IVANO-FRANKIVSK OBLAST — Father Vasyl Diychuk, 41, shows the spot near the river where his village used to build an ice town on Epiphany, celebrated in January. A line of parked cars would stretch for several kilometers — people from all over Ukraine and abroad came to Sokolivka to see the chapels, wells, and crosses, all made of ice. For the last three years, the village hasn't built its famous ice town — the winters are so warm that there is nowhere to get ice. This winter, the chances for pr

On the night of Jan. 14, 2023, a monument to the great Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko was dismantled from the central square of Melitopol, a Russian-occupied city in southern Ukraine. Ivan Fedorov, the exiled mayor of Melitopol, said Russian forces removed the monument to eradicate every trace of Ukraine in the city. President Volodymyr Zelensky has made similar assertions. “Monuments and museums are destroyed in occupied territories, even if they barely remind one of Ukraine. They destroy boo

Editor's Note: The Kyiv Independent agreed not to publish the names and/or last names of people who live or visit Avdiivka so as not to endanger them and their immediate family. The city of Avdiivka, in Donetsk Oblast, has been on the front line of Russia's war against Ukraine for almost 10 years. Russia's October offensive left the city, once home to 35,000 people, completely destroyed. Often called "the gateway to Donetsk," the city is located just 5 kilometers northwest of the regional cap