We reported on the foreign POWs lured by Russia to fight in Ukraine: Here's what your contributions have helped us accomplish this week (Patreon)

Dear Kyiv Independent community members,

We hope everyone has been doing well. This week we'd like to give a warm welcome to the 92 new members. Your support makes the difference as the majority of our funding is from reader contributions.

Here are some highlights from the Kyiv Independent this week:

We wrote about foreign POWs being lured to fight for Russia in Ukraine. Alexander Khrebet spoke to a Somalian prisoner of war in Ukraine and looked at Russia's policy of recruiting foreigners from countries around the world to replenish its losses in Ukraine.

One of our most popular stories last week was an interview with Ukrainian social media influencer Ihor Lachenkov. Known for his Telegram channel Lachen Pyshe ("Lachen is typing"), the 24-year-old has raised over $50 million for Ukraine's military.

Our investigation "Uprooted" won a prestigious international media award. The Kyiv Independent’s War Crimes Investigations Unit won the 2023 Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) award for our film investigating the forced deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia and the occupied territories of Ukraine. Watch "Uprooted" here.

We interviewed Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski. The Kyiv Independent’s Director of KI Insights, Jakub Parusinski, sat down with Sikorski in Warsaw to discuss Ukraine's EU integration, Polish farmers protests, and fighting Russian disinformation.

We reported on the children who have been forced to learn to live with prosthetics. Daria Shulzhenko's story on children who have been injured in Russia's war shows the treatment they undergo to be able to live as close to normal lives as possible.

We launched the first issue of our Ukraine Weekly newsletter. In Ukraine Weekly, editor-in-chief Olga Rudenko will share her reflections on key events that shaped the week in Ukraine. If you haven't already, sign up here to receive the next issue in your inbox on Saturday.

We produced a video on the movement to free Ukrainians from Russian captivity. Masha Lavrova spoke with former prisoners of war and relatives of POWs at one of the recent protests in central Kyiv, where people gather every weekend to advocate for the release of those still held by Russia. Watch the video here.

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