Forged from the remnants of the Soviet Spetsnaz, Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces have become a vital pillar of the country’s current defense, playing their role in some of the war’s most decisive engagements – from Kyiv to Donbas, and to Kursk Oblast in Russia.

Ukraine This Week with host Anna Belokur returns to break down the top stories of the week, including Russia’s advances in Sumy Oblast. This week also marks Russia’s 1 million casualties in its war on Ukraine.

The Kyiv Independent's Chris York sits down with George Barros, team lead for the Russia and Ukraine portfolio at the Institute for the Study of War, to discuss what Russia’s approaching one million casualties mean for its war effort in Ukraine. They explore how the Kremlin might generate more forces — and what impact this could have on Russia’s economy.

Ukraine was jubilant on June 1 as news filtered through of a stunning drone attack targeting Russian heavy bombers that simultaneously attacked four air bases, two of them thousands of miles inside Russia. The Kyiv Independent's Chris York explains everything we know about Operation Spiderweb.

In the latest episode of Ukraine This Week, the Kyiv Independent’s Anna Belokur breaks down the top stories of the week, from Germany’s increased military aid to last weekend’s unprecedented attacks on Ukraine.

In the latest episode of Ukraine This Week, the Kyiv Independent’s Anna Belokur shares key takeaways from Monday’s phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as Wednesday’s assassination of a controversial Ukrainian ex-official. Also, Russia is advancing in Sumy Oblast.

The Kyiv Independent’s Francis Farrel provides an ultimate guide on how drones have changed the warfare in Ukraine — starting with an embed with a drone unit of the National Guard’s 14th Chervona Kalyna Brigade and providing even more insights with a step-by-step simulation on how fighting for an average village in Ukraine looks like now, three years into Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The Kyiv Independent’s Chris York sat down with author, historian, and Russia’s Victory Day celebrations on May 9, which mark the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II, are one of the country’s biggest public events of the year. President of the Ukrainian Society of Switzerland Andrej Lushnycky who sheds some light on the things Putin would rather you didn’t know about World War II.

The Kyiv Independent’s Chris York discusses with Jonathan Brunstedt, associate professor of history at Texas A&M University, how Russian President Vladimir Putin has weaponized the Soviet myths about World War II to help him justify Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The Kyiv Independent’s Anna Belokur dives into the top stories of this week from the intensifying Russian spring offensive to the shocking torture and murder of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roschyna. Also, the long-gestating minerals deal has finally been signed, what is in it and is it a good deal for Ukraine?

The Kyiv Independent's Francis Farrell sits down with retired U.S. Army officer and former Nebraska State Senator Tom Brewer in the front-line city of Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, to discuss U.S.-Ukraine relations under the Trump administration, why Nebraska is interested in Ukraine's post-war recovery and why it's important for U.S. politicians to visit Ukraine to counter myths by Russian propaganda.

Chornobyl disaster occurred in the early hours of April 26, 1986, in Soviet Ukraine. Nearly 39 years after the worst nuclear disaster in history, Russia’s brazen attack on the $2 billion New Safe Confinement (the sarcophagus enclosing the destroyed reactor) in February 2025 poses a new potential radioactive danger as engineers race to repair the damage. The Kyiv Independent’s Kollen Post dives into why the restoration is not as simple as it may seem.

The U.S. media outlet Axios reported on April 23 that the U.S. President Donald Trump administration's final proposal for ending the Russia-Ukraine war included the U.S. de jure recognizing Russia's annexation of Crimea and de facto recognizing its control of other occupied Ukrainian territories. We asked Kyiv residents for their reactions to the U.S. proposal.