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

Dear Kyiv Independent community members,

Thank you for your continued support. Pictured above, the Kyiv Independent team completes another session of hostile environment awareness training, where we learn and practice skills like applying tourniquets and evacuating casualties. Your support helps us afford similar opportunities.

We'd also like to welcome our 84 new members this week. We're so grateful you're with us and for keeping your attention on Ukraine.

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

• Our most popular story this week was Igor Kossov's piece on the counteroffensive, reported from Donetsk Oblast. Russia's attacks over the past months did not result in any significant gains anywhere except Bakhmut, Ukrainian soldiers now say "we overestimated Russians and underestimated ourselves."

• We reported on how Western components, mainly microelectronics, allow Russia to continue producing missiles used to attack Ukraine, over a year into the war. Francis Farrell's piece looks at how the "silicon highway" moves chips from manufacturers in the U.S., through legal entities in countries not sanctioning Russia, and into high-tech Russian missiles, like the one used in the June 13 strike on Kryvyi Rih, which killed 13 civilians.

• We reported from Donetsk Oblast, near the village Ivanivske. Asami Terajima's story follows Ukraine’s 24th Assault Battalion and Ukraine's costly mission to grind down Russian forces near Bakhmut, limiting Russia's offensive capacity they could otherwise use elsewhere.

• We wrote about the volunteer effort to rescue those in flooded Kherson Oblast. After Russia destroyed the Kakhovka dam on June 6, Ukrainian volunteer groups and regular citizens stepped up to distribute aid, like drinking water, and evacuate residents. None of the major international organizations, such as the UN or International Committee of the Red Cross, have sent missions to help.

• Russia has a history of weaponizing false information, since the start of the full-scale invasion. Examples include creating contradictory narratives around the Bucha massacre and running massive disinformation networks. Our op-ed looks at characteristics of Russian disinformation that we should be mindful of as we seek to separate fact from fiction in understanding the progress of the war.

• Episode 13 of our podcast "This Week in Ukraine" looks at Russia's systemic abduction of Ukrainian children. Host Anastasiia Lapatina sits down with deputy chief editor Toma Istomina to discuss how, and why, Russia kidnaps thousands of Ukrainian children, with your questions starting at 35:10.

• We hosted a panel discussion with military analyst Michael Kofman about what comes next in Russia's war. In case you missed it, you can watch the recording here. We'd also like to thank those who attended and took the time to send in their questions. If you have any ideas of who you'd like to see as our next guest, let us know by leaving a comment on Patreon or emailing community manager Brooke at community@kyivindependent.com.

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