The Kyiv Independent’s investigative documentary, “He Came Back,” which exposes sexual violence committed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine, has won the 2025 Ukrainian journalism award, “Honor of the Profession."

The winners were announced during an award ceremony in Kyiv on May 29.

The documentary, which identifies perpetrators of sexual violence in occupied Ukrainian territories, was recognized in the Best Investigative Report category.

The film was authored by journalist Olesia Bida, a member of the Kyiv Independent’s War Crimes Investigations Unit. The team also included editing director Maksym Yakobchuk, researchers Kostiantyn Nechyporenko and Myroslava Chaiun, and editor Yevheniia Motorevska.

"Sexual violence in war is a war crime and a systemic strategy used by Russian forces. “They face no consequences and continue committing these crimes in occupied territories,” Bida said, following the award ceremony.

“It meant so much to me that after this investigation was published, one of the soldiers we identified was formally charged by Ukrainian authorities. His case has already been sent to court. I hope one day he will face a real sentence."

Bida called the piece “the most important work of my entire journalism career,” and expressed deep gratitude to the Kyiv Independent team for supporting her through 10 months of research and reporting.

“We are endlessly inspired by your work,” the Ukrainian competition committee said in a statement, thanking every journalist who submitted work this year. “You are the witnesses and chroniclers of the country’s life and its people during the most difficult period of our modern history."

The film previously won the Best Film award at the 2024 Press Play Prague film festival.

Since its foundation in 2023, the Kyiv Independent’s War Crimes Investigations Unit has released nine documentary films, exposing Russia’s kidnapping of Ukrainian children, torture of prisoners of war, repressions in occupied territories, and crackdown on religious communities.

The “Honor of the Profession” contest, organized annually in Ukraine, celebrates excellence in categories including best interview, war reporting, analytical writing, and publicist essays. This year’s winners reflect the difficult reality and courage of reporting in a country at war.

A special nomination from the Supervisory Board of the contest “For dedication to the profession under the most difficult conditions” was posthumously given to late Victoriia Roshchyna, who died in Russian captivity after disappearing in August 2023 while reporting from occupied territories.

Her body, returned in February, showed signs of torture, including electric shocks and possible strangulation. A forensic examination revealed missing organs, suggesting an attempt to hide the cause of death.

• Russia reports 2nd consecutive day of Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow, building damaged on the outskirts
• Rubio, Lavrov discuss next round of Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Istanbul
• 'No one has seen it yet' — Zelensky slams Russia for stalling on ceasefire memorandum ahead of Istanbul talks
• Russia amassed enough troops to attack Ukraine's Sumy Oblast, Border Guard warns
• Next Ramstein summit to take place on June 4 in Brussels

A building was reportedly damaged on the outskirts of Moscow following a Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian capital overnight on May 29, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported.

This marks the second consecutive day of attacks on Moscow Oblast, with multiple industrial facilities targeted by Ukrainian drones and several unmanned aircraft reportedly downed on approach to the capital on May 28.

Videos and photos posted on social media by local residents purportedly show damage sustained by a residential building on Vernadsky Avenue in Southwest Moscow. Explosions were heard in the area around 1:40 a.m. local time.

Sobyanin claimed that no one was injured in the attack that occurred as a result of falling drone debris.

The full extent of the damage was not immediately clear. Ukraine's military has not commented on the reported attack.

Russian air defenses shot down 48 Ukrainian drones overnight, including three over Moscow Oblast, Russia's Defense Ministry claimed.

The Kyiv Independent cannot independently verify reports or claims made by Russian officials.

The previous night on May 28, Russian air defenses shot down 296 Ukrainian drones across multiple regions overnight, Russia's Defense Ministry claimed, potentially marking one of the heaviest drone attacks against Russia during the full-scale war.

How much does a Russian drone attack on Ukraine cost? The question is more complicated than it sounds

Beginning overnight on Saturday, May 24, Russia rained down nearly a thousand drones and missiles on villages and cities across Ukraine in three nights of large-scale aerial attacks, as civilians spent hours sheltering underground. Russia’s bombardment killed more than a dozen people and injured dozens more, in one of

The Kyiv IndependentAndrea Januta

Rubio, Lavrov discuss next round of Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Istanbul

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov presented to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio Moscow's "specific proposals" for the next round of peace talks with Ukraine, Russia's Foreign Ministry announced on May 29.

The two diplomats held a phone call on May 28, the day when Russia proposed holding negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul on June 2 in a follow-up to the first round on May 16.

Lavrov also "informed Marco Rubio about implementing the May 19 agreements between President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of the United States Donald Trump," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Trump and Putin held a phone call on May 19, during which the Russian leader again rejected a truce and pushed for maximalist demands, but also voiced his readiness to negotiate a "memorandum regarding a potential future peace treaty."

During the call with Lavrov, Rubio stressed Trump's "intention to quickly bring the Ukraine conflict to an end and expressed Washington's readiness to help the sides to bring their positions closer together," according to the Russian readout.

While initially reluctant to criticize Putin, Trump adopted an increasingly critical tone toward the Russian leader in recent days as Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities intensify and the Kremlin continues to reject calls for a ceasefire.

Kyiv and its European partners have urged the U.S. to impose additional sanctions to pressure Moscow to agree to a truce. Trump has refused to take the step so far, saying he is "close to getting a deal" and does not want to "screw it up" by fresh sanctions.

Europe’s ‘Trump shock’ is opportunity to forge ‘new West,’ Timothy Garton Ash says

A so-called “Trump shock” has plunged Europe into its deepest crisis since 1945, but also presents an opportunity for the continent to forge a “new West,” British historian and commentator Timothy Garton Ash has said in an interview with the Kyiv Independent. The first months of Trump’s presidency dispelled any

The Kyiv IndependentMartin Fornusek

'No one has seen it yet' — Zelensky slams Russia for stalling on ceasefire memorandum ahead of Istanbul talks

President Volodymyr Zelensky on May 29 accused Russia of stalling the peace process by failing to deliver a promised negotiations memorandum, warning international partners that Moscow is trying to deceive those still relying on diplomacy over pressure.

"Even the so-called memorandum they promised and claimed to be preparing for more than a week — no one has seen it," Zelensky said. "Ukraine hasn't received it. Our partners haven't received it. Even Turkey, which hosted the first meeting, hasn’t received the updated agenda."

Russia's Foreign Ministry previously claimed its delegation, led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, would present the ceasefire framework at the June 2 talks, proposed by Moscow.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova confirmed on May 29 that the same Russian delegation, led by Medinsky, will attend the new round of peace talks in Istanbul.

Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said Ukraine has already shared its position paper with Russia.

Speaking after a high-level meeting with Umerov, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, and presidential chief of staff Andrii Yermak, Zelensky said Ukraine is maintaining daily coordination with allies ahead of another round of talks in Istanbul.

Zelensky called for renewed international pressure on Russia, saying, "Words don't work with Moscow. They are doing everything to make these meetings meaningless. That is why sanctions and real pressure on Russia are essential."

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, whose country hosted the May 16 negotiations, said Ankara expects Ukrainian and Russian positions to come closer.

"If there's a diplomatic achievement here, it's not just thanks to Turkish diplomacy, but to the fact that both sides have been willing to talk and that these talks have led to tangible outcomes," Fidan said on his way to Kyiv, where he is expected to meet Sybiha and Zelensky.

‘Shooting Russia in the back’ — Serbian companies supplying ammunition to Ukraine, Moscow claims

“The Serbian defense industry is trying to shoot Russia in the back,” Russian foreign intelligence (SVR) claimed.

The Kyiv IndependentMartin Fornusek

Russia amassed enough troops to attack Ukraine's Sumy Oblast, Border Guard warns

Russia has concentrated a sufficient amount of forces in Kursk Oblast to potentially launch an attack on Ukraine’s Sumy Oblast, State Border Guard Service spokesperson Andrii Demchenko said on May 29.

The statement comes amid warnings of a new possible Russian offensive this summer as U.S.-mediated peace efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire deal.

Russia has become increasingly active in Sumy Oblast after mostly pushing out Ukrainian forces from Kursk Oblast. Ukrainian authorities recently confirmed that Russian forces captured four Sumy Oblast villages close to the border: Novenke, Zhuravka, Veselivka, and Basivka.

Speaking on national television, Demchenko said Russia began amassing forces when it attempted to push Ukrainian troops out of Kursk Oblast, where Ukraine launched its operation in August 2024.

Russia continues to maintain a force in Kursk Oblast, and Ukraine periodically detects a "certain change in the number of both soldiers and equipment in this area," the spokesperson said.

Russia "has enough forces there (in Kursk Oblast) to carry out operations against our border and attempt to attack the territory of Ukraine," he continued.

