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

Dear Kyiv Independent community members,

It's thanks to the contributions of our members that we've been able to grow as a media organization – including the recent launch of our War Investigations Unit. Pictured above the new unit, Yevheniia Motorevska, Olesia Bida, and Danylo Mokryk (left to right), working in the Kyiv Independent office. Their first documentary is expected this summer.

We'd like to give a warm welcome to our 36 new members this week. Your support sustains us!

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

We published the second installment of our new series, "Ukraine's True History." Igor Kossov's piece takes a look at Russia’s centuries-long quest to conquer Ukraine and explains Putin's motivations behind launching Russia's full-scale invasion.

We published an editorial on why Russia is a fascist state and why it's important to label it as such. Calling Russia a terrorist state doesn't go far enough in capturing the existential threat of heavily armed fascist regime on the European continent.

Our most popular story was Illia Ponomarkeno's explainer about Russia's dwindling nuclear stockpile and Putin's recent decision to "suspend" participation in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the only remaining nuclear arms control agreement between the United States and Russia.

Another popular story was Francis Farrell's piece about the current situation in Bakhmut, with Russian forces controlling close to 90% of the city as the brutal urban warfare continues. The Battle of Bakhmut, now entering its ninth month, is the bloodiest of the war so far.

We reported on the situation that civilians face in occupied Melitopol. Alexander Query's story follows multiple residents who managed to flee the city after facing the brutal conditions of Russian occupation, including abduction, beatings, and torture.

Since last February, over 19,000 children have been de facto abducted from Ukraine's occupied territories and sent to Russia, according to a national database. Daria Shulzhenko's article explains what we know about Russia's deportation of Ukrainian children so far.

This week, we released the fifth episode of "This Week in Ukraine." Host Anastasiia Lapatina talks with reporter Francis Farrell about everything we know about Ukrainian attacks behind Russian lines. Thank you for sending in your questions about this topic – they start at 28:35.

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