We're reporting on Russia's record-breaking attacks on Ukraine's cities: Here's what you helped us do this week (Patreon)

It’s been another rough week here with Russia launching yet another record-breaking number of drones against Ukrainian cities. If you think you’ve opened the update from last week by mistake, you haven’t — the records just keep being broken, and the attacks just keep coming.  

On Tuesday, Russia launched a new record of 741 drones and missiles in one attack, mostly targeting the west of Ukraine (another mass attack on Kyiv followed on Wednesday night). The last record, of 550 drones and missiles, was set just last Thursday. Pictured above is a rooftop view of a smoke-filled Kyiv skyline at sunrise, taken by KI Insights research analyst Myko Suchy after one of the recent attacks.

Whatever the next week brings, we'll be reporting on it. We'd like to thank you for being one of our community members who keep us going, and give a warm welcome to the 214 new members who joined this week. Thank you for helping us show the world what’s happening here in Ukraine.

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

We reported on Russia’s Tuesday night drone attack on Lutsk, a city in western Ukraine, just over an hour’s drive from the Polish border and on another attack on Kyiv, which was hit hard on Wednesday night. On Thursday, explosions were even heard in Chernivtsi, an hour’s drive from the border with Romania, as a Russian drone appeared over the city. 

We made a special video showing what it’s like for our team to live through (or more accurately, survive) the recent attacks on Kyiv. Watch it here.

This week, U.S. President Donald Trump said he had ordered the continuation of shipments of critical military aid after a temporary pause. Given the recent conflicting signals from Washington, the move is being met with caution in Ukraine. 

We also looked into how the Trump administration’s immigration policies are leaving Ukrainian refugees in limbo. Nearly 240,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in the U.S. since 2022, and many are now facing bureaucratic issues and an uncertain future.

We covered the Ukraine Recovery Conference, hosted this year in Rome, and the complex realities on the ground when it comes to reconstructing areas destroyed by Russian occupation. 

We reported on the Kremlin’s tightening crackdown on the Russian elite. Martin Fornusek’s article follows a series of arrests of Russian officials and business leaders, some of whom have also recently died in suspicious circumstances.

We reported on the situation in Dachne, a village in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, which Russia claimed to have seized. The Ukrainian military denied the claim, while open-source intelligence suggests the village is likely a contested "gray zone.”

We interviewed Yuliia “Taira” Paievska, a famed Ukrainian combat medic, former prisoner of war, and now poet, about her new collection of poetry inspired by the siege of Mariupol and her time in captivity.

We looked into how Ukrainians are grappling with the challenge of how to memorialize a war with no end in sight. Natalia Yermak reported on how some Ukrainians are calling for a radically new vision for commemoration. 

We interviewed former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton. He spoke to Chris York about U.S. foreign policy, Trump’s failure to bring peace to Ukraine — and his next steps on Russia's war. Watch the video here.

We also have an event to announce for those members of our community who are in or near Budapest this weekend — we’ll be screening our documentary “Can You Hear Me? The Invisible Battles of Ukrainian Military Medics” in Budapest at 6 p.m. on July 13 at FUGA —Budapest Center of Architecture. For more information, click here. 

As a final note, we’d like to remind you we’re getting ready to publish the ninth edition of our written Q&A for members about Russia’s war. You can check out our previous edition here. Please email your questions on the war to our junior community manager, Asya, at a.chernova@kyivindependent.com.

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