more involved to help Ukraine. Each month, we send one edition of this newslet

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. This week, Kyiv woke up to one of the largest Russian attacks on the capital this year, as missiles and drones damaged neighborhoods across the city. As our Kate Tsurkan wrote, the attack damaged some of the capital's mos

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for being a part of our community — your thoughts and opinions are really important to us, and we want to hear from you. We're running our spring survey to learn more about your experience as a Kyiv Independent member and what you value in news cove

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. This week, we celebrated Vyshyvanka Day, which is marked every year on the third Thursday of May. Vyshyvanka is the Ukrainian word for a traditional embroidered shirt or dress. Above is a picture of a large part of our te

Dear Kyiv Independent community, this is Myroslava Chaiun. I'm a reporter with the Kyiv Independent's War Crimes Investigations Unit. You may have seen some of the investigative documentaries I've worked on. This year, the weather in Ukraine hasn't really let us enjoy spring. As soon as temperatures

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, This is Olga Rudenko, editor-in-chief of the Kyiv Independent. I’m here, writing to you, because we are doing something really bold, and I think you will like it. Today, we launched our biggest and most important campaign yet. We are looking for 4,000 new mem

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. Yesterday began with another devastating mass attack on Kyiv, where overnight Russian missile and drone strikes killed at least 24 people, including three children, and injured dozens more. Explosions from ballistic missi

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. This week, we were glad to meet some of our members in Berlin, where our Chief Operating Officer, Zakhar Protsiuk, hosted an informal breakfast. It was an opportunity to ask questions, discuss our newsroom's strategy, and

Dear community members, My name is Daria Kolos (or as you may know, Daria Kotielnikova previously). I've been working at the Kyiv Independent as a digital marketing manager for more than two years. Last weekend I visited a new exhibition in Kyiv called "Joy" ("Radist" in Ukrainian). One installation

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. Today started with more news about overnight strikes involving missiles and more than 200 drones, which killed at least one civilian and injured over 50 others. During the day, drones targeted Ternopil, in the west of Ukr

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. We launched the “How to help Ukraine” newsletter for our members last year because we heard from you that there’s interest in getting more involved in helping Ukraine. Each month, we send one edition of this newsletter, h

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. This week continued under the shadow of Russian attacks across Ukraine, with strikes over the past day alone killing at least six people and injuring dozens more in multiple regions. Missiles and drones hit residential ar

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. As World Press Freedom Day approaches on May 3, we are at a turning point, with press freedom in rapid decline, and journalists around the world targeted for doing their jobs. For those reporting from the front lines in U

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. This week was difficult in Kyiv and across Ukraine, as an overnight mass attack on April 16 became one of the deadliest Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians in 2026. Ukraine’s Air Force said that Russia launched a total

Dear Kyiv Independent community, It’s time for the 11th edition of our Q&A on Russia’s war against Ukraine. We’re grateful for the support and contributions of our members, and because it’s important to cover the topics that matter most to you, our journalists and editors are once again ready to ans

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. We hope you've had plenty of rest over the Easter break, enjoyed the start of spring, and spent time with your loved ones. Here in Kyiv, we are preparing for Orthodox Easter, which is this weekend. Ahead of this holiday,

Dear community members, Thank you to everyone for your continued support. We're pleased to share the recording of our recent community event Q&A with Daria Rabinovitsch, Co-CEO of Helping to Leave. Helping to Leave is an organization that helps people obtain essential humanitarian aid and evacuation

Dear Kyiv Independent Community, I’m Asya, the community manager at the Kyiv Independent. Some of you may already know me, or even have had direct communication via Discord or email. During my university years, I discovered Kyiv’s Lesya Kvartyrynka festival, a creative project that has stayed with m

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, Thank you for your continued support. Finally, with the clocks changing, longer and sunnier days are here — giving us a bit more energy to keep going. We continue to cover developments on the front line, Ukraine’s defense tech sector, and the external forces

Dear community members, Thank you for being part of our community and for your continued support. We're excited to invite you to our next community event: a Q&A with Daria Rabinovitsch, Co-CEO at Helping to Leave. Helping to Leave is an organization that helps people obtain essential humanitarian ai