The remarks came days after President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia is accumulating 50,000 troops near Ukraine's northeastern Sumy Oblast, seeking to create a 10-kilometer buffer zone in the area.

Infighting around EU rearmament undermines grand ambitions for European defense

Despite grand plans, the European Union’s hoped-for rearmament remains fully dependent on member nations stepping up their own defenses. In March, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced an 800-million-euro “Rearm Europe” plan to build out a defense architecture that has depended on the U.S. since the

The Kyiv IndependentKollen Post

Next Ramstein summit to take place on June 4 in Brussels

The upcoming Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) meeting in the Ramstein format will be held on June 4 in Brussels under the chairmanship of the U.K. and Germany, NATO announced on May 29.

The Ramstein summit will take place as Washington is trying to broker a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia to end Moscow's full-scale war.

In the meantime, Russia is amassing forces for a new offensive against Ukraine while continuing its attacks on civilians across the country, straining Ukrainian air defenses.

The last Ramstein-format meeting took place in Brussels on April 11 under the chairmanship of London and Berlin — a position previously held by the U.S.

Leadership over Ramstein transitioned following the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

During the previous meeting, NATO allies committed more than 21 billion euros ($23.8 billion) in long-term military aid to Ukraine.

The move came amid growing uncertainty over U.S. support for Ukraine and efforts by European allies to close the gap as Kyiv resists Russia's ongoing war.

Note from the author:

Ukraine War Latest is put together by the Kyiv Independent news desk team, who keep you informed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you value our work and want to ensure we have the resources to continue, join the Kyiv Independent community.

There is currently no indication that Russia is preparing to restart operations at the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, an official from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on May 29, despite concerns over recent reports of new Russian infrastructure around the facility, Reuters reported.

“Our teams continue to confirm there is no indication at the moment that there will be any active preparations for a restart of the plant now,” an IAEA official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The comment follows Ukraine’s protest to the IAEA over what it called an illegal Russian attempt to connect the facility to its own energy grid. Yurii Vitrenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to the IAEA, said any such move would be a gross violation of international law and Ukrainian sovereignty.

Satellite imagery reviewed in a recent Greenpeace report and cited by the New York Times shows Russia has constructed more than 80 kilometers (49 miles) of high-voltage lines between the occupied cities of Mariupol and Berdiansk since February.

The group said this may be an effort to link the Zaporizhzhia plant to a substation near Mariupol, signaling potential plans to restart the facility and fully integrate it into Russia’s grid.

The Zaporizhzhia plant, located in the Russian-occupied city of Enerhodar, is Europe’s largest nuclear facility and has been under Russian control since March 2022. All six of its reactors remain shut down as the war continues, and the site has faced repeated power outages and safety threats due to nearby shelling.

Restarting any of the reactors would require a stable supply of water and external power. The plant lost access to its main cooling source, the Kakhovka reservoir, when the dam was blown up by the Russian forces in June 2023. Wells now supply enough water for cooling during cold shutdown, but not for full operations.

“The plant lost its main source of cooling water, so the whole system cannot work as it was originally designed,” the IAEA official said. “The consumption of water is orders of magnitude higher (when the plant is operating) compared to cold shutdown. We don’t see any easy, quick fix for it."

In March, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told Reuters that restarting the facility could be feasible within months of a lasting ceasefire — something that remains elusive. Meanwhile, Ukraine and Russia are expected to meet in Istanbul for renewed peace talks on June 2.

Previously, the U.S. has reportedly proposed that control over the plant be returned to Ukraine before transferring its management to the U.S. to supply electricity to areas under both Ukrainian and Russian control. Moscow immediately rejected the suggestion, claiming it was in “very good hands” under Russian control.

Ukraine seeks US support in regaining control of Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, joint energy projects

“We have a common interest with the United States to bring Zaporizhzhia NPP under Ukrainian control and start the operation of this nuclear power plant,” Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said.

The Kyiv IndependentTim Zadorozhnyy

President Volodymyr Zelensky said China has stopped selling drones to Ukraine and Western countries while continuing to supply them to Russia, Bloomberg reported on May 29.

“Chinese Mavic is open for Russians but is closed for Ukrainians,” Zelensky told reporters, referring to the popular quadcopter drone manufactured by China’s DJI.

“There are production lines on Russian territory where there are Chinese representatives,” he added, according to Bloomberg.

The Mavic, typically a civilian drone used for aerial photography, has been adapted by both Ukrainian and Russian forces for battlefield surveillance and as a weapon platform capable of carrying explosives.

Drones have played a decisive role in the war, with both sides using them for reconnaissance and precision attacks.

On April 7, Zelensky announced that Ukraine would scale up production of unmanned systems “to the maximum,” including long-range, ground-based, and fiber-optic drones, which are resistant to electronic warfare.

Zelensky’s recent remarks reportedly align with assessments from European officials. One official told Bloomberg that China has not only restricted drone exports to Ukraine and other Western buyers, but has also reduced shipments of drone components, including motor magnets, while ramping up deliveries to Russia.

“When someone is asking whether China is helping Russia, how shall we assess these steps?” Zelensky said.

Beijing has repeatedly denied aiding either side with military goods. On May 27, the Chinese Foreign Ministry also rejected claims made by Ukrainian intelligence chief Oleh Ivashchenko, who alleged that Beijing provided special chemicals, gunpowder, and other defense-related materials to at least 20 Russian military-industrial facilities.

Ivashchenko also said that as of early 2025, 80% of critical electronic components in Russian drones were of Chinese origin. In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning reiterated that China has “never provided lethal weapons” and “strictly controls dual-use items.”  

Despite its claims of neutrality, Beijing has deepened economic and strategic ties with Moscow, prompting Western concerns and NATO’s designation of China as a “decisive enabler” of Russian aggression.

Exclusive: Ukraine eyes new sanctions on China, but Kyiv wary of peace talks fallout

Ukraine faces a difficult balancing act — sanctioning more Chinese firms for aiding Russia’s war machine without alienating Beijing, which could be key to ending Russia’s invasion. Kyiv is currently considering imposing new sanctions against Chinese firms providing raw materials to Russia’s defense sector, a source close to

The Kyiv IndependentDominic Culverwell

Editor’s note: The story was updated to include a statement from Russia’s Foreign Ministry.

President Volodymyr Zelensky on May 29 accused Russia of stalling the peace process by failing to deliver a promised negotiations memorandum, warning international partners that Moscow is trying to deceive those still relying on diplomacy over pressure.

“Even the so-called memorandum they promised and claimed to be preparing for more than a week — no one has seen it,” Zelensky said. “Ukraine hasn’t received it. Our partners haven’t received it. Even Turkey, which hosted the first meeting, hasn’t received the updated agenda."

Russia’s Foreign Ministry previously claimed its delegation, led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, would present the ceasefire framework at the June 2 talks, proposed by Moscow.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova confirmed on May 29 that the same Russian delegation, led by Medinsky, will attend the new round of peace talks in Istanbul.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said Ukraine has already shared its position paper with Russia.

Speaking after a high-level meeting with Umerov, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, and presidential chief of staff Andrii Yermak, Zelensky said Ukraine is maintaining daily coordination with allies ahead of another round of talks in Istanbul.

Zelensky called for renewed international pressure on Russia, saying, “Words don’t work with Moscow. They are doing everything to make these meetings meaningless. That is why sanctions and real pressure on Russia are essential."

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, whose country hosted the May 16 negotiations, said Ankara expects Ukrainian and Russian positions to come closer.

“If there’s a diplomatic achievement here, it’s not just thanks to Turkish diplomacy, but to the fact that both sides have been willing to talk and that these talks have led to tangible outcomes,” Fidan said on his way to Kyiv, where he is expected to meet Sybiha and Zelensky.

Before his visit to Kyiv, Fidan met with Medinsky and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Fidan said that during the visit, Turkey shared its vision of realistic conditions that could help make a ceasefire attainable.

“We conveyed Turkey’s determined efforts in this matter to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, the chief negotiator, Foreign Minister Lavrov, and the intelligence chief. As a key regional actor, Turkey has shared its perspective on the realistic parameters that could make a ceasefire achievable,” Fidan said.

He also added that Russia’s current demands for a ceasefire are putting Moscow in “a relatively weaker position."

"(U.S. President Donald) Trump expressed a firm desire to see an immediate ceasefire. This encouraged Ukraine and Europe to align more flexibly with the U.S. stance. However, Russia did not show the same flexibility, which has placed it in a relatively weaker position in the eyes of both the U.S. and other proponents of the ceasefire,” he said

Russia has repeatedly claimed that it would agree on a ceasefire in case the so-called “root causes” of war in Ukraine are addressed, meaning its long-standing maximalist demands of Kyiv — the same ones it has voiced since the start of the full-scale invasion and has used as propaganda to justify its aggression against Ukraine.

