We won a top Ukrainian investigative journalism award: Here's what you helped us achieve last week

Dear Kyiv Independent community members,

Thank you for your continued support! Yesterday, our documentary "Uprooted" – an investigation into Russia’s abductions and forced deportations of Ukrainian children – won the annual National Investigative Journalism Competition, the top award in Ukraine.

Pictured above reporter Olesia Bida (center) and researcher Kostiantyn Nechyporenko (left) from the Kyiv Independent's War Crimes Investigations Unit receive the award in Kyiv on Dec. 7.

The film also resulted in some concrete actions, aimed to hold Russian aggressors accountable. The findings from the film were included in the United Nations expert report on the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russian territory.

Additionally a lawyer from Ukraine’s Regional Human Rights Center filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court after the release of “Uprooted.” The complaint aims to hold accountable a collaborator who was implicated in the deportation of Ukrainian children.

Finally, prosecutors were able to provide one of the families in the film with free legal assistance.

This is what your support helps us achieve.

We'd also like to welcome the 170 new members this week. Thank you for standing with us.

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

• One of our most popular stories last week was Francis Farrell's report from Donetsk Oblast, near Avdiivka – so far Ukraine has been able to hold back the Russian assault on Avdiivka, which started in October. After initial failures, Russia switched tactics in November, with their new strategy similar to that which allowed them to take Bakhmut.

• We also reported from Kupiansk, a village in Kharkiv Oblast only 40 kilometers away from the Russian border. Despite an obligatory evacuation order from Ukrainian authorities in August 2023 and relentless Russian shelling, about 5,500 people, or about 20% of Kupiansk's population, remain living in the town.

• We reported on how political turmoil in the U.S. threatens to undermine support for Ukraine. Nate Ostiller's article breaks down why the U.S. Senate voted against a $110 billion funding package, containing $61 billion in aid for Ukraine, as the Republican party continues to sour on providing support for Ukraine, often citing economic reasons.

• We wrote about the thousands of Ukrainian civilians held hostage by Russia. Alexander Khrebet's story follows the stories of Ukrainians civilians held in Russian prisons – a war crime – and explains how Russia exploits a legal loophole in the Geneva Conventions to keep these civilians locked up.

• We also wrote about how Ukrainian women fight against escalated gender-based violence during the war. Daria Shulzhenko's story explains how not only have rates of domestic violence increased since the start of the full-scale invasion, but also how rape is a part of Russia's military strategy – another war crime committed against Ukrainians on a mass scale.

• We interviewed the French ambassador to Ukraine. Gael Veyssiere, who assumed the position in August 2023, said "Now is not the time for negotiation, now is the time for war."

• Episode 37 of "This Week in Ukraine" is about the Polish border blockade. Host Anastasiia Lapatina sits down with business editor Liliane Bivings to discuss the trucker protests that have been blockading several border crossings at Ukraine-Poland border for over a month, with your questions starting at 19:00. Read how disruptions caused by blockade, as around 3,300 Ukrainian trucks are still stuck on the border, are impacting the Ukrainian economy here.

• This week Belarus Weekly looks at the suspension of the Belarusian Red Cross' membership, after the Belarus branch refused to dismiss its head, Dzmitryi Shautsou, who was involved in the forced deportations of Ukrainian children from occupied territories to Belarus.

• Finally, we published an op-ed "Don’t write off Ukrainians living under Russian occupation." Reporter Alexander Khrebet recalls how, nearly a decade ago, he fled fled Donetsk after living under Russian occupation for two months, and explains why we can't leave the millions of people living in the occupied territories behind.

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