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]

How unwitting Americans are assisting Russia’s toxic program to spread election disinformation
The Kremlin was using unwitting Americans and commercial public relations firms in Russia to spread disinformation about the U.S. presidential race, top intelligence officials said in August, detailing the latest efforts by America’s adversaries to shape public...

20 Days in Mariupol: How journalism illuminated the horrors of war in award-winning documentary
Associated Press video journalist Mstyslav Chernov had just broken out of Mariupol after covering the first 20 days of the Russian invasion of the Ukrainian city and was feeling guilty about leaving. He and his colleagues, photographer Evgeniy Maloletka and producer...

CIA whiz kid from “Charlie Wilson’s War” offers advice for the U.S. to help Ukraine win against Russia
After the last Soviet troops left Afghanistan in 1989, defeated by an insurgency equipped and guided by the United States, a two-word cable arrived at CIA headquarters: “WE WON.” It was one of the last moments of the Cold War, credited with helping push...

Hasidic life in Uman: A journey across Ukraine to the Tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov
Return to Ukraine: This feature is part of an original Milwaukee Independent editorial series that recorded news from areas across Ukraine, including Milwaukee's sister city of Irpin, from June to July of 2023. It was the second time in the span of a year that the...

Tetiana Storozhko: Being a witness to the history of Roma culture in Ukraine
Return to Ukraine: This feature is part of an original Milwaukee Independent editorial series that recorded news from areas across Ukraine, including Milwaukee's sister city of Irpin, from June to July of 2023. It was the second time in the span of a year that the...

Drone footage shows the utter devastation of Bakhmut and the scale of