Among them, Moscow insists Kyiv withdraw from four partially occupied Ukrainian regions it claims to have annexed.

Russia’s memorandum also reportedly includes a written pledge that NATO will not expand further eastward, effectively blocking Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova from joining, as well as the lifting of some Western sanctions, resolution of frozen Russian assets, and “the protection of Russian-speaking Ukrainians."

Ukraine sends ceasefire memo, urges Russia to respond ahead of June 2 peace talks, Umerov says

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said on May 28 that Kyiv is still awaiting the Russian side’s proposed ceasefire memorandum, which was expected following peace talks in Turkey earlier this month.

The Kyiv IndependentOlena Goncharova

Dmytro Bodyu, a U.S. citizen and the pastor of the “Word of Life” Pentecostal Church in Russian-occupied Melitopol, was detained by Russians in March 2022. During his detention, he was accused of working for the CIA and received death threats from the Russian military.

Only an intervention by the U.S. State Department saved him.

“On the morning of March 19, several military vehicles and a couple of civilian cars stopped outside our home. Around 15 Russian soldiers were in full gear, wearing balaclavas and carrying shields… They treated me like a Mexican drug lord. They jumped over the fence, went through neighboring yards, and entered from all sides at once,” Bodyu recalls in an in-depth interview for the Kyiv Independent’s new investigative documentary “No God But Theirs."

The pastor and his family were warned by the U.S. Embassy and given advice to leave Melitopol one month before the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine started. But Bodyu decided he could not abandon his Church.

During his detention, Russian special services repeatedly accused him of working for the CIA and demanded that he disclose his call sign and his “handler from Langley,” he says.

“It felt like being in a psychiatric ward — you’re an absolutely normal, healthy person, but they try to convince you that you’re a schizophrenic, you just don’t know it, and that soon you’ll realize you’re exactly where you should be,” Bodyu recalls.

Meanwhile, Russian soldiers threatened to kill him.

"The soldiers said: 'We have orders to shoot you. Now, we will question you. We know who you are, what you are. You're a CIA employee, a spy. You gave away our positions, our people died because of you. You led protests in the city, you're giving money to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, you lead the partisans here' — things like that," the pastor says.

After eight days, his time in detention was cut short.

Russia’s persecution of Ukrainian clergy is part of an organized genocidal campaign

In 1953, Polish-American lawyer Raphael Lemkin, the man who coined the term “genocide,” wrote a text titled Soviet Genocide in Ukraine. In it, Lemkin spoke not only about the Holodomor — the man-made famine organized in Ukraine by Stalin in 1932–1933 that claimed the lives of around 4 million people

The Kyiv IndependentDanylo Mokryk

"We had an interrogation (with an FSB operative) during the day, and in the evening, he comes in and says, 'Well, that's it, you're going home.' And I'm like, 'What do you mean? That's unexpected.' He says, 'It was unexpected for us too, believe me.' I ask, 'So who decided I should go home?' He says, 'They decided up top.' I say, 'What do you mean? God decided?' He says, 'No, Moscow decided to release you.'"

After his release, Bodyu and his family left Melitopol.

They are now living near Kyiv. In Melitopol, his Pentecostal Church "Word of Life" was officially banned by the Russian occupation authorities a day after Christmas — on Dec. 26, 2022. The Church's building is now occupied by a department of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Russian authorities also confiscated all of Bodyu's businesses (he owned seven cafes and restaurants in Melitopol).

"I call them pirates. That's what they are — pirates. They took whatever they wanted. There are no laws; nothing functions in the occupied territories." Bodyu says.

In the investigative documentary "No God But Theirs," the Kyiv Independent's journalists also identified several officials implicated in the persecution of Ukrainian Christians in Melitopol.

Besides Dmytro Bodyu's Church, the Russian-occupation authorities also banned several other Churches — Melitopol's largest Protestant Church "New Generation," the Baptist Church "Grace" and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church subordinated to the Vatican.

They were stripped of all property, and their buildings now housed different Russian institutions.  

As Russia’s systematic destruction of Ukraine’s cultural heritage continues amid the full-scale war, Ukraine’s art community is seeking innovative, if not unconventional methods, to preserve their country’s legacy — among them blockchain technology.

Officially launched in February 2025, the Ukrainian Fund of Digitized Art (UFDA) was conceived with a bold mission: to digitize Ukrainian art and transform them into non-fungible tokens, or NFTs that could be sold at auction.

The UFDA aims not only to preserve and share Ukrainian cultural heritage but “to engage the global community in the fight for cultural preservation,” as it reads on the organization’s website.

Currently, the UFDA has digitized more than 3,000 works by 60 artists, spanning both contemporary and classic Ukrainian art. The UFDA collaborates closely with artists, museum curators, and other cultural institutions to ensure each work is captured in ultra-high resolution.

“We believe that in the world of digital information, what we do will become extremely valuable (in the art world) and this is what drives us,” said UFDA advisor Petro Bondarevskyi. Bondarevskyi is an early supporter and minority investor in the Kyiv Independent.

“Ukraine will make its mark and set the bar.”

At the same time, while artists involved in the UFDA’s digitization initiative applaud its achievements, they also acknowledge that it raises important, and sometimes even uncomfortable, questions about how art is perceived and valued in the digital age.

A need to refine digitization

Having come up in the museum world, Anna Filippova — founder and curator of UFDA — understood, perhaps more than most, the necessity of digital preservation done right.

“I observed a lot of very low-quality pictures of artists’ work,” Fillippova told the Kyiv Independent.

“That’s why we first came up with the idea for this project back in 2021 with no name, no structure, no actual idea — except digitizing.”

At the heart of UFDA’s digitization process is Digital Light Capture Technology — a technique that uses a high-end camera and precision lighting to reveal each brushstroke in vivid, high-resolution detail. The final images are captured in ultra-high resolution, ranging from 100 to 400 megapixels, with rich 48-bit color depth.

“Many digitization processes rely on digital stitching — taking multiple photographs and merging them into a single image. That’s not our approach,” Bondarevskyi said.

“Each artwork is captured in a single ultra-high-resolution shot, preserving the original light with exceptional dynamic range.”

The UFDA team, drawing on their roots in the art world, began reaching out to contemporary artists and museum curators with the idea to digitize their work for broader accessibility and preservation.

Can art thrive on blockchain?

With the introduction of Bitcoin in 2008, blockchain technology has upended the way many people think about ownership. At the forefront of this digital revolution are NFTs — one-of-a-kind digital certificates on the blockchain that verify ownership of everything from memes to masterpieces of art.

The UFDA emphasizes that neither the organization nor the artists receive financial gain from the sale of these digitized artworks. Instead, all proceeds are directed to support Ukrainian NGOs.

“When an artwork is purchased, the transaction is recorded on a blockchain — creating a digital counterpart to the physical piece, or more simply, a digital analogue,” Bondarevskyi explained.

Buyers who purchase the NFT version of an artwork digitized by the UFDA own it for up to a century, but copyright of the artwork itself, like with the purchase of the physical painting, remains with the artist.

The move to tokenize these digital artworks as NFTs came later and remains somewhat tangential to the organization’s main mission, according to Filippova. Yet, both efforts gained a sense of urgency amid Russia’s full-scale war, transforming what might have been a quiet digital experiment into a vital cultural response.

Why pay for a digital version of an artwork instead of the original? The UFDA’s response is simple: as the way people experience art shifts, so too should the way they own it.

“Twenty years ago, many people insisted that cinema could only be truly experienced in a theatre, projected from film. Digital, they claimed, could never match it,” Bondarevskyi said.

“Yet today, virtually every stage of filmmaking is digital: from shooting to post-production to projection. This shift in medium illustrates how technology transforms not just how we consume content, but how we value it. For some collectors, the enduring value and permanence of digital ownership is becoming just as meaningful."

While many artists involved in the UFDA’s efforts recognize the clear benefits of creating a comprehensive digital archive — one that encourages collaboration and improved practices among artists, curators, and art historians — they also voice some reservations.

Even though the profit of sales goes to benefit NGOs, the commercialization of these digital reproductions raises complex questions for some artists around authorship, artistic intent, and the broader commodification of art.

“When the full-scale war began, the UFDA evacuated works from my studio and digitized everything they took. I’m very grateful to them — they really helped me out several times. But now, I’m not sure I would agree to digitize my most recent works,” artist Kateryna Lysenko told the Kyiv Independent.

“It feels as though you suddenly have another version of your work — like a second body — that's become alienated from you. It takes on a life of its own, one you no longer understand or control. It's not yours anymore, yet you watch as it moves, not by your hand, going somewhere unknown. Still, it's fascinating to observe.”

