Here's what you helped us achieve in the last week
Dear Kyiv Independent community members,
This Tuesday, our War Crimes Investigative Unit released its first documentary, "Uprooted," an investigation into Russia’s abductions of Ukrainian children. The documentary looks at the inner workings of how children were forcibly deported from Mariupol to Russia and Russian-occupied territories at the beginning of the full-scale invasion and the lengths their relatives and guardians went through to bring them back.
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale war, the Ukrainian government has identified over 19,500 Ukrainian children who have been forcibly deported to Russia, but as of now, only 383 of those children have been returned home.
"Uprooted" is available to watch on our YouTube channel, and we encourage you to share it with your family and friends to help raise awareness of this side of the war.
Pictured above, Sofiia Kuchuhurina and Valya Yermachkova, two sisters interviewed in the documentary, react to applause after the premiere in Kyiv on July 18. The photo is courtesy of photographer Anastasia Vlasova.
We'd also like to welcome our 70 new members this week. Thank you for your continued support – it's what allows us to launch initiatives like our War Crimes Investigative Unit. We wouldn't be here without you.
Here are some highlights from the Kyiv Independent over the last week:
On Monday, Russia announced it was pulling out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, effectively collapsing the deal. The grain deal was brokered by Turkey and Ukraine last July and allowed Ukraine to continue exporting agricultural products via the Black Sea, despite Russia’s war, critically ensuring global food security.
Episode 17 of "This Week in Ukraine" also looks at the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Host Anastasiia Lapatina and reporter Alexander Query discuss the death of the Black Sea grain deal and what Ukraine can do with your questions starting at 21:40.
We wrote about Ukraine's fight to bring Russian leadership to justice. Alexander Khrebet's story analyzes how international legal systems, like the International Criminal Court and United Nations, work and their shortcomings when it comes to holding accountable both the high-ranking Russian officials and those directly responsible for war crimes.
This week, Belarus Weekly includes the arrival of Wagner mercenaries in the country. After Wagner boss Prigozhin's short-lived march towards Moscow, Lukashenko allegedly helped to broker a deal for the private military company to arrive in Belarus, with Prigozhin stating that Wagner "will be here in Belarus for some time."
We wrote about the history of the Belarusian language and how it has been affected under Lukashenko's rule. Kate Tsurkan's piece explains that since the Belarusian dictator came to power in 1994, there has been a crackdown on Belarusian as well as the literary and artistic spheres that use the language.
We have three new team members! Please welcome Elsa Court as a news editor, Daryna Marynych as a newsroom assistant, Yuliia Huzenkova as a digital marketing specialist! We're so glad they're with us!
Thank you for standing by our side as we bring independent, locally-sourced news about Ukraine to the world.