We spent one night with Ukrainian drone hunters: Here's what you helped us achieve this week (Patreon)

Dear Kyiv Independent community members,

Thank you for your continued support! Today is World Press Freedom Day, and we want to say thank you.

We’re proud to rely on our readers for funding. World Press Freedom Day celebrates media independence – and we want to thank you for making it possible for us.

Press freedom has improved in Ukraine, according to the Reporters Without Borders 2024 Press Freedom Index, where Ukraine is ranking 61st globally (up 18 places from the year before). 

That's not necessarily what we feel on the ground. Already in 2024, two investigative Ukrainian news outlets have faced intimidation from the SBU, Ukraine’s state intelligence service. One outlet faced illegal surveillance, while another journalist was targeted by enlistment officers, apparently as revenge for investigating a top SBU officer.

As Russia’s war rages on, now it’s more important than ever to have a strong press. 

Our editor-in-chief Olga Rudenko told The Guardian this week that those on the front line are “fighting for Ukraine to define its own future, for Ukraine to not become Russia: a country with no freedom of speech, no freedom of the press. If they are dying, we should be using those rights.” 

Though the situation on the battlefield may look bleak, now is not the time to give up. Hope is a choice – thank you to everyone, including our 96 new members this week, for choosing to stand with us!

Here are some highlights from the Kyiv Independent this week:

We reported from Sumy Oblast, embedding with a mobile air defense squad near the Russian border. Alexander Khrebet's story explains how Ukraine has found cost-effective ways to hunt Shahed drones – worth up to $50,000 – with heavy machine guns and mobile units, saving expensive air defense munitions for deadlier targets. Pictured above, a soldier watches the sky while standing on a pickup truck mounted with a heavy machine gun in Sumy Oblast as Russia launched dozens of Shahed attack drones.

Our most popular story last week was also about drone hunting technology and the air defense systems Ukraine is receiving from Germany. Chris York's article looks at Skynex – a highly accurate system that can down drones, but uses ammunition far cheaper than a Patriot missile – and what it means for Ukraine.

We reported from Chasiv Yar, as the battle for the city begins. Francis Farrell's field report describes how Russia has started to encroach Chasiv Yar – located only five kilometers from Bakhmut – and how Ukrainian soldiers are preparing for the high stakes battle and Russian "human wave" attacks, intended to deplete ammunition and exhaust defenders.

We analyzed Russia's new advances in Donetsk Oblast from a military strategy perspective. Igor Kossov's article breaks down how Russian forces are taking advantage of the situation on the battlefield, as Ukraine’s defenders and allies display a constellation of weaknesses, and Dinara Khalilova's explains why Chasiv Yar is so important as a military target.

We published a story from Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, located only 30 kilometers from the Russian border, showing how life endures in the city despite massive attacks, prolonged blackouts due to the damage done to the energy infrastructure, and a looming Russian offensive.

We reported from Tblisi, Georgia, on the government's massive, anti-West rally. Nate Ostiller's story explains the significance of the rally – which featured top politicians from the ruling Dream party – and how it coincides with an attempt to pass a controversial "foreign agents" bill, a draft law that mirrors one of Russia's repressive tools used to silence those who oppose President Vladimir Putin.

This week's Belarus Weekly report includes claims from Belarusian hackers they've infiltrated the KGB's computer network since the autumn of 2023, and although Belarusian officials have not responded to claims, the websites have been inaccessible for the past months.

Former Kyiv Independent defense reporter Illia Ponomarenko will join our next Q&A, centered around his upcoming memoir "I Will Show You How It Was: The Story of Wartime Kyiv."  You can register for the Q&A, scheduled for May 16 at 8 p.m. Kyiv time, and submit your questions here. We look forward to hearing from you.

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