Reporting on more Russian missile strikes: Here's what you helped us achieve in the past week (Patreon)

Dear Kyiv Independent community members,

Thank you for your continued support. As 2024 has begun, and Russia sent another wave of air strikes, some unprecedented in scale, we're glad you're standing with us. We'd also like to welcome the 78 new members this week – it's your support that allows us to bring the brutal reality of Russia's war to the rest of the world.

Pictured above are damages after one of Russia's missile attacks in Kyiv on Jan. 2, 2024, taken by our videographer Olena Zashko.

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

We covered the series of massive Russian air strikes, some of the largest attacks seen since the start of the full-scale invasion, including the strike on Dec. 29 with Russia launching 158 drones and missiles, the drone attack on Dec. 31 with 90 Shahed drones, and another attack on the morning of Jan. 2 with 99 missiles and 35 drones sent towards Kyiv and Kharkiv.

Our most popular story last week was our list of Ukraine's most important battles in 2023. Igor Kossov explains the military significance of the previous year, as one slow battle of attrition after another saw Ukrainian battlefields evolve into an unprecedented hybrid of both primitive WWI trench warfare and cutting-edge technology, including drones and smart munitions.

We made a list of 10 books by Ukrainian authors about Russia's war.  In light of Russia's centuries-long history of trying to erase Ukrainian culture, the output of Ukrainian authors has become even more important since the start of the full-scale invasion. Kate Tsurkan's list offers a number of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry books available in  English that will help you understand the war better.

We wrote about the U.S. veterans who visited Kyiv to show their support for Ukrainians. Daria Shulzhenko's article follows two Americans who traveled to Ukraine in early December to spend time performing music and entertaining Ukrainian children in schools, as well as for Ukrainian soldiers in hospitals, to "put a face to the Americans who are in full support of Ukraine."

This week Belarus Weekly includes reports of more abductions of Ukrainian children by Lukashenko's Belarus, as the total number of abducted children brought to Belarus has risen to over 2,400, as well as the crackdown by Belarusian authorities on private language schools teaching Polish.

Our next community event will be a Q&A with reporter Francis Farrell. Join us on Thursday, Jan. 11, at 8 p.m. Kyiv time for an update on the current state of the war. You can register and submit your questions here.

Our podcast, "This Week in Ukraine," will return next week for its second season. There will be a new host, as Anastasiia Lapatina takes a break. We're looking forward to hearing your questions again soon!

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