Artist Polina Shcherbyna, whose work was also evacuated to safety during the war by UFDA, told the Kyiv Independent that the archive ensures “a digital copy of the piece can actually outlive the original” which for her, during wartime, is especially important.

“This was the start of our collaboration, which has only strengthened and continues to develop,” Shcherbyna told the Kyiv Independent. “(The UFDA’s mission) is a way to document our era through culture, which will undoubtedly influence the development of art research.”

Russia killed Ukrainian author Victoria Amelina — but not her words or quest for justice

Ukrainian author Victoria Amelina never got to finish writing her book “Looking at Women, Looking at War.” After she was killed in a Russian missile strike on Kramatorsk in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk Oblast in 2023, it fell upon her closest friends and colleagues to do what they could to

The Kyiv IndependentKate Tsurkan

Urgency to act

The UFDA was officially launched three years into Russia’s full-scale war, against the backdrop of a systematic campaign targeting Ukraine’s cultural heritage — an assault defined by both deliberate destruction and calculated theft.

Russian forces have damaged or destroyed more than 1,400 cultural heritage sites and over 2,200 cultural facilities since the start of the full-scale war, according to the latest report released by the Culture Ministry in early April.

The destruction is widespread, impacting an estimated 20% of settlements across the entire country. However, with almost no access to occupied territories and the front-line zones, the true extent of the damage to Ukraine’s cultural heritage is far greater than currently documented.

Aside from destruction, the Russian military has also been stealing Ukraine’s cultural heritage from the occupied territories.

In what has been recognized as the largest museum theft since World War II, Russian occupiers stole over 33,000 artworks and historical artifacts from two Kherson art museums in the fall of 2022.

The Kyiv Independent’s War Crimes Investigations Unit identified in its documentary “Curated Theft” the Russian military officer and three Russian-appointed officials from occupied Crimea who were personally responsible for the theft.

With all this in mind, the UFDA found it important not only to partner with contemporary artists but museums to safeguard during wartime the legacy of seminal Ukrainian artists whose work has defined the nation’s cultural identity.

The UFDA team has digitized 46 paintings from the Nykonor Onatskyi Regional Art Museum in Sumy, including works by 19th-century realist Mykola Pymonenko, known for capturing Ukrainian traditions and daily life.

The museum also includes standout works by 20th-century Ukrainian avant-garde artists like David Burliuk, Vasyl Krychevsky, and Oleksandr Bohomazov. Home to one of the most distinguished art collections in Ukraine, the museum now faces a growing threat due to Sumy’s close proximity to the Russian border.

“We’ve long known how exceptional their collection is, and in November 2023, we began our communication with them,” Filippova said.

“What stood out to us is the museum’s unique and nationally significant holdings, especially in light of its precarious situation: located near the border with the aggressor state, and not yet evacuated, the museum is under constant risk of destruction.”

During a Russian missile strike on April 13 that devastated central Sumy, killing at least 35 and injuring 117, the museum was damaged. It was not the first time that the building was damaged in a Russian attack.

Knowing the history of so many of the Ukrainian artists whose work is held in the museum — and the tragic ends many of them met at the hands of Russian repression over the past centuries — casts a poignant shadow over the UFDA’s mission, according to Filippova.

Each digitized Ukrainian artwork ensures that, even in the worst-case scenario where the physical version is stolen, damaged, or destroyed, the voices and visions of these artists will endure.

Their legacy, preserved through technology, is not only a testament to the cultural richness of Ukraine’s past, but a reminder that its survival is essential for the future to endure as well.

“Given the bloody history of the Ukrainian avant-garde — a story of repeated erasure, exile, and neglect — we felt a strong sense of urgency (in the case with the paintings in the Sumy museum) not to allow yet another chapter of cultural eradication,” Filippova said.

Note from the author:

Hi, this is Kate Tsurkan, thank you for reading this article. You might have noticed that none of our reporting is behind a paywall — that’s because we believe that now, more than ever, the world needs access to reliable reporting from the ground here in Ukraine. To keep our journalism going, we rely on our community of over 18,000 members, most of whom give just $5 a month. We’re now aiming to reach 20,000 members, to prove that independent journalism can thrive, not just survive. Help us today.

Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation has completed its probe into Colonel Oleh Poberezhniuk, commander of the 211th Pontoon Bridge Brigade, accusing him of knowingly allowing torture and abuse of soldiers under his command to continue unchecked, the officials said on May 29.

According to the official statement, investigators determined that from February to July 2024, Poberezhniuk was aware of repeated instances of torture and cruel treatment carried out by a subordinate officer but failed to take any action. The officer in question, Senior Lieutenant Vladyslav Pastukh, allegedly beat, humiliated, and tortured fellow servicemen.

Pastukh, who is no longer with the unit, is the son of the brigade’s chief of staff and a close associate of Poberezhniuk. Authorities say this personal connection likely influenced the commander’s decision to conceal the crimes and avoid reporting them to law enforcement.

Pastukh was charged with abusing his authority in December 2024  after allegedly beating, humiliating, and torturing fellow service members. The commander faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted.

“Instead of protecting the rights of his subordinates, the commander effectively became complicit through criminal inaction, enabling further abuse,” the bureau said. Such actions, it added, not only violate the law but also pose a serious threat to the internal discipline of Ukraine’s Armed Forces during wartime.

Poberezhniuk has been charged with inaction of military authority under martial law, a serious offense under Ukraine’s Criminal Code, carrying a sentence of seven to 10 years in prison. The case has been forwarded to Poberezhniuk and his legal team for review before being submitted to court. The Prosecutor General’s Office is overseeing the case.

The charges follow a December 2023 Ukrainska Pravda investigation that revealed a pattern of systemic abuse within the brigade, including beatings, extortion, and reports of a soldier being tied to a wooden cross. The report also highlighted widespread nepotism, with multiple family members serving within the same unit.

Following public outcry, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi suspended Poberezhniuk, and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov ordered an internal investigation.

How much does a Russian drone attack on Ukraine cost? The question is more complicated than it sounds

Beginning overnight on Saturday, May 24, Russia rained down nearly a thousand drones and missiles on villages and cities across Ukraine in three nights of large-scale aerial attacks, as civilians spent hours sheltering underground. Russia’s bombardment killed more than a dozen people and injured dozens more, in one of

The Kyiv IndependentAndrea Januta

Ukraine has deployed a new artificial intelligence-powered “mother drone” for the first time, marking a major step in the country’s expanding use of autonomous battlefield technology, Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced on May 29.

The drone system, developed by Ukraine’s defense tech cluster Brave1, can deliver two AI-guided FPV (first-person view) strike drones up to 300 kilometers (186 miles) behind enemy lines, according to Fedorov. Once released, the smaller drones can autonomously locate and hit high-value targets, including aircraft, air defense systems, and critical infrastructure — all without using GPS.

“The system uses visual-inertial navigation with cameras and LiDAR to guide the drones, while AI independently identifies and selects targets,” Fedorov said.

The system, called SmartPilot, allows the carrier drone to return and be reused for missions within a 100-kilometer range. Each operation costs around $10,000 — hundreds of times cheaper than a conventional missile strike, Fedorov said.

The development comes as Ukraine continues to ramp up domestic drone production. On April 7, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the country would scale up production of unmanned systems “to the maximum,” including long-range, ground-based, and fiber-optic drones, which are resistant to electronic warfare.

Ukraine has leaned heavily on technological innovation to offset its disadvantages in manpower and firepower since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022. The use of drones, aerial, naval, and ground-based, has become a central feature of both sides' strategies in the war.

Fedorov said Ukraine will continue investing in Ukrainian systems that “change the rules of the game in technological warfare."

Despite grand plans, the European Union’s hoped-for rearmament remains fully dependent on member nations stepping up their own defenses.

In March, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced an 800-million-euro “Rearm Europe” plan to build out a defense architecture that has depended on the U.S. since the Cold War.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and U.S. President Donald Trump’s subsequent threats to NATO’s security guarantees have alarmed the EU into at least the appearance of action.

While some member states like Poland, Finland, or, more recently, Germany, are putting real resources into defense, the collective EU government is nowhere near becoming a military power. Its efforts at collective armament are already falling victim to the same infighting that has long dogged the bloc’s most ambitious plans, ranging from the Council of Europe’s “European Defense Community” to its failure to mediate the disintegration of Yugoslavia.

Consequently, national governments — not Brussels — are driving European rearmament, now and for the foreseeable future.

“It was the national leaders sitting at the table with (President Volodymyr) Zelensky,” Sven Kruck, co-CEO of German drone company Quantum Systems, told the Kyiv Independent, referring to meetings with the heads of Germany, France, Poland and the U.K. in Kyiv at the start of May in advance of a prospective “coalition of the willing” to protect Ukraine.

