Here's what you helped us achieve in the last week

Dear Kyiv Independent community members,

Thank you for your continued support. Pictured above, our journalist Francis Farrell is on a reporting trip in a village in southern Ukraine, near the front line, earlier this week. 

We'd also like to welcome our 44 new members this week. Your contributions make our work possible! We're glad you're with us.

Here are some highlights from the Kyiv Independent over the last week:

• We covered the incursion into Belgorod. Earlier this week two Russian militia groups – the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) and the Free Russia Legion – crossed into Russia's Belgorod Oblast and reportedly held 42 square kilometers for a short time. Our reporter Asami Terajima traveled to northern Ukraine to report on the anti-Kremlin militia behind the attack.

• Episode 9 of our podcast "This Week in Ukraine" also takes a look at what actually happened near Belgorod. Host Anastasiia Lapatina discusses what we know about the incursion with senior editor Oleksiy Sorokin, with your questions starting at 26:10.

• We wrote about Russia's supposedly "hypersonic" and "invincible" Kinzhal missile. Illia Ponomarkeno's piece explains how the Kremlin's propaganda built the reputation around the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal ("Dagger") – which is better classified as an "air launched ballistic missile" as it's not highly maneuverable at hypersonic speeds. Kinzhals have also been intercepted multipletimes in May 2023, since the Western-provided Patriot air defense systems arrived in Ukraine.

• We published an explainer about the funding for U.S. weapons sent to Ukraine. The U.S. has been the biggest supplier of military assistance to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion began, and some Americans have spoken out against their country "paying" for the war. Video reporter Iryna Matviyishyn breaks down the U.S. military budget, what assistance has been provided, and why it's worth it.

• This week Belarus Weekly includes the agreement signed between Minsk and Moscow that will place Russian non-strategic, or tactical, nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory, with the storage facility reportedly ready on July 1. Non-strategic nuclear weapons are intended to be used on the battlefield, and typically have a smaller payload.

• We published the fourth installment of Ukraine's True History. Francis Farrell's article takes a look at the Russian imperialist narrative around Crimea, the history of Crimean Tartars, and who Crimea really belongs to.

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