Here's what you helped us achieve last week

Dear Kyiv Independent community members,

Thank you for your continued support. We'd like to welcome the 199 new members who joined us this week and say thank you again to our ambassadors helping us grow our membership. We're aiming to reach 500 new members by December, and so far, we've made great progress towards our goal. We only have 302 members left to go, and we know we'll get there with your help.

Membership is critical for our financial sustainability, since recurring payments give us a more predictable revenue stream and help us better plan for the future. If you have any ideas on how to promote the Kyiv Independent to your community and help us reach our goal of 500 new members, please leave a comment below or email us at community@kyivindependent.com. Thank you for standing with us.

Earlier this week, we also sent out Kyiv Independent merch to some of our members. Pictured above, office manager Sofa Koretska poses with 30 pieces of merch we packaged and shipped on Wednesday, Nov. 15.

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

• We wrote about the one-year anniversary of Kherson's liberation. Asami Terajima's story looks at the current situation in Kherson, the only regional capital Moscow managed to capture during the full-scale war, and how Russian forces have intensified their shelling of the city and its surrounding areas over the past weeks.

• One popular story last week was about Kazakhstan's relationships with Russia and the West, as Putin and Macron both recently visited the country. Astana has been able to maintain a strong, independent foreign policy, unlike many countries that were seen as close to Russia before the full-scale invasion.

• We interviewed Slovakia's former defense minister. Martin Sklenar said that not backing Ukraine would be disastrous for Slovakia's security, as the country's recently-elected prime minister, populist Robert Fico, has vowed not to send a "single bullet" to Ukraine.

• Episode 34 of "This Week in Ukraine" looks at what is wrong with Hungary. Deputy Chief Editor Oleksiy Sorokin joins host Anastasiia Lapatina to discuss why Hungary's pro-Russian government is blocking Ukraine's European integration, with your questions starting at 28:00.

• We also wrote about the rise of populism in Ukraine's neighborhood. Yet, Martin Fornusek's story explains that Central and Eastern European populist leaders lack the will, strength, and interest to form an actual anti-Ukrainian bloc within the EU.

• This week Belarus Weekly includes an interview with a Belarusian journalist, Daria Chultsova, who was sentenced to two years in prison after live-streaming a protest in 2020. Every week, Belarus Weekly features a "Spotlight" section, which provides readers with the historical context of contemporary events in Belarus.

• We also wrote about the new Belarusian poetry collection by Hanna Komar, which explores the themes of revolution, exile, and war. When Komar first brought the manuscript for "Ribwort" to a Belarusian publisher, she was told the business would be shut down if they published her work.

• This week Saint Javelin dropped a new collection, inspired by Ukrainian defenders. The entire collection was cut and sewn in Dnipro, less than 200 kilometers from the front line. Kyiv Independent community members who buy any item from the Defender Collection will get a free Saint Javelin patch. Add it to your cart and apply the KYIVINDP23 promo code at the checkout.

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