For Ukraine, the story of 2022 is the story of war. Russia's war against Ukraine started in 2014 in Crimea and Donbas, but it turned into a full-scale invasion in 2022. This year, the war has killed tens of thousands and forced millions to flee their homes. Russia has bombed civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, sometimes razing cities to the ground. International reports have confirmed that Russian soldiers have committed numerous war crimes in the occupied territories of Ukraine. From the out

On Nov. 26, amid Russia's war, Ukraine commemorated the victims of another tragedy: Holodomor, a man-made famine that killed millions of Ukrainians in 1932-1933. The Holodomor was imposed on Ukrainians, primarily Ukrainian villagers, by the Moscow-based Soviet authorities led by dictator Joseph Stalin. Ukraine has been fighting to get Holodomor recognized globally as an act of genocide against Ukrainians. "Ukraine has gone through one genocide," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his address

The so-called "invincibility centers" across Ukraine help people cope with the consequences of Russia's Nov. 23 missile attacks that shut down electricity, heating, water supply and mobile communications.

VYSHHOROD, Kyiv Oblast – A rocket blast that struck a four-story residential building in Vyshhorod on Nov. 23 was so powerful that it ripped off balconies, leaving the windowless rooms open to the cold November weather. The massive crater in front of the building left no doubt about the intensity of the explosion that twisted metal structures at the children’s playground nearby. It would be easy to imagine locals enjoying the outdoors in this family neighborhood. Instead, the worried silhouet

KHERSON — Huge numbers of Ukrainians were detained by Russians occupying Kherson. Many of them were interrogated by torture. The chief prosecutor of Kherson Oblast, Volodymyr Kalyuga, said that locals were tortured at four sites throughout the city. According to interviews with local officials and residents, these included a pre-trial detention center, the abandoned headquarters of the Security Service of Ukraine, and another government building claimed by Russia’s security service, the FSB.

Ukrainian troops entered Kherson on Nov. 11, two days after Russia declared its retreat. Kherson, a city with a pre-war population of nearly 300,000 people, was the only regional capital sacked by Russia. Kherson residents held large-scale protests in March and April, demanding that Russian troops leave the city. Russia suppressed protests by force. On Aug. 29, Ukraine began a southern counteroffensive tasked with retaking Kherson. As Ukrainian troops approached the city and destroyed Russian

IZIUM, Kharkiv Oblast – Six months into the occupation of Izium in Kharkiv Oblast, Russian forces announced a mysterious strict 24-hour curfew on Sept. 8. Roman, a bread vendor at the local market who declined to give his last name, drove north the following morning on an errand in defiance of the curfew, only to find the city streets completely empty. "I headed out and there was a new checkpoint, one I'd never seen before," he told the Kyiv Independent. "When they asked for my papers in Ukrai

It's the first day of school. Even as fierce battles raged in the east and south of Ukraine, many Ukrainian children returned to classrooms for the first time since their offline education was disrupted by the full-scale war. While Education Minister Serhiy Shkarlet said nearly 3 million school-aged children were able to go back to education online by late March, a majority of whom had to flee their homes seeking safety, the whole idea of reopening schools sounded surreal at the time. In a sh

There were no regular celebrations on Ukraine's 31st Independence Day this year, as Russia continues to wage its brutal war against the country. On Aug. 24, Ukraine’s air defense was put on high alert. Local authorities across the country extended curfews, and Kyiv banned mass gatherings. Russia carried out a number of missile strikes on Ukraine on this symbolic date. The most deadly one targeted a train station in the village of Chaplyne, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, killing at least 15 people. In

Each year, on Aug. 23, Ukraine celebrates the Day of the National Flag. According to the official version of the events, a group of Soviet Ukraine lawmakers, from the pro-independence Democratic Bloc, brought the historic blue and yellow flag into parliament on Aug. 23, 1991. The group demanded the Communist Party-led parliament grant Ukraine independence from the Soviet Union and reinstate the historic blue and yellow banner as the country's official flag. A day later, Ukraine's independence

Editor’s Note: This story about the Vostok SOS nonprofit was sponsored by the Foundation International Communications Hub and the Comms Hub Ukraine. Vostok SOS provides humanitarian aid to people affected by Russia’s war and helps evacuate civilians from front-line settlements. If you would like to support their efforts, donate here. Iryna Yakovleva, a retired 60-year-old medical worker, faced one of the biggest challenges of her life when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in February. Then

KHARKIV –  Oleh Puteshenko walked through the ruins of his former workplace, a restaurant in Kharkiv, barely holding back tears. The 46-year-old, who used to work as a security guard, spoke proudly of the restaurant as he showed the terrace where he spent most of his days taking care of the plants. “The food was delicious here,” he said. Surrounded by apartment complexes and greenery in the residential Saltivskyi District, referred colloquially to as Saltivka, the cozy pizzeria used to be a sp

Russian missiles hit a nine-story residential building and a kindergarten in central Kyiv early on June 26, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Rescuers have pulled out 25 residents from under the rubble at the apartment building in Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskyi District so far, Klitschko reported. At least one person was killed and six were injured, according to the mayor. There were no casualties reported at the kindergarten. The missile hit a playground, turning it into a large swamp and destroying garag

Refugees fleeing war zone Russia’s full-scale invasion, launched on Feb. 24, has caused the largest migration crisis of the 21st century. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), nearly seven million Ukrainians have fled the country, with over 90% of those escaping Ukraine being women and children, as men from 18 to 60 years of age are banned from leaving the country during the ongoing martial law. Scenes of Ukrainian men driving their families to the border

SLOVIANSK, Donetsk Oblast — The battlefield stretches through the dense forest on the banks of the Siversky Donets River. Soldiers with Ukraine’s 79th Airborne Brigade crawl out of sandy trenches, preparing their 40 mm under-barrel rounds. Barrels up, they aim at an imperceptible enemy line running some 300 meters away, hidden behind a wall of tall pines. “Three, four, fire!” The ensuing whistle and blast merge with the never-ending thunder of artillery barrage on either side. “Those f*cks