“I think we are on the right path with the European national leaders. We are not ready with the European (Union) leaders because they are weak."

Taking up arms

The long-term problem facing the EU is a temperamental U.S. “European states can’t rely on the U.S. anymore. That is clear pretty much across the board,” Patrick Gill-Tiney, a Germany-based fellow focusing on major power relations at the London School of Economics, told the Kyiv Independent.

While the problem of the U.S. is clear, potential European solutions are more fraught. The Rearm plan is misleading, says John Foreman, a former military analyst for the EU as well as a one-time U.K. defense attaché in both Moscow and Kyiv. Primarily, he says, that is because Rearm is masquerading as a new source of funding when it is not.

Rearm includes some loans, but is primarily a new EU authorization to member nations to take on more debt independently. Rearm’s 800 million euros is divided into two parts: one at 150 million euros and one estimated at 650 million euros. The 150 million euros is an EU loan offering to EU members as well as a few non-EU neighbors — notably the U.K., Switzerland, and Ukraine — secured by the union’s budget.

The 650-million-euro figure is a theoretical maximum amount that member nations could spend on defense over the next four years under new exemptions to the Stability and Growth Pact. The pact itself limits EU nations’ deficits to 3% of GDP. The Rearm plan authorizes the pact’s “escape clause” to increase deficit spending if that deficit spending is on defense, meaning no penalties for member nations expanding their deficit spending.

The Stability and Growth Pact has been in play since the late 90s. But many EU nations regularly run deficits over 3%. Famously, the pact did nothing to prevent the 2010 Euro Crisis, caused by massive public debt taken on by many of the same nations least willing to spend on defense today: Spain, Italy, and Ireland, as well as Greece, whose large defense spending is mostly out of caution about neighboring Turkey. The Stability and Growth Pact’s penalties are rarely enforced and have never resulted in a fine on a member nation.

"These nations and their defense contractors do not require the EU to tell them that it's okay to rearm," Foreman told the Kyiv Independent, quipping, "It’s great, so now we can doff our caps to Brussels and say, 'Thank you, dear Ursula, for allowing us to spend our own money.'"

The most favorable to the European Union’s proposal will be France and Germany, the EU nations with the largest domestic defense industries, who would therefore be the ultimate recipients of money spent on European-made defense. The rules for Rearm as presented allow manufacturers from the U.K., as well as Ukraine, to participate, but using Rearm funds to buy from non-EU defense contractors will likely draw the ire of the European Commission.

Europe’s traditional defense industries are, however, expensive and heavily regulated. Despite already seeing new orders, there has been a serious lag time in actually increasing production. Yet they remain territorial.

"European militaries are difficult to sell anything to," Mikko-Pekka Hanski, a Finnish investor in Ukrainian defense companies. "The whole ecosystem is fixed and the market is closed, with heavy government influence, with long-term contracts and very difficult procurement."

Even other European nations fond of arming will be less enthusiastic about sending money to the economies of France and Germany to buy weapons that Gill-Tiney says are more expensive and outdated than their American competitors, largely due to economies of scale.

European defense contractors are, moreover, embedded in their respective national governments and territorial about where their respective militaries send their money. Despite their potential profits, even French support for the broader EU plan is in question.

"It looks likely that either we will have a relatively far-right or far-left president of France, and that either way their commitment to arming Ukraine, their commitment to NATO, will be weaker than under Macron," said Gill-Tiney.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is mentioned by name as an acceptable non-EU participant in Rearm Europe. But Ukrainian export barriers mean that during wartime, Ukrainian producers, while eager to be the defense industrial base for Europe, have been sequestered. They also fear that the urgency to stockpile will leave Europe if a ceasefire halts Russia’s active, violent invasion in Ukraine.

League of nations

The history of the European Union is not rich in quick, decisive action, military or otherwise. The EU often deliberately precludes decisiveness. Aside from the formation of a prosperous trading bloc, the EU’s greatest historical success is that none of its members have ever gone to war with each other, in contrast to the preceding millennium of European history.

Long before Trump, the U.S. harangued Europe to provide for more of its own defense. But member nations’ low spending levels are a historical novelty. Prior to 1990, France and Germany spent well over 2% of their GDPs on defense, with the U.K. standing at 4%. Indeed, in the 1960s, even Italy reached 3%, while the U.K. was at 7%. Those figures collapsed along with the Berlin Wall and the fall of the USSR.

NATO nations 20 years ago agreed on a benchmark of 2% of GDP for defense spending, despite commentators often treating that figure as a unilateral U.S. demand on European allies. While Russia’s invasion has added urgency, nations furthest away from Russia fall far short. Ireland spends less than a quarter of a percent.

That failure to meet past defense commitments casts doubts on ongoing grand plans to get NATO members up to 5%, says Gill-Tiney.

"The real issue for a lot of European states is that they agreed to spend 2%, or the NATO members agreed to spend 2%. And many of them then just didn't follow through with their own agreement. The fact that European states actually agreed to and didn't do it, I think is particularly problematic, or was problematic."

Less militarized EU members have already put up barriers to the latest plan for rearmament. Put off by the militarism, and a comfortable distance from Russia, Spain and Italy managed to get the entire plan renamed in its infancy from “Rearm” to “Readiness,” though even official channels are still referring to the plan under both names.

"They renamed it because they don't want to spend it all on arms, they said, 'We want to spend it on arms and soft power,'" as Foreman described it. "This is a very classic Eurofudge, from the Spain that only spends 1.1% of its GDP on defense. They are notorious laggards. And as soon as the idea comes up, they say, 'We will go spend this money on ourselves. We’re not facing Russia's border.'"

Persuading European voters that their money is well-spent on weapons rather than roads and schools is much harder without an immediate threat. And some European governments are quietly hedging for a ceasefire, say experts and industry stakeholders who spoke to the Kyiv Independent.

Leaderboard

Various EU member nations have individually expanded their defense budgets enormously.

Under recently elected Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Germany has emerged as the largest spender in the EU.

Most new German resources are heading for local stalwarts of defense. Rheinmetall, the country’s largest weapons maker, has seen its stock rise tenfold on the Deutsche Börse — a growth figure familiar among tech unicorns but unheard of in an established company, especially one making physical products largely dependent on a market of government contracts.

The high profile of new technologies like drones and electronic warfare has also given rise to a whole new generation of defense contractors in Europe.

"Europe has now understood: It’s not solving the problem of Russia and Ukraine," said Kruck. "It’s solving the topic of how Europe wants to be and how Europe wants to defend itself."

"The investments in Ukraine and in European countries' defense sector show us that the full-scale invasion created a new market," says Hanski. "And parliament members in England or Sweden are now saying, 'How do we get growth in our country?' So many are thinking that security is the growth sector."

But the tightest correlation to increasing defense spending remains proximity to Russia, like Hanski’s native Finland. Serving in the Finnish military in 1994, in the trough of European disarmament, Hanski recalls that exercises were always directed at a prospective invasion from the east.

Even the fastest timelines Europe could manage — for example, a Rheinmetall ammunition plant set to open in Ukraine in the middle of 2026, barring delays — may be too late to help Ukraine in the current phase of the war. Ukrainians are keen to warn that the EU is next on the chopping block.

"We are trying to help Europe actually wake up," as Mariia Berlinska, head of volunteer unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) supplier Victory Drones, put it at a recent panel discussion in Kyiv.

"But I don’t know if they are processing the fact that while this maniac (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is concentrating on us, they have time to ready themselves. Because sooner or later, this demented maniac is going to turn to them."

Author's Note:

Hi, this is Kollen, the author of this story — thanks for reading my latest dispatch on European defense from Russian aggression, reported from a Ukraine that is hanging its hopes on EU allies. The Kyiv Independent doesn’t have a wealthy owner or a paywall. Instead, we rely on readers like you to keep our journalism funded. We’re now aiming to grow our community to 20,000 members — if you liked this article, consider joining our community today.

Germany to do ‘everything’ to prevent Nord Stream 2 restart, Merz says

The German government will “do everything to ensure that Nord Stream 2 cannot be put back into operation,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on May 28.

The Kyiv IndependentMartin Fornusek

Russia has tripled its projected budget deficit for 2025 amid a sharp drop in oil revenues, driven by Western sanctions and plunging crude prices, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s commissioner for sanctions policy, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, said on May 29.

According to Vlasiuk, the Kremlin has recently approved changes to its federal budget, increasing the planned deficit from 1.17 trillion rubles ($14.8 billion) to 3.8 trillion rubles ($48.3 billion), or from 0.5% to 1.7% of GDP.

