We're reporting on the U.S.'s decision to halt military aid to Ukraine and other effects of the Trump administration on Russia's war: Here's what you helped us accomplish this week (Patreon)

Dear Kyiv Independent community members,

Thank you for your continued support. We've been working hard to keep you updated on the rapid developments in Russia's war that have taken place over the past week.

If you have any questions about the current events in Ukraine, you can now submit them to the host of "Ukraine This Week" Anna Belokur. At the end of every episode, she'll answer one of your questions — a new benefit for our members. This week, the show will cover the news like Trump's decision to halt military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine. If you have any questions about the news, you can submit them in Discord here. If you're not yet part of our community server, you can gain automatic access by linking your Discord and Patreon accounts with these instructions.

We're looking forward to answering your questions!

We'd like to give a warm welcome to the 937 new members who joined this week — we're again overwhelmed at the amount of support you've shown us. It's thanks to readers like you that we're able to be as prepared as we can be for whatever comes next. Your support is critical in keeping our funding sustainable and keeping us reporting, especially in uncertain times and looking towards a bleak future. Thank you for being with us.

Here's what you helped us accomplish at the Kyiv Independent last week:

We asked Ukrainian soldiers what they thought of last week's Oval Office clash between Trump and Zelensky. One soldier, Petro, said: "I think I need more ammunition because there will be no peace agreements." We also asked Kyiv citizens what they thought of the Trump-Zelensky clash — you can watch the video here.

We also asked American volunteer soldiers fighting for Ukraine how they feel about Trump's decision to halt military aid. "He betrayed every one of us," said a U.S. Army veteran who goes by the callsign Goldfish.

We interviewed Chatham House’s Timothy Ash on how Trump's freeze on military aid upends world order. What's unfolding now amounts to "teutonic shifts in alliances that I don’t think anyone could quite have imagined," Ash said. "Russians can't believe their luck."

We also interviewed George Barros, the Russia team lead at the Institute for the Study of War, who explained how Trump's "peace plan" could backfire and why America’s adversaries will be “salivating” at what is currently unfolding on the global stage.

We explained how Trump's alignment with Russia derails Europe's push for a peacekeeping force in Ukraine, as U.S. support for a European peacekeeping force and U.S. pressure on Russia are both critical components of a plan. Oleg Sukhov's article explains what a European peacekeeping force would require realistically.

We wrote about the foreign volunteers who survived the Russian ballistic missile attack on a hotel in Kryvyi Rih. "Trump, Vance, come see Ukraine for yourselves," British volunteer Karol Swiacki said after describing the aftermath of the attack. "People are dying here."

We reported on the rise of attacks on Ukraine's draft officers. Kateryna Hodunova's article explains how Russia attempts to destabilize Ukrainian society by recruiting citizens to commit acts of sabotage, like reporting coordinates of Ukraine's critical infrastructure, setting fire to military vehicles, organizing disinformation campaigns — and attacking enlistment officers.

We added a new T-shirt to our online store — the first month of profits will go to Ukrainian charity Veteran Hub. From the sales of our "I Stand With Ukraine" shirt, we've already been able to raise over $13,000 for Veteran Hub in only a few days! The money will go towards funding the mental health support program, which provides therapy for soldiers, their families, and those who have lost loved ones in service. We plan to keep raising money until the end of March.

Our documentary about the mental health of military medics is being screened in six additional European cities this month. “Can You Hear Me? The Invisible Battles of Ukrainian Military Medics” will be shown in London, Strasbourg, Paris, Amsterdam and The Hague. Screenings will be followed by Q&A sessions with the film's authors. Register for free with the links listed here. Pictured above, this week, the documentary was also screened in China.

To end on a positive note, the Kyiv Independent's journalism has been nominated for two awards: Our travel show "Dare to Ukraine" was nominated for INMA's Global Media Awards in the category for "Best new video product or feature" and our War Crimes Investigations Unit's documentary "He Came Back" — which documents Russia's use of sexual violence in Ukraine — was shortlisted for the CIR Open Source Film Award in the long-form category. It's thanks to your support that reporting like this is made possible.

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