For nearly a week, Ukraine was left in the dark by its once-close ally, deprived of American intelligence as Russia advanced. Civilians suffered missile and drone attacks, while the military faced Russian offensives. All of this was aimed at forcing Ukraine into a "peace" agreement. "(With U.S. President Donald Trump), there is a swing that goes back and forth. To be honest, I don't know what will happen next,"said Maksym*, a Ukrainian soldier working with intelligence. After a weeklong pause,

Editor’s Note: This article was published by the twice-weekly newsletter “The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak” on Feb. 8, 2025, and has been re-published by the Kyiv Independent with permission. To subscribe to The Counteroffensive, click here. Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine — In the early hours of December 2024, as the sun began to rise, the sound of drones filled the air. But this wasn’t just any drone operation. This was the first successful all-drone assault on Russian positions — a groundbreaking e

Editor’s Note: This article was published by the twice-weekly newsletter “The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak” on Sept. 28, 2024, and has been re-published by the Kyiv Independent with permission. To subscribe to The Counteroffensive, click here. Vira Lytvynenko hasn’t been able to bury her son since March 2022, when he was killed defending Ukraine against a Russian offensive near the Mariupol Drama Theater. Instead, she keeps his ashes at home. Even in the third year of Russia’s full-scale inva

Editor’s Note: This article was published by the twice-weekly newsletter “The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak” on July 16, 2024, and has been re-published by the Kyiv Independent with permission. To subscribe to "The Counteroffensive," click here. J.D. Vance’s selection as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s running mate is a disaster for Ukraine. "I gotta be honest with you, I don't really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another," Vance, the then-U.S. Senate candidate said

Editor’s Note: This article was published by the twice-weekly newsletter “The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak” on July 14, 2024, and has been re-published by the Kyiv Independent with permission. To subscribe to "The Counteroffensive," click here. The assassination attempt on former U.S. President Donald Trump on July 14 sent shockwaves around the world and fueled speculation about how it would influence the U.S. presidential election campaign. Here’s how the breaking news will affect Russia's wa

The United Kingdom has been a leader in rallying world support for Ukraine, and we expect that to remain the same under a Labour government. Although Keir Starmer was elected as Labour Party leader under a non-interventionist platform, the full-scale invasion of Ukraine has shifted U.K. politics. There is near-unanimity across the parties on the appropriateness of backing Ukraine. At the start of the full-scale invasion, then-U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced numerous scandals and critici

Editor’s Note: This article was published by the twice-weekly newsletter “The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak” on April 11, 2024, and has been re-published by the Kyiv Independent with permission. To subscribe to "The Counteroffensive," click here. On more than one occasion, I've gotten under the covers utterly exhausted from a day spent working, ready – begging, really – for a good night's rest. And as I begin to drift off to sleep, the air raid alarm goes off, indicating another potential Russi

Editor’s Note: This article was published by the blog “The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak” on March 22, 2024, and has been re-published by the Kyiv Independent with permission. To subscribe to "The Counteroffensive," click here. Aahed Bakkora will never forget the night that birds began falling out of the sky. An engineer by training, he was working for a local city council in Jobar, an area just outside Damascus, Syria. At the time, the area was controlled by Syrian opposition forces that had r

Editor’s Note: This article was published by the blog “The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak” on March 17, 2024, and has been re-published by the Kyiv Independent with permission. To subscribe to "The Counteroffensive," click here. There’s a low rumbling that never quite stops below Kharkiv’s iconic Independence Square. This morning, the sound is a metro train thundering into Universytet Station, just underneath the school children learning the basics of the four seasons and the seven days of the w

Editor’s Note: This article was published by the blog “The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak” on Feb. 22, 2024, and has been re-published by the Kyiv Independent with permission. To subscribe to "The Counteroffensive," click here. In the first hours of his full-scale invasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his most elite troops to get behind enemy lines to an airfield right outside Kyiv that was normally used for cargo and flight testing – Antonov Airport in Hostomel. Dozens of helicopte