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

Dear Kyiv Independent community members,

Thank you for your continued support! Pictured above, a little behind-the-scenes sneak peek: war crimes unit reporter Danylo Mokryk and senior editor Oleksiy Sorokin play chess in the Kyiv Independent office at the end of the day, earlier this week. (Can you guess who won, just from the picture?)

We'd also like to welcome our 72 new members this week. We're so thankful you're with us – we're proud to be a reader-funded, independent news organization.

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

Our most popular story this week was about Russian soldiers sharing evidence of their own war crime in flooded Kherson Oblast. This story is the firsthand account of Anthony Bartaway, who witnessed Russian shelling targeting volunteers during relief efforts following the destruction of the Kakhovka dam.

We reported onhow U.S.-provided cluster munitions are giving Ukraine a needed punch during the counteroffensive. Igor Kossov's story explains the controversy around cluster munitions, though there is no specific ban under international humanitarian law, and how they've helped the counteroffensive by allowing Ukraine to reduce expenditure of shells and artillery barrels, for instance.

We reported from Donetsk Oblast, about the family members left in limbo as more soldiers go missing. Asami Terajima's piece follows spouses and relatives of the soldiers who were reported missing on the front line, not knowing if their loved one were killed or captured, a situation that's becoming increasingly common.

This week, Belarus Weekly takes a look at the admission from the Belarusian Red Cross that the organization helped abduct Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied territories and the arrival of thousands of Wagner mercenaries to the country.

We also wrote about the officials accused of using war as a pretext for hiding ill-gotten wealth. Oleg Sukhov's story explains how one of Ukraine’s main anti-corruption tools, the asset declaration system, has been effectively eliminated. In case you missed it, our next community event will be about President Volodymyr Zelensky's government and how it functions during war. You can register and submit your questions here.

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