Here's what you helped us achieve in the last week (Patreon)

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, 

We hope you've all been safe and well this holiday season, with lots to look forward to in 2023. If you have any plans for the new year or any ways you've been celebrating that you'd like to share, we'd love to read about it in the comments below! Pictured above is a group photo of the Kyiv Independent team, hanging from a tree as one of our decorations during our Christmas party on Dec. 23. 

We'd also like to welcome our 191 new members this week and say thank you to everyone for your continued support. Thank you for standing with us!

Here are some highlights from the Kyiv Independent over the last week:

We reported on Russia's eighth massive missile strike on Ukraine's energy infrastructure yesterday. Ukraine was able to down 54 out of 69 missiles, with reports that some debris fell into Belarus.

On Wednesday, Zelensky deliveredhis annual speech to the Ukrainian parliament, saying that "Ukraine is on track to victory that all generations have dreamed of." 

Our most popular story this week was a glance into Kherson's underground resistance during Russian occupation. Igor Kossov's story focuses on a few people who worked against Russian occupiers from providing coordinates to Ukraine for air strikes to killing the invaders.

We reported from liberated Chornobaivka in Kherson Oblast. Asami Terajima's piece tells the story of how a driver had to become an emergency service worker under Russian occupation due to the shortage of doctors in the town. Our video report looks at the war crimes being uncovered after Chornobaivka's liberation, including two young men who were shot dead in early March.

We also wrote about the volunteers rescuing animals abandoned during the war. Daria Shulzhenko's piece looks at the volunteers efforts, which include everything from bringing dogs missing owners to shelters to helping a bear, who survived shelling, after being trapped in a zoo.

We interviewed former French President François Hollande, who said that there will only be a way out of the war "when Russia fails on the ground."

Episode eight of our podcast Power Lines was released. In "The Fight for Cyberspace" co-hosts Anastasiia Lapatina and Jakub Parusinski speak to technology journalist and author Andy Greenberg about the new, digital theater of war, and Pavel Liber, a Belarusian who is creating a digital platform to connect Belarusians virtually, while in exile.

This week in Investigative Stories from Ukraine, our new newsletter, we include the New York Times investigation that identifies Russian soldiers involved in the Bucha massacre. Subscribe here and get the Investigative Stories newsletter sent directly to your inbox.

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

See you in 2023!