Here's what you helped us achieve in the last week
Dear Kyiv Independent community members,
We hope you've had a good week and were able to celebrate Ukraine's Independence Day yesterday! If you did anything special, let us know in the comments below. We look forward to hearing from you!
Pictured above is the Kyiv Independent's free digital poster, enlarged, printed, and framed by one of our members, Jennifer. We'd like to say thank you to Jennifer for sending us this photo – we're so excited to see the poster is popular! Anyone who signs up for a free account on the Kyiv Independent website will receive this poster as a way to say thank you for their support.
We'd also like to welcome our 104 new members this week. Thank you for your continued support. Our work wouldn't be possible without you!
Here are some highlights from the Kyiv Independent over the last week:
We covered Ukraine's 32nd Independence Day by asking both Ukrainian soldiers what independence means to them and Ukrainians in street interviews where they see their country in 10 years.
We wrote about Kyiv's decision to remove Soviet symbols as part of its decommunization policy. In July, the hammer and sickle was removed from Kyiv's Motherland monument, to be replaced with the tryzub on Independence Day, marking a distinct split from Russia, which continues to use Soviet symbols, especially as part of its war propaganda during the current invasion of Ukraine.
We published an explainer on Ukraine's flag. Earlier this week, on Wednesday, was Ukraine's Day of the National Flag. Lili Bivings' piece explains the history and meanings behind the yellow-and-blue flag: It's not only a national marker, but a rallying symbol of resistance.
We interviewed the UK's ambassador to Ukraine. Dame Melinda Simmons said "People are waking up to understanding of Russia being colonial, fascist-leaning country."
This week Belarus Weekly looks at Lithuania's closure of two of its border crossings with Belarus, citing security concerns, leading to the U.S. urging its citizens to leave or avoid travel to Belarus.
Episode 22 of "This Week in Ukraine" focuses on the delivery of F-16s to Ukraine. Host Anastasiia Lapatina is joined by reporter Oleg Sukhov to discuss the irrational politics behind Western military aid to Ukraine, with your questions starting at 23:20.
Thank you for standing by our side as we bring independent, locally-sourced news about Ukraine to the world.
Comments (4)
#slavaukraine - …we will never surrender Churchill
Gorgeous awesomeness. 🤩🌈🌠 can t wait til mine hangs in my hall
Hello guys, I'm from the UK and I'm lucky enough to have made some wonderful Ukrainian friends over the years. I hope it doesn't sound silly but I wrote this poem to commemorate your independence day and I hope it might mean something to you. It's called "The Sunflower and the Darkness". How long have I persisted in the shadows that you've spread? How much pain have you caused to my generations – both the living and the dead! Just look upon your works and compare them against mine, Your fruits are all twisted, blackened husks rotting on the vine. Though you've bruised and beat me and made my petals droop, Now is the day of victory — to you I'll never stoop! How long did you try to deceive me, to tell me I'm something that I'm not? Yet still I know myself: my culture, my language and a history that shall never be forgot. Here you are on my soil where my roots spread deep and wide, My unshakable foundations, that are as certain as the tide. And even in the darkest moments I reach towards the light, In day I have the Sun and then the Moon and stars by night. Somewhere deep within, you know that time isn't on your side, A wind is blowing from the West, bringing a future your scheming can't abide. A flame to burn away all your wickedness and to illuminate all your sins, In truth you'd lost before you'd even begun: against light the darkness never wins. For l am a proud sunflower and I grow taller by the day, In the places that you've ruined children will again laugh and play! So invader do your worst I'll hurt but I'll never fear Your darkness is all melting and the new dawn is almost here.
Hello Adam, thank you for sharing! I don't know if you've joined our Discord yet, but there is another member that writes poetry – maybe you'd find it interesting!! Best, Brooke