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

Dear Kyiv Independent community members,

Thank you for your continued support.

We'd like to give a warm welcome to our 38 new members this week – thank you for standing with us and supporting independent journalism in Ukraine. Every contribution makes a difference, and we're proud to be reader funded.

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

We covered the funeral of 27-year-old American volunteer Christopher Campbell, the first fallen U.S. fighter to be buried in Ukraine. Campbell was killed in early April near Bakhmut, and is survived by his fiancée Ivanna Sanina. Pictured above, Ukrainian soldiers hold a flag above the coffin of Christopher Campbell in Kyiv on May 5, 2023, in the photo taken by Francis Farrell.

We published the third installment of "Ukraine's True History" series. Daria Shulzhenko's piece explains how Russia has attempted to erase the Ukrainian language and the country's culture throughout the centuries, from acts such as the mass destruction of the Ukrainian intelligentsia in the 1930s and looting art from museums in occupied territories during the present war.

We reported on Ukraine's dwindling supply of air defense missiles. After a winter of Russia's mass missile strikes, it is reported that Ukraine's air defense stores have been depleted to the point of "emergency ration," though Ukraine's Air Force did admit to downing a Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missile with the Western-provided Patriot air defense system earlier in May, the first instance of Ukraine intercepting a ballistic missile since the start of the war.

Our most popular article last week was our interview with Russia security expert and political scientist Mark Galeotti, who discussed the rage of the Russian mercenary boss Prigozhin, saying the Wagner Group is a "shadow of what it once was."

Episode 7 of our podcast "This Week in Ukraine" also looks at why Russia relies on private militaries Wagner Group in its war. This week, host Anastasiia Lapatina sits down with reporter Igor Kossov to discuss Russian "private" military companies and how they operate, with your questions starting at 23:40. Thank you to those who sent in the questions.

This week, Belarus Weekly takes a look at Belarusian President Lukashenko's presence at the Red Square Victory Day events in Moscow and the rumors it sparked about his health, as he was unable to walk the small perimeter and had to be driven instead.

We've also been working to take care of our mental health here at the Kyiv Independent. This month we started working with the Ukrainian organizations BrainCult and the Resilience Hub to improve our access to mental health resources. Earlier this week, we met with Dart Centre Europe, a project by the Columbia Journalism School to address trauma and reporting, to better understand topics like traumatic stress and resilience.

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