We reported on Russia's new wave of mass missile attacks on Ukraine: Here's what your contributions have helped us accomplish this week
Dear Kyiv Independent community members,
Thank you for your continued support. Last week, our War Crimes Investigations Unit released their fourth documentary "Destroy, in Whole or in Part," in which reporter Danylo Mokryk examines whether Russian war crimes in Ukraine amount to genocide.
We decided to re-upload this documentary since the previous version received restrictions from YouTube and couldn't reach a broad audience. The updated version doesn't contain some of the shots of the mass graves in Izium, Kharkiv Oblast.
We seek your assistance in showcasing the diligent efforts of our War Crimes Investigations Unit to a global audience, enabling broader awareness of the egregious crimes by Russians against Ukrainians. Please watch, comment, and share the updated version.
Pictured above is a still from the documentary.
We'd also like to welcome the 81 new members this week. The majority of our revenue comes from our members. We're proud to be reader-funded – thank you for standing with us.
Here are some highlights from the Kyiv Independent this week:
We covered the new wave of air attacks on Ukraine. On Monday, Russia launched an attack on Kyiv, with missiles hitting the capital seconds after the air raid alarm, leaving people no time to find shelter. Between March 21-25, Russia launched 190 missiles, 140 Shahed-type drones, and 700 aerial bombs at Ukraine in a new attempt to take out the country's power grid. Although the goal hasn't succeeded, Ukraine's supply of air defense munitions continues to shrink.
We wrote about how thousands of Ukrainian children cope with losing their parents to the war. Daria Shulzhenko's story explains the devastating effects on children's mental health, with one girl writing, after the loss of her father "I don't want to live. What is this life without father?"
We updated our "Portrait of the Invader," a popular feature from 2022. Around 100 days into the full-scale war, we ran a feature called “Portrait of the invader: Understanding the Russian soldier" – over a year and a half later, we're revisiting this topic. Though some things have remained the same, some have changed: Now, a new Russian solider is considered lucky to receive two weeks of training.
One popular story last week was an op-ed about why ISIS attacked Russia – 143 people were murdered in a Moscow concert hall in a terrorist attack last week – and why Russia blames Ukraine, despite a decade-long struggle between the Islamic State and the Kremlin.
This week, Belarus Weekly looks at how Belarusian dictator Lukashenko undermined Putin's attempt to blame the Moscow terror attack on Ukraine, saying that the perpetrators of the attack could not flee to Belarus due to increased border security, breaking with the Kremlin narrative.
We published an explainer about the Ukrainian Cossacks. Alexandra Keeler explains who the Cossacks – a semi-nomadic militaristic group – were, how they shaped Ukraine's history and their significance in the culture today as symbols of freedom, strength, and democracy.
We want to hear from you – if you have a few minutes, please take our community survey. We value hearing from our members, and your feedback helps us improve our community. You can take the survey here. Thank you for your support.
Thank you for standing by our side as we bring independent, locally sourced news about Ukraine to the world.