“The reasons? Cheaper oil and a strengthening ruble, which together are slashing oil and gas revenues by nearly a quarter — a loss of 2.6 trillion rubles ($33 billion) from the original forecast,” Vlasiuk wrote in a statement. He pointed to a revised price forecast for Russia’s Urals crude, cut from $69.70 to $56 per barrel.

Reuters reported earlier this month that Urals and ESPO crude blends dropped to $48.90 per barrel — the lowest level in two years and about 40% below the $82.60 price Moscow had initially budgeted for 2025.

Vlasiuk said international sanctions remain a key driver behind the decline in Russia’s energy revenues. “Sanctions against Russia are working,” he said. “This is confirmed by many indicators, and we are grateful for all the work that has already been done."

Ukraine has long been advocating for tighter sanctions against the Russian energy sector, particularly its shadow fleet. Despite hundreds of Russian tankers already under sanctions, many vessels remain operational and continue to ship Russian oil.

“Half of the sanctioned shadow fleet is still functioning,” Vlasiuk said, calling for expanded measures — including sanctions on Russian ports, terminals, and even individual ship captains.

Russia’s energy sector, which provided nearly 30% of the federal budget in early 2024, has been hit by drone strikes from Ukraine and increasing global pressure. The recent plunge in prices followed new tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on April 7, which spurred fears of a global recession and dragged oil prices to their lowest levels since May 2023.

Speaking on May 5, Trump claimed that Russia had become more willing to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine due to falling oil prices. “I think Russia, with the price of oil right now, oil has gone down, we are in a good position to settle, they want to settle. Ukraine wants to settle,” he told reporters.

The financial strain comes as Moscow boosts defense spending by 25% for 2025, raising it to 6.3% of GDP — the highest share since the Cold War. The Kremlin has acknowledged the challenges, with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov calling the global market conditions “extremely turbulent” and vowing economic measures to “minimize the consequences."

For Ukraine, Vlasiuk said the latest data sends a clear message: “We are grateful for all the work done so far… But if we want to level up, more needs to be done."

The U.S. recently blocked a G7 push to lower the $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian oil exports, the Financial Times reported on May 27. The cap, imposed by the G7 and EU in December 2022, bars Western firms from servicing Russian oil sold above that price to limit Moscow’s war funding.

While Canada, the EU, and key G7 members supported tightening the cap, the proposal was dropped after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent withheld support. The European Commission had reportedly planned to propose cutting the cap to $50.

Sanctions on Russia are working, Ukraine just needs more

Sanctions on their own won’t end the war, but they are a crucial tool in the West’s efforts to pressure Putin.

The Kyiv IndependentDominic Culverwell

In 1953, Polish-American lawyer Raphael Lemkin, the man who coined the term “genocide,” wrote a text titled Soviet Genocide in Ukraine. In it, Lemkin spoke not only about the Holodomor — the man-made famine organized in Ukraine by Stalin in 1932–1933 that claimed the lives of around 4 million people — but also about the Kremlin’s broader genocidal practices against Ukrainians, which, he argued, had begun as early as the 1920s.

Lemkin wrote that Ukrainians were too numerous to be exterminated entirely in the way Adolf Hitler had attempted with Europe’s Jewish population.

“Ukraine is highly susceptible to racial murder by select parts, and so the Communist tactics there have not followed the pattern taken by the German attacks against the Jews,” the lawyer argued.

He went on to describe how this was carried out: “The first blow is aimed at the intelligentsia, the national brain, so as to paralyze the rest of the body…. Going along with this attack on the intelligentsia was an attack against the churches, priests and hierarchy, the ‘soul’ of Ukraine."

As an example of this attack against the “soul of the nation,” Lemkin cited the liquidation of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Catholic Church. “That Russification was clearly demonstrated by the fact that before its liquidation, the Church was offered the opportunity to join the Russian Patriarchate of Moscow, the Kremlin’s political tool,” he emphasized.

We are bringing back Lemkin’s text again today, not for purely historical reasons. It helps explain what the Kremlin is currently doing in the territories of Ukraine it occupies.

We already referenced Soviet Genocide in Ukraine last year. In our investigative documentary Destroy in Whole or in Part, we argued that Russia’s current genocidal practices in Ukraine broadly mirror what the Soviet regime has been doing a century back.

Our latest investigative documentary, No God but Theirs, which has just been released, compels us to revisit Lemkin’s analysis once more.

Breakaway churches, spiritual awakenings, prayers in captivity. How war is changing Ukraine’s faith

For a decade, the world has seen how Russia has scarred Ukraine’s landscape with tens of thousands of bombs and missiles. The spiritual wounds — and awakenings — experienced by millions of Ukrainians are less visible. Almost a third of Ukrainians say their religious faith has grown since the war broke

The Kyiv IndependentAndrea Januta

This investigation examines the systematic persecution of Ukrainian Christians in Melitopol — a city in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Oblast, occupied by Russia since February 2022. It tells the story of churches (Protestant and Catholic alike) being banned, stripped of all property, and of priests and congregants being arrested, interrogated, and exiled.

And these persecutions indeed resemble an attack on the "soul of the nation" — precisely the kind Lemkin described.

It is an attack on Christians who, at the very outset of Russia's invasion, demonstrated a clear national identity. In response to the arrival of Russian troops and tanks in Melitopol, local believers began gathering daily on the city's central square. Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians together resisted the Russian occupation through joint prayer for Ukraine.

Moreover, in the chaos created by the Russian occupation, churches became islands of stability and order. Priests and pastors were seen more and more as moral authorities. For the Russians, therefore, to attack those churches in Melitopol meant also to strike against any alternative centers of power.

And the parallels with Lemkin's text do not end there.

Just as a hundred years back, as described by the author of the term "genocide," before simply banning the churches, the Russians attempted to absorb them first.

Pastor Mykhailo Brytsyn of the Grace Baptist Church recounts in our documentary how the Russian troops offered him a chance to publicly support the Russian authorities. Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest Oleksandr Bohomaz tells how agents of Russian security services tried to coerce him into revealing the secrets of his confessional. Pentecostal pastor Dmytro Bodyu describes how, during his imprisonment and interrogations, he was offered the chance to become a Russian informant.

Only after these efforts to convert Ukrainian clergymen in Melitopol into Russian assets had failed did Kremlin representatives decide to simply eliminate them — once again, fully following the model Lemkin described.

And there is another crucial point to highlight.

While restrictions on religious freedoms are typical for Russia, the persecution in the occupied parts of Ukraine goes far beyond what occurs inside Russia itself. This means that in places like occupied Melitopol, Russia is not merely replicating its usual policies — it is crafting a new, much harsher one specifically for Ukrainians.

Given all this, our new investigation of the persecution of Ukrainian Christian churches in Melitopol is a direct continuation of the previous documentary, which laid out the genocidal intent behind Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Because, in line with Raphael Lemkin's deep and nuanced analysis, these persecutions amount to an attack on the Ukrainian nation as a group. An attempt to eradicate the soul of the Ukrainian nation — with the broader aim of destroying the nation in whole or in part.

Ultimately, the story of the persecution of Christians in Melitopol gives yet another reason to finally dare to use, in reference to Russia's actions in Ukraine, the very word that Lemkin coined — genocide.

Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in the op-ed section are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Kyiv Independent.

Faith under fire: Russia’s war on religion in Ukraine’s occupied territories

Russia’s war and occupation of large swaths of Ukraine have led to hundreds of churches being damaged or destroyed, dozens of priests killed or kidnapped, and entire religious groups that don’t conform to Moscow’s brand of Orthodoxy being banned. With entire Ukrainian cities being leveled by Russian artillery fire, religious

The Kyiv IndependentMartin Fornusek

Former Ukrainian top official Andriy Portnov met in Ukraine with Oleh Tatarov, deputy head of the Presidential Office, and Oleksii Sukhachov, director of the State Bureau of Investigation, days before he was killed in Madrid, Ukrainska Pravda reported on May 29, citing undisclosed sources.

Portnov was shot dead by unidentified attackers outside the American School in Madrid on May 21. Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that two or three people are believed to be involved in the attack, though no arrests have been made so far, and the motive remains unclear.

Portnov served in the administration of pro-Kremlin President Viktor Yanukovych between 2010 and 2014. After the EuroMaidan Revolution, he lived alternately abroad and in Ukraine and was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2021 over allegations that he was involved in corruption.

Four sources confirmed to Ukrainska Pravda that Portnov was in Ukraine between May 17 and 18 and held meetings with senior officials overseeing Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies, including Tatarov and Sukhachov.

The sources said they were unaware of the topics discussed.

Tatarov is the most controversial official in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration. He was charged with bribery before joining the administration, but the corruption case against him was obstructed by law enforcement agencies and courts and eventually closed.

According to the media outlet’s sources, Portnov has recently been seeking ways to have U.S. sanctions against him lifted. He also reportedly gathered information on the activities of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and civil society activists in Ukraine.

