We debuted our travel show "Dare to Ukraine" – Here's what you helped us achieve in the last week (Patreon)

Dear Kyiv Independent community members,

Thank you for your continued support! Last week we debuted our travel show "Dare to Ukraine," which aims to introduce Ukraine to international audiences, beyond the wartime headlines. You can watch the first episode, which centers on Lviv, here.

Pictured above, the "Dare to Ukraine" team films at the famous Pryvoz market in Odesa.

We're also asking our members to help us spread the word about our new project by hanging our promotional poster (attached below) in their own community. At the end of this email are photos we've already received from our members – thank you Malcolm, Sue, and Andrew for your help! If you have a photo you'd like to share of our "Dare to Ukraine" posters, please email us at community@kyivindependent.com.

We'd also like to give a warm welcome to our 102 new members this week. We're proud to be reader-funded.

Here are some highlights from the Kyiv Independent this week:

One of our most popular stories this week was Francis Farrell's interview with Russian POWs captured in Kursk Oblast, most of which were conscripts – i.e. young men completing one year of mandatory military service. One POW said about the war that "the main thought is that I’m a small person, I can’t do anything."

Another widely read story was Asami Terajima's article about Russia's dramatically increased use of chemicals weapons on the battlefield, a tactic they've been using to advance their grinding offensive in Donbas. Ukrainian soldiers are often unprepared and unequipped to deal with Russia's use of chemical agents.

We wrote about Russia's continued offensive towards Pokrovsk, explaining how Russia has been able to advance deeper into Donetsk Oblast, undeterred by Ukraine's Kursk counteroffensive, and what the fall of Pokrovsk would mean for the battlefield.

We wrote about Ukraine's new, domestically developed weapons, including the Palianytsia missile-drone and the country's first ballistic missile. We also asked weapons experts to review Ukraine's "dragon drone" and "AK-47 drone," UAVs which have been apparently equipped with thermite and a gun, respectively.

We reported on the Islamic Cultural Center damaged by the Sept. 2 Russian missile strike in Kyiv. Natalia Yermak's article looks at the damage to the cultural center, and the responses of those who visit the center, with one person saying "Russians think that we will ask for peace at any terms if they attack us, but it’s the other way around. We will clean up, restore it, and we will beat them."

This week, Belarus Weekly looks at reports that Belarusian fighter jets shot at a Russian Shahed-type drone during the drone's incursion into Belarusian airspace. Some suspect this is the first case of the Belarusian Air Force attempting to destroy a real military target in the sky.

We announced our J-School 2.0. This year, we're partnering with UNESCO to host another training course for English-speaking Ukrainian media professionals, which aims to enhance their skills in English-language reporting and media management. The call for applications is open until Oct. 7.

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

 "Dare to Ukraine" on a flight from London to Amsterdam.

 "Dare to Ukraine" in Coober Pedy, Australia (population 1,500).

"Dare to Ukraine" on the library bulletin in Greenfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A. (population 17,800).