We reported on the ‘Soviet’ command culture damaging Ukraine's war effort: Here's what you helped us achieve last week

Dear Kyiv Independent community members,

Thank you for your continued support.

In case you missed it, we shared a letter with you earlier this week about Memorial Platform — Ukraine's largest initiative to honor those killed by Russia's war — and their efforts to raise £45,000, after losing 60% of their funding in the USAID freeze. You've helped raise over £5,200 for them already — which is 12% of their goal! Thank you for your support. You can donate or share their initiative here.

We'd like to give a warm welcome to the 227 new members who joined this week. Thank you for supporting independent journalism in Ukraine at a time when it matters the most.

On Monday, we achieved a new record, with two documentary film crews in our Kyiv office. Pictured above, the Kyiv Independent's editorial meeting on Monday morning is filmed by both documentary crews at once.

Here's what you helped us accomplish at the Kyiv Independent last week:

• We reported on the ‘Soviet’ command culture damaging Ukraine's war effort. Natalia Yermak and Francis Farrell's story take's an in-depth look at the systemic issues throughout Ukraine's military stemming from a "Soviet-style culture" incentivizing lying, dodging responsibility, and a lesser value placed on lives.

• Our most popular story this week was about Ukraine's new drone with a 3,000 kilometer range. Chris York's article explains how the new drone will boost Ukraine's war effort and the targets in Russia now within the drone's range.

• Another widely-read story was about the ceasefire in the Black Sea. Earlier this week, the White House announced that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to "eliminate the use of force" in the Black Sea, and Martin Fornusek and Chris York's article explains how this benefits Russia, as it's Moscow's battered Black Sea Fleet that is set to get a reprieve.

• We interviewed Ukrainian soldiers following the CIA director's assessment that Ukrainians would fight Russia with "their bare hands" if they had to. "I support his opinion that people can fight even with their bare hands," said one military anesthetist. "We’ve 'paid' too much and lost too much over these years."

• We published an editorial on Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and what he doesn’t get about Ukraine. Witkoff doesn't even know the names of the embattled regions of Ukraine that Russia has attempted to claim — as our editorial team wrote, "Observing it from Kyiv, knowing that Witkoff is among the people deciding Ukraine’s future, was sobering and terrifying."

• We also explained why Russia’s ‘referendums’ are null and void after Witkoff's comments. Oleg Sukhov breaks down exactly why the "referendums" aren't valid: To begin, they were held at gunpoint in the Russian-controlled parts of the regions and were only recognized by two countries — Russia and North Korea.

• We interviewed an expert negotiator on the Ukraine-Russia ceasefire talks. Marty Latz, the author of a book that explains how Trump makes deals, said that "Trump looks at Putin as a friend." You can watch the video version of the interview here.

• We published an explainer on why some Ukrainians speak Russian. Kate Tsurkan's article explains how this is a consequence of centuries of Russification, not an expression of allegiance to Russia, though Russian propaganda uses Russian-speaking Ukrainians as an increasingly powerful tool.

• Finally, we announced our next written war Q&A. If you have any unanswered questions about the war, email them to community@kyivindependent.com. We will collect the questions and answer them on our website — you can read our last volume here. We're looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you for standing by our side as we bring independent, locally sourced news about Ukraine to the world.