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

Dear Kyiv Independent community members,

Thank you for your continued support, as we've been working hard to bring you the news. Pictured above, from earlier this week, reporter Francis Farrell speaks to an assault soldier from the 47th mechanized brigade, which has led the counteroffensive in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

We'd also like to welcome our 74 new members this week. Thank you for standing with us. We're proud to be a reader-funded news organization.

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

• Our War Crimes Investigations Unit released its second documentary, "Bullet Holes," about the systemic nature of child murders in Russian-occupied territories. The documentary focuses on three children, all intentionally killed by Russian military gunfire in 2022.

• We reported from Donetsk Oblast, on the role of drones in the war. Francis Farrell's story explains the critical role of UAVs for both sides in Russia's ongoing war, and takes a look not only at how the drones are used on the battlefield, but how they're produced, often with grassroots efforts.

• We explained state of the counteroffensive and Russia's mistakes in the south. Igor Kossov's article breaks down how neither the Surovikin lines, a classic positional defense, and now Gerasimov's tactic of an active defense have stopped Ukraine from breaking through Russia's first defensive line.

• We interviewed Yale historian Timothy Snyder, well known for his lecture series "The Making of a Modern Ukraine." In the interview, Snyder said, "If you want peace, Crimea has to be a part of Ukraine."

• We wrote about Russia's sham elections in occupied territories, a year after sham annexation referendums. Alexander Khrebet's piece looks at how Russia is able to fabricate election results and how these "elections" may pave the way for further forced mobilization of Ukrainians living in the occupied territories.

• This week, Belarus Weekly takes a look at the European Parliament's decision to recognize Lukashenko's regime as an accomplice to Russian war crimes in Ukraine, including the mass deportation of children from Russian-occupied territories.

• Episode 25 of "This Week in Ukraine" is about the arrest of Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky. Host Anastasiia Lapatina and business editor Liliane Bivings discuss what it means for Ukraine to put its first oligarch behind bars and how the political climate is changing for oligarchs, with your questions starting at 28:44.

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