The second season of our travel show 'Dare to Ukraine' premiered: Here's what you helped us accomplish this week (Patreon)

Dear Kyiv Independent community members,

Thank you for your continued support.

To start off with some exciting news, last Saturday, the second season of our travel show "Dare to Ukraine" premiered. This season has host Masha Lavrova leaving Kyiv to live in a village for one month, with only a $500 budget (the average Ukrainian salary) and the various tasks that her producer Valeriia throws her way.

Masha hadn’t had the experience of living in a Ukrainian village before this series.

“Living in the village was harder than I expected," said Masha.

“The physical exhaustion, the lack of infrastructure, and — most of all — the stillness. Even being a duck mother (yes, that happened — wait for episode 2) was somehow both the most stressful and most hilarious part of the whole month."

Masha will go in depth about her experiences filming "Dare to Ukraine: Village" and answer all your questions about the show. Next week, on Wednesday, September 10 at 7 p.m. Kyiv time, we’ll have a Q&A with Masha on our community Discord server, where she’ll answer your questions about living in a Ukrainian village and what went into filming the series, giving you a behind-the-scenes look at what production was like. You can add the event to your Discord calendar here. If you have any questions about joining our community Discord server, just email us at community@kyivindependent.com, and we're help you out.

You also can subscribe to the Kyiv Independent’s YouTube here, and get notifications when the next episodes go live. Pictured above is a behind-the-scenes photo of Masha, her dog Letti, and the duck.

We'd also like to give a warm welcome to the 152 new members who joined this week. It's thanks to your support that we have a stable source of funding for our work at the Kyiv Independent. Thank you for being with us.

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

We reported from Donetsk Oblast on Ukraine’s manpower crisis. Francis Farrell's article explains, through a series of in-depth interviews with people at every level of a brigade's command chain, what the reality is for infantrymen now and how it's changed drastically since the start of the full scale invasion with the widespread use of drones on the battlefield.

Another widely-read story this week was about the U.S. authorizing the sale of 3,350 ERAM missiles to Ukraine. Chris York's story explains the capabilities of the Extended-Range Attack Munition and what these missiles could mean for Ukraine's war effort.

We wrote about the toll that years of torture and abuse in Russian captivity has on Ukrainian POWs. Daria Shulzhenko's article contains graphic descriptions of the routine torture and inhumane treatment that Ukrainian POWs are subjected to and explains the toll that it takes — it's reported that more and more often, people are freed from Russian captivity only to die two or three months later.

We reported on Russia and Ukraine's naval drone arms race that could "usher in a new era of warfare." After Ukrainian strikes crippled Russia's Black Sea Fleet, Russia is now turning to naval drones in a new phase of maritime warfare. Kateryna Hodunova's article takes a look at both Ukraine and Russia's development of naval drones and what it means for the war.

We explained the elephant in the room when it comes to "security guarantees" for Ukraine. In short, security guarantees would mean that if even Russia's invasion of Ukraine stops, Russia wouldn't be able to just reinvade later — but Russia won't agree to these measures, and Europe can't enforce them. This analysis by Kyiv Independent reporters breaks down the problems around potential security guarantees.

We interviewed Rob Lee about Russia's new battlefield tactics. Francis Farrell sat down with military expert Rob Lee to discuss the state of the battlefield three and a half years into the full-scale invasion, as well as the widespread use of drones, Russia's recent rapid advance near Dobropillia, and what to expect in the fall and winter.

We also interviewed an Azov commander. Francis Farrell interviewed battalion commander Oleksii in Donetsk Oblast about the current situation on the ground, as the Azov Brigade holds the line in one of the hottest sectors of the front.

We have a small favor to ask our U.S. readers, from our audience development editor Elsa. Recently, Google announced a new setting that allows you to customize what kind of news you see in Google Search, by adding a "preferred source." What does this mean? In short, if you add the Kyiv Independent as a "preferred source" it means you'll see our coverage on Google results when you search for topics like "Ukraine news," which will allow you to avoid the whims of the algorithm — and see more of our coverage. If you're based in the U.S., you can follow these instructions here. You can also share this with your friends and family in the U.S. It's a free way for them to help us out and make sure the Kyiv Independent's voice is heard. If you have any questions or need any assistance, please feel free to email us at community@kyivindependent.com.

Finally, to end on a positive note, we're including some additional behind-the-scenes photos of "Dare to Ukraine: Village" at the end of this letter. We hear from members that this series is a favorite — and is often an uplifting break in an otherwise a very heavy news cycle. We know that the news can be difficult to follow, and so we want to make an effort to end our weekly Friday newsletter with something nice.

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