We reported on the full, 20-point peace plan revealed this week: Here's what you helped us accomplish in the last week (and in all of 2025) (Patreon)

Dear Kyiv Independent community members,

Thank you for your continued support.

Thankfully, 2025 is finally coming to a close — we'd like to thank you for being with us during this year. No matter when you joined, your support has powered the Kyiv Independent this year and helped us bring independent reporting from Ukraine to the world.

You've made a real difference for us, and we're grateful that you've chosen to support our journalism, especially at this critical time. It hasn't been an easy year — but we've made it through, together. Thank you for being a part of our community.

We'd also like to give a warm welcome to the 192 new members who joined this week.

We hope that your 2025 is ending on a good note, and that you're able to get some rest before the New Year starts. No matter what comes next, we'll be here to report on it, and it's only possible because of members like you. Thank you again.

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

Here are the top 25 stories of 2025 — from Ukraine's Peaky Blinders drone unit to the U.S. pausing aid to Ukraine and what the mineral deal actually means, here are 25 defining articles of the year. We also put together a look at 2025 through photos – Irynka Hromatska's article collects dozens of the most profound and recognizable photos of yet another year of Russia's continued full-scale invasion. Pictured above are a few photos from the article.

What will happen in 2026? We asked six of our journalists what they expect to cover. Long-awaited elections, an end to Russia's war, and the future in Russian-occupied Ukraine: Here's what our reporters had to say.

We reported on the full, 20-point peace plan revealed this week. After weeks of talks, Ukraine and the U.S. have prepared a draft of the revised peace plan to end Russia’s full-scale war. You can read the draft here. We also break down the what's holding up the plan — where the U.S. and Ukraine can't find agreement: the proposed management structure of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and future of territories in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts.

We reported from Kherson, a city where Russian drones hunt civilians, for four days. Francis Farrell and Olena Zashko reported on how Kherson residents continue to live there despite Russian drones increasingly target civilians in a "human safari" and why Kherson residents refuse to leave. You can watch the 45-minute long field report here.

We also reported on the fear and uncertainty in Ukraine's Sumy Oblast border region as about 50 civilians were forcibly deported to Russia. Tania Myronyshena's article explains the situation in Hrabovske, a small border village in Sumy Oblast, where dozens of residents have vanished across the Russian border — taken by force from their homes, with no idea about what awaits them next.

We wrote about the thousands of Ukrainians who face losing their homes in the occupied territories. Yuliia Taradiuk's article explains Putin's new decree that effectively legalized property theft in Ukraine's occupied territories by allowing occupation authorities to seize residential premises that "show signs of being ownerless" — and tells the stories of those affected, who can't return home.

We published an investigation into how sick Ukrainian children are exploited in fraudulent charity campaigns. Linda Hourani and Svilen Oprikov's article takes a look at a global network of deceptive cancer fundraisers that use sick Ukrainian children to raise millions — and the investigation reveals a trail of companies stretching to the U.S. and Israel, with less than 1% of the raised funds appearing to reach the children.

Finally, to end on a positive note, since the launch of our "How to Help Ukraine" newsletter in June, our community has raised over $100,000 for Ukraine, according to the organizations we featured. It's been incredible to see what you've accomplished — from raising money for the targeted evacuation of wounded soldiers to helping fund summer camps for children experiencing war trauma — thank you for your dedication and for your attention to Ukraine during Russia's war. We're proud that you're a part of our community — we truly wouldn't be here without you.

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