We reported on Trump’s ‘50 day deadline’ for Putin: Here's what you helped us achieve this week (Patreon)

Dear Kyiv Independent community members,

Thank you for your continued support.

Pictured above is reporter Francis Farrell with Ukraine’s ambassador to Hungary, Shandor Fedir, on Sunday, July 13, at the screening of our documentary “Can You Hear Me? The Invisible Battles of Ukrainian Military Medics” in Budapest. To everyone who comes to our events — thank you, it’s always great to see our supporters in person. 

The new week brought a renewed push by Trump to bring Putin to peace talks, threatening to impose “severe” tariffs on Russia if Moscow doesn’t agree to a peace deal in 50 days. Trump also announced a new scheme where NATO members would purchase U.S.-made weapons for Ukraine. Given Russia’s intensified aerial assaults over the past months, Ukraine desperately needs weapons to bolster its air defense. It’s been notably quiet in Kyiv this week — though the lull in bombardments might have something to do with the visit of U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg. 

On Monday, we also published an editorial highlighting the Ukrainian government’s crackdown on Ukraine’s best-known anti-corruption activist, Vitaliy Shabunin (we also interviewed him about his case and corruption in Ukraine — you can watch the video on our YouTube channel). If you are wondering why we chose to publish an article so critical of the government in the midst of Russia’s all-out war, our editor-in-chief Olga Rudenko has a personal response:

“We deeply believe that the core function of journalism — to hold power to account — is as important during wartime as ever. After all, it is those in power who make the decisions that can strengthen our fight or undermine it, making our survival as a country more or less likely.

Please believe me when I say it was not an easy decision to publicly accuse President Volodymyr Zelensky of allowing (if not authorizing) an anti-democratic backslide. He is a president with nearly unlimited power and one of the most popular people in the world, seen as the embodiment of Ukrainian courage. We would not have done this if we were not absolutely sure that it is our moral duty to call attention to this risk and increase the backslide being stopped.

The beautiful thing about the Kyiv Independent is that it is, truly, independent. You may disagree with our editorial choices, including this one, but you can rest assured that all of our decisions — good and bad — were made inside the Kyiv Independent, by the team that you know. And the person ultimately responsible for them is the chief editor — the person addressing you now.

I want to thank the readers who have supported us in the decision to run this editorial. As we face pushback — and may face retribution in the future — it is comforting to know that so many allies share our values.”

Thank you for standing by our side and helping us bring the world the news from Ukraine. We'd like to give a warm welcome and thanks to the 219 new members who joined this week. 

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

We covered the response to Trump’s “50-day deadline” both in Ukraine and Russia. Asami Terajima also looked into the situation on the battlefield and what the next seven weeks could bring as Russia continues its summer offensive. 

We reported on the Ukrainian government shake-up that took place this week. Read Kateryna Denisova’s article for an inside look into the dynamics of the reshuffle and Martin Fornusek’s article to understand who’s who. In case you missed it, we interviewed Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s new prime minister, just a week before the reshuffle, when she was still Ukraine’s economy minister. 

One of our most-read articles this week was about ground drones, which are hitting the battlefield in ever-increasing numbers. The technology behind unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) could ease pressure on infantry as Kyiv faces recruitment challenges and losses.

We covered the battle for Pokrovsk, a crucial city in Donetsk Oblast that is at risk of being cut off by recent Russian advances. Francis Farrell joined Ukrainian soldiers defending the city for his report on 24 hours inside Pokrovsk.

We wrote about U.S. Patriot missiles, which Ukraine desperately needs to down Russian ballistic missiles. Read the article to understand what makes Patriot missiles so unique, and why there’s a global shortage.

We explained why the latest New York Times article from Russia's Kursk Oblast fails its readers. The report was conducted in cooperation with the notorious Akhmat battalion, the personal army of Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, sanctioned by the U.S. for torture, repression, and murder. Francis Farrell, who has reported from Kursk Oblast, also wrote an opinion piece on this issue and the journalistic ethics of embedding with Russian forces.

We reported on the Belarusian opposition's dilemma about whether to work with dictator Alexander Lukashenko to free political prisoners. We spoke to both supporters and opponents of diplomatic engagement with the regime, after 14 prisoners were released in June following talks with the U.S. 

We wrote about the potential formation of Ukrainian private military companies. Zelensky signaled in June that Ukraine might explore creating PMCs, which currently exist in a legal gray zone. 

We had an exclusive interview with Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister, Sergiy Kyslytsya, who recently returned to Kyiv after serving as Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations. Kyslytsya told us about the talks with Russia in Istanbul and Ukraine’s relations with the U.S. 

We looked into the origins and meaning of the tryzub, the trident at the heart of the Ukrainian coat of arms. This was a story idea voted on by our members in our Discord channel — thanks to everyone who voted.

Last but not least, we are preparing to publish the ninth edition of our written Q&A for members about Russia’s war. You can check out our previous edition here. We will collect your questions and answer them in a Q&A format on our website. We won’t publicly identify who asked the questions. 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.