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

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, 

Earlier this week, we randomly selected the winners of the merch giveaway! Keep an eye on your inboxes, as the notifications are being sent today. We're excited to send out some tote bags!

We'd also like to welcome our 165 members who joined this week. Recurring contributions from our readers is our main source of revenue. Thank you for supporting our reporting. 

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

We finally got a Ukrainian flag for our office! Pictured above are Kyiv Independent team members Artem Yatsyk, Francis Farrell, Zakhar Protsiuk (left to right) hanging the flag on Wednesday, Jan. 11.

Two of our most popular stories were about Soledar, an embattled salt-mining town 10 kilometers north of Bakhmut. Earlier this week, Russia moved into Soledar after five months of heaving fighting. The governor of Donetsk Oblast disputed the claim, saying that Ukraine is still "fighting for every centimeter." 

Another popular story this week was Oleg Sukhov's piece that explains how the Russian economy can still afford to wage war, even despite sanctions.

In Belarus, the trial against Belarusian Nobel Peace Prize laureate began. Ales Bialiatski, the founder of human rights watchdog Viasna, was awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, and now faces up to 12 years in jail along with his colleagues. 

We reported on students unable to attend school in Chornobaivka, a village in Kherson Oblast. Two students, Kirill and Alina, explain how they have not been to school since the full-scale invasion began. Even after liberation, Russia's attacks still prevent them from studying normally.

We interviewed Ukraine's ambassador to the US. Oksana Markarova said "It's either fight and liberate Ukraine or die. And we choose not to die."

We released the ninth episode of our podcast 'Power Lines: From Ukraine to the World.' This week, co-hosts Anastasiia Lapatina and Jakub Parusinski discuss Russian intelligence services, like the FSB and GRU. They speak with journalist Michael Weiss about covert war in Ukraine. 

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