The Kyiv Independent submitted official requests for comment to the Presidential Office and the State Bureau of Investigation but did not receive an immediate response.

Portnov led the legal team of then-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko from 2005 to 2010 and sat in the parliament between 2006 and 2010. After 2010, he became the head of Yanukovych’s main judiciary department and deputy head of his administration.

The ex-official left Ukraine for Russia and later Austria after Yanukovych was ousted in the EuroMaidan Revolution in 2014, but returned to Ukraine in 2019. Portnov fled Ukraine again in 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion broke out, even though the travel ban for military-age men was already in effect.

Hated, tainted, and covertly pro-Russian — Andriy Portnov, the top Ukrainian ex-official shot dead in Spain

Editor’s Note: In 2023, Andriy Portnov filed a lawsuit against Olga Rudenko, the chief editor of the Kyiv Independent, over an article in which he was referenced as being “pro-Russian.” A Kyiv court ruled in Portnov’s favor in September 2024. In April 2025, an appeal court upheld the ruling. Rudenko

The Kyiv IndependentOleg Sukhov

A so-called “Trump shock” has plunged Europe into its deepest crisis since 1945, but also presents an opportunity for the continent to forge a “new West,” British historian and commentator Timothy Garton Ash has said in an interview with the Kyiv Independent.

The first months of Trump’s presidency dispelled any illusions in European capitals that the long-held transatlantic partnership would hold firm no matter who sits in the White House.

Washington has signaled reduced military presence in Europe and slashed funding for vital programs promoting democracy and human rights across the continent, putting the U.S.’s role as the leader of the free world in doubt.

Amid perhaps the greatest challenge to Europe’s security, Trump also seems to be washing his hands of the Russia-Ukraine war without even attempting to exert additional pressure on Moscow or boost Kyiv’s fighting chance.

The “Trump shock” is only accumulating the security challenges facing Europe in what may be its deepest crisis since World War II, Ash told the Kyiv Independent during an interview in Lviv on May 16.

Yet, therein also lies an opportunity for European leaders to forge a “new West” that would preserve what’s left of the liberal world order amid rising authoritarianism and populism, he adds.

Reflecting on world events since his last interview with the Kyiv Independent in May 2024, Ash admits that the U.S. may never be what it was. But, drawing on his background as a historian, he notes that history is full of examples of swings between surging authoritarianism, and a successful liberal fight-back.

Editor’s note: The interview has been edited for clarity.

The Kyiv Independent: Last time we talked, you said that we are at the beginning of a new era, and our first steps are going to shape what this new era looks like. One year later, Donald Trump has been elected U.S. president, he jump started major changes in the global security order, Russia’s war against Ukraine continues, and populism is rising across Europe. How would you evaluate these first steps of the new era?

Timothy Garton Ash: The triple shock: the Putin shock, what I call the Xi Jinping shock, and now the Trump shock means that we are in the deepest crisis Europe has been in for a very long time, in some respects, since 1945.

But it also means that we all know that in Europe.

Last Friday (May 9), while Xi Jinping and President Lula (of Brazil) and (Prime Minister) Robert Fico of Slovakia were sitting with Vladimir Putin on Red Square, EU foreign ministers were sitting in the Lviv City Hall just up the road to show their solidarity with Ukraine.

And then (French) President Emmanuel Macron, (German) Chancellor Friedrich Mertz, (U.K.) Prime Minister Starmer and (Polish Prime Minister Donald) Tusk were in Kyiv.

So the crisis has become deeper, but the possibility that Europe might seize the opportunity of the crisis is also more apparent.

The Kyiv Independent: Since the end of World War II, the U.S. has cast itself as a leader of the free world. Would you say that it is now abandoning this role? And if so, why now?

Timothy Garton Ash: Excellent question. I think there’s no doubt at all that Donald Trump is not the leader of the free world, whatever that means, and that the West as a geopolitical actor does not exist today in the way we’ve assumed it existed for the last 80 years. And that is a result of two different things: America and Trump.

There’s a long-term trend of the United States becoming less committed to and less engaged in Europe, which started already after the end of the Cold War. It was happening under the Democrats and under the Republicans. It’s turning either to what (Barack) Obama called nation-building at home, or the pivot to Asia.

Then you have the Trump factor, which is this extreme narcissistic bully who obviously has a special relationship with Vladimir Putin and who is abandoning the notion of the United States as a defender of the liberal international order and basically positioning the United States as one transactional great power amongst many.

What does that mean? It means we have a really urgent challenge for the four years of Trump, but we also have a long-term challenge because the United States will never again be what it was before.

The Kyiv Independent: If the U.S. abandons this role and the era of the U.S.-led unipolar world ends, how will the new global security order look?

Timothy Garton Ash: First of all, we never really had a unipolar world. Even the U.S.-led liberal international order was only a large part of the world. It worked because the United States was what the Princeton scholar John Ikenberry calls a "Liberal Leviathan."

The Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO was always a U.S. general. We had the U.S. nuclear guarantee for our security in Europe. We certainly had a U.S. security order in Europe, in significant parts of Asia and in Oceania, Australia, New Zealand.

That's what's now in question. So I believe that if we are to preserve what's left of the liberal international order, which is not a great deal, it's up to us as Europeans, but also other liberal democratic partners.

Suddenly, Canada becomes much more important to us. Australia becomes important to us. Japan becomes important to us. In other words, there's a whole new constellation of liberal international order — if you like, a new West.

The Kyiv Independent: What is Europe's role in the era of weakening transatlantic relations, of rising authoritarianism around the world?

Timothy Garton Ash: First of all, our role is to defend ourselves and to look after what we've achieved in Europe over the last 80 years. That means defending ourselves against external enemies or challenges. Obviously, Vladimir Putin's Russia in the first place, but also China in a different way, and other powers.

Why did Russia invade Ukraine? Debunking Putin’s ‘root causes’ claims

As Russia continues to bombard cities and towns across Ukraine, Russian officials have hardened their position against a ceasefire, continuing to repeat the obscure demand that the war’s “root causes” be addressed before agreeing to any truce. For months, the phrase “root causes” has become a go-to talking point

The Kyiv IndependentAndrea Januta

Secondly, it would be to try and preserve at least some elements of what we call the liberal international order — for example, a free trading world, an international economic order. The EU is a regulatory superpower. Can we preserve some of those shared regulations around the world?

The Kyiv Independent: How would you evaluate Europe's response so far to these new shocks, specifically to the shock of the Trump administration?

Timothy Garton Ash: I think the political will at the top is now there. The question is capability. Just in purely military terms, there's a short list of things that only the United States can provide — the intelligence, the Patriot interceptor missiles, the strategic enablers.

Beyond that, the political will may be there at the top in Europe, but can our leaders continue to persuade their publics through a whole series of national elections that this is the course we should stick to? We have Viktor Orban as the veto player in Hungary. We have Robert Fico in Slovakia.

Very soon, we will probably have a nationalist president of Romania (The interview took place on May 16, before far-right George Simion was defeated in the Romanian presidential election by pro-EU Nicusor Dan).

According to the current opinion polls, Mr. (Andrej) Babis will probably come back (to power) in the Czech Republic. So suddenly, you've got a whole group of countries that want a very different Ukraine policy and Russia policy.

The Kyiv Independent: How can Europe avoid sliding into populism? How can the continent avoid falling into the same trap as the U.S.?

Timothy Garton Ash: I would say the forces of integration and disintegration in Europe are quite finely balanced at the moment.

We have to be tough on populism and tough on the causes of populism. We have to fight the nationalist populist and make a convincing case to our public for a different approach.

But we also have to understand why they continue to get large numbers of votes. For example, the sense that large parts of our societies have been both economically and culturally neglected in the name of liberalism.

And we need to show that we care, we're actually doing something for them economically, that culturally we don't just care about specific minorities in the name of multiculturalism, but we actually care about everyone in our societies.

It's pretty tough to do those two things at the same time, and also build up our defense spending and our support for Ukraine.

The Kyiv Independent: In your book, Homelands, you talk about different definitions of Europe. You say that some European nations that went through dictatorships see Europe as a sort of community of democratic, liberal ideals that they seek to return to. And that's certainly true for Ukraine, as we've seen during the EuroMaidan Revolution. But if Europe and the West are indeed moving away from these ideals, how will that impact Ukraine's path toward democracy?

Timothy Garton Ash: There's always been an anti-liberal Europe, as well as a liberal Europe throughout European history. And it's always been a great mistake to believe that the liberal Europe has prevailed once and for all. By the way, there are also liberal and anti-liberal forces in Ukraine, let's make no mistake about that.

