Russian invasion of Ukraine
Special Coverage
Vladimir Putin began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, in an escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War that he started in 2014. The invasion received widespread international condemnation, including massive economic sanctions. Milwaukee’s Ukrainian American community began with immigrants in the early twentieth century, and continued to grow in the years after World War II and the fall of the Soviet Union.
These news stories cover the local connections in Milwaukee to an international crisis, and all the complexities woven into America’s political climate.
- Links to complete news coverage of Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine: mkeind.com/ukraine
- Reports from Ukraine – Series of news reports from May 2022 in Ukraine: mkeind.com/reportsfromukraine
- Return to Ukraine – Series of news reports from June-July 2023 in Ukraine: mkeind.com/returntoukraine
- Selected features that focus on news from Milwaukee’s Sister City of Irpin: mkeind.com/irpin
Featured: Jennifer Vosters: A visit to Kyiv that offered insight, awareness, and an inspiration for solidarity [Feb 24, 2022]
Russia concludes secretive political trial with conviction of U.S. reporter on espionage charges
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was falsely convicted on July 19 of espionage and sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security prison on charges that his employer and the U.S. government have rejected as fabricated. The swift conclusion of the secretive...
Ukraine replaces despised Soviet icon with trident on Kyiv monument in time for Independence Day
The towering Mother Ukraine statue in Kyiv, one of the nation’s most recognizable landmarks, lost its hammer-and-sickle symbol on August 6 as officials replaced the Soviet-era emblem with the country’s trident coat of arms. The move is part of a wider...
Outrage grows in Odesa after Russia terrorizes port city with attacks on beloved historic sites
“They shot at themselves. This cathedral was a symbol of Russia’s presence in this city. And now the same country that blessed this church is destroying it.” – Father Yevhen Gutyar Tetiana Khlapova’s hand trembled as she recorded the wreckage of...
Officials and analysts believe that Kyiv has launched a major push against Russian forces
Ukraine has launched a major push to dislodge Russian forces from the country’s southeast as part of its weekslong counteroffensive, committing thousands of troops to the battle, according to Western and Ukrainian officials and analysts. The surge in troops and...
Putin’s alleged deployment of nuclear weapons to Belarus dismissed as more bluster and blackmail
Sometime over the summer, if Vladimir Putin can be believed, Russia moved some of its short-range nuclear weapons into Belarus, closer to Ukraine and onto NATO’s doorstep. The declared deployment of the Russian weapons on the territory of its neighbor and loyal...
A Unified Ukraine: Officials envision a liberated Crimea finally free from Putin’s bloody grasp
A top Ukrainian official on recently outlined a series of steps the government in Kyiv would take after the country reclaims control of Crimea, including dismantling the strategic bridge that links the seized Black Sea peninsula to Russia. Oleksiy Danilov, the...
Ukrainian forces consider how to “de-occupy” Crimea as Russia prepares for a likely spring offensive
By Christopher Morris, Teaching Fellow, School of Strategy, Marketing and Innovation, University of Portsmouth To paraphrase the words of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, everything began with Crimea, and everything will end there as well. When Russia...
20 Days in Mariupol: Milwaukee Film Festival screens Ukrainian documentary that won praise at Sundance
The visceral documentary “20 Days in Mariupol” produced by the Associated Press and Frontline (PBS) was awarded the Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Documentary Competition Audience Award in January. It will be showcased locally during the 2023 Milwaukee Film...
A tour in hell: What it takes to evacuate wounded Ukrainian soldiers from the battlefield
Their hands are blackened and grimy from the fight. Some are still wearing their combat boots, small flecks of black soil from the battlefield clinging to their torsos, bare under the emergency blanket. With bandaged heads and splinted limbs, the wounded soldiers are...
Medical volunteers in Ukraine set up specialty clinics to treat residents near the frontlines
In a cramped municipal building in this former front-line village, its front window boarded up with plywood, a team of volunteer specialist doctors have set up a mobile clinic. For the residents, it is a lifeline. Even before Russia’s war, access to specialist...
How Soviet-era attack helicopters allow Ukraine’s military to strike Russia from a distance
Skimming the treetops, three Soviet-era attack helicopters bank and swoop down on a field after an early-morning mission to the front lines in the fight against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Each day, they might fly three or four sorties, says the commander,...
Inflatable tanks: Russia’s brutal invasion behind surge in demand for fake armaments as decoys
The war in Ukraine has created a surge in demand for weapons and, apparently, also for inflatable fake armaments that can be deployed as decoys. A Czech company, Inflatech, is producing more than 30 different inflatable military decoys ranging from tanks and armored...
South Korea considers sending weapons to Ukraine after dictators Putin and Kim sign military pact
South Korea said on June 20 that it would consider sending arms to Ukraine, a major policy change that was suggested after Russia and North Korea rattled the region and beyond by signing a pact to come to each other’s defense in the event of war. The comments...
Featured: Photos from the frontlines: Sergi Mykhalchuk documents images of war as civilians evacuate Irpin [Mar 16, 2022]
Featured: Milwaukee formalizes Sister City status with Ukraine’s Irpin [Mar 23, 2018]
Milwaukee has a small but thriving Ukrainian American community, and Irpin is a sister city. Follow our special coverage at mkeind.com/ukraine for updates on Putin’s invasion, and about how the fight by Ukrainian people to preserve their democracy is having an impact on the families and businesses here in Milwaukee. 🇺🇦 Слава Україні! Героям слава!
Help maintain a reliable news source in Ukraine by supporting the Kyiv Independent, an English-language media outlet created by journalists who were fired from the Kyiv Post for defending editorial independence. Donations can be made via patreon or gofundme.