The two things are intimately connected. It's very difficult to imagine Ukraine making a successful transition to a prosperous, sovereign, democratic European future if Europe is disintegrating next door. It's quite difficult to imagine a successful, liberal, democratic, integrated Europe if Ukraine is disintegrating next door.

Both because of the security and migration challenges, but also because we have, in a way, staked our European reputation now on Ukraine. European integration and Ukrainian integration, or European disintegration and Ukrainian disintegration.

But this won't be decided in the next few months. I would say, let's talk again towards the end of the 2020s, and we'll see which tendencies have prevailed.

The Kyiv Independent: Since we are obviously heading toward even more challenging times, can history give us hope or teach us lessons about how democracy can persevere under these challenges?

Timothy Garton Ash: It's going to give us both hope and warnings.

The warning is that just when everybody takes things for granted, they start going wrong. The analogy there would be Europe before 1914. In a way, Europe — certainly before 2014, but arguably up to 2022 — was assuming that it would just be more peaceful summers.

The hope is that we already have examples of successful liberal fightback. The Polish (2023 parliamentary) election is a classic example of a (country) which had nearly gone in the direction of Hungary and an electoral-authoritarian, non-liberal regime, and then it came back.

The larger lesson is that you have these wave movements in history. We had what I would call a liberal democratic revolution across Europe and much of the world from the early 1970s to the 2000s. Now we have an anti-liberal counter-revolution. But with time, people start discovering that that doesn't deliver either.

In fact, it delivers even less. And if you look at the enormous demonstrations in Serbia, large demonstrations in Hungary in support of an opposition candidate, and in Turkey after the imprisonment of Mr. (Ekrem) Imamoglu, you see that the fightback also comes from the countries that have gone authoritarian.

How much does a Russian drone attack on Ukraine cost? The question is more complicated than it sounds

Beginning overnight on Saturday, May 24, Russia rained down nearly a thousand drones and missiles on villages and cities across Ukraine in three nights of large-scale aerial attacks, as civilians spent hours sheltering underground. Russia’s bombardment killed more than a dozen people and injured dozens more, in one of

The Kyiv IndependentAndrea Januta

Note from the author:

Hi, this is Martin Fornusek. I hope you enjoyed this interview.

To underscore its main points, we are facing one of the most challenging periods in history, and the actions of every one of us matter. Our team strives every day to bring you in-depth insights into Russia's ongoing war and Ukraine's resistance, but we wouldn't be able to do so without the support of readers like you. To help us continue in this work, please consider supporting our reporting.

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Russian foreign intelligence (SVR) claimed on May 29 that Serbian defense enterprises continue to supply ammunition to Ukraine, despite Belgrade’s stated neutrality.

“The Serbian defense industry is trying to shoot Russia in the back,” the agency’s statement read.

The Serbian government has maintained friendly ties with Russia under its President Aleksandar Vucic, who has denied previous claims of Serbian arms supplies to Ukraine.

Belgrade has positioned itself as neutral in the Russia-Ukraine war, striving to balance its position as an EU candidate with its long-standing relationship with Moscow.

Russian intelligence accused Serbian companies of funneling arms to Ukraine via third-party intermediaries, namely NATO countries like Czechia, Poland, and Bulgaria.

“More recently, exotic options involving African countries have also been used for this purpose,” the report claimed.

The Serbian contribution amounts to “hundreds of thousands of shells for multiple-launch rocket systems and howitzers, as well as a million small arms sounds,” according to the intelligence report.

The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the claims made by Russian officials.

The Financial Times reported in June 2024 that Serbian ammunition worth $855 million has made its way indirectly to Ukraine.

How much does a Russian drone attack on Ukraine cost? The question is more complicated than it sounds

Beginning overnight on Saturday, May 24, Russia rained down nearly a thousand drones and missiles on villages and cities across Ukraine in three nights of large-scale aerial attacks, as civilians spent hours sheltering underground. Russia’s bombardment killed more than a dozen people and injured dozens more, in one of

The Kyiv IndependentAndrea Januta

Christopher Walters, a U.S. filmmaker documenting the Russian war against Ukraine, was injured when a balcony fell on him in central Kyiv, he said on social media on May 29.

Walters posted a video address on Instagram, with visible bruises on his face and a ruined balcony in the background.

“While missiles and drones are flying, we are being injured by balconies due to someone’s irresponsibility!” the filmmaker said in the post.

The incident took place in Kyiv’s Podilskyi district in front of a building’s entrance, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration.

Tkachenko, who is in a public conflict with Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, stressed that the accident was “not a hostile attack but a consequence of many years of inaction."

Walters said he wants to conduct an investigation to determine the causes of the incident and prevent it from happening again.

Tkachenko added that he would have a “serious conversation” with district management companies and instructed the new head of the Podilskyi strict administration to keep in touch with the victim and inspect the damage.

Ukraine war latest: Moscow proposes next round of Russia-Ukraine talks on June 2 in Istanbul

* Moscow proposes next round of Russia-Ukraine talks on June 2 in Istanbul * Ukrainian drones hit Russian cruise missile factory, SBU source says, in one of largest reported strikes of full-scale war * 11 more Ukrainian Children rescued from Russian-occupied territories, Yermak’s advisor says * ‘We’ll know in two weeks’ if Putin serious

The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk

Brian Dooley is a Senior Advisor at Washington-based NGO Human Rights First and Honorary Professor of Practice at Queen’s University, Belfast. He specializes in working with human rights activists in war and other conflict zones and is a regular visitor to Kharkiv. 

For a while this May, international attention was back on Ukraine for the few days of peace talks in Turkey.

It gave self-important commentators all over the world who have never been to Ukraine the chance to share their views on how the war should end, what would be fair terms for a settlement, and how much territory Russia should keep.

Social media, newspapers, radio, and TV shows in Western Europe and the United States were full of these uninformed opinions. Few of those discussing Ukraine have ever been there, fewer still to the eastern front to see the reality of what three — or eleven — years of constant Russian attacks look like up close.

There is a much-ignored old journalism rule that says when a place is in the news, Unless You’re From There, Live There, Or Have Spent Years Writing About It, you really should think twice about offering an opinion.

I know I barely qualify — I’ve made 19 trips to Ukraine since the full-scale invasion of February 2022 and half a dozen visits before that. In total, I’ve spent around seven months of the last three years in Ukraine, mostly in Kharkiv. It doesn’t make me an expert, but I get some sense of how distorted and ignorant many international views are of the eastern front.

Kharkiv is largely a blind spot for foreign diplomats and international NGOs. Few people from embassies visit, citing security concerns. When I complain to diplomats about them not going to Kharkiv, they wring their hands and say, “But we’re not allowed to.”

But these governments and other organizations are making a choice not to send their officials to visit Kharkiv and elsewhere in the east. I tell them it’s not hard, that several trains a day leave from Kyiv to Kharkiv. But — with some notable exceptions — the oblast is routinely ignored, and so what is happening there just isn’t seen or appreciated.

This issue hit a nerve during the February 28 White House press conference when President Trump and Vice-President Vance ambushed President Zelenskyy. “Have you ever been to Ukraine to see the problems we have?” an exasperated Zelenskyy asked Vance who, of course, has never seen firsthand what’s happening in Ukraine. 

As Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov says, “We have many people supporting us, but they do not have the courage to come to Kharkiv.” Nothing beats the eyewitness experience, of seeing what’s left of Kupiansk now, of what towns and villages look like after Russian occupation, of how volunteers across the Kharkiv city and region are providing humanitarian aid despite a severe lack of resources.

If international organisations and foreign diplomats went to Kharkiv, they would see for themselves what’s being done, and how these activists deserve to be funded and protected. They would see how much local energy is focused on helping the vulnerable, how volunteer evacuation teams risk their lives every day to get civilians from the frontline, how people are devoting their days to helping others. 

This isn’t what British Prime Minister Starmer, French President Macron, German Chancellor Merz, and Polish Prime Minister Tusk got to see on their day trip to Kyiv before the Istanbul talks, but this is the reality for many in the east of Ukraine.

Much international media analysis rarely goes beyond what’s happening at a political level in Kyiv or beyond personal theories of what a peace deal should look like.

God save Kharkiv from armchair experts in the West who think “the reality” is that Russia should be rewarded for its invasions of Ukraine, that Ukrainians should “face facts,” and that Russia should get to keep the territories it illegally occupies.

It’s time they got off their asses, got on some buses and trains, listened to locals in Kharkiv, and saw the truth for themselves.

Opinion pieces reflect the thoughts of their authors and do not reflect Gwara Media’s views.

Read more

• “To believe Russia is to disrespect yourself.” Military in Kharkiv Oblast on Russia once again violating ceasefire they declared
• Kremlin propaganda finds voice in Europe’s alternative media. Ukraine shares experience in how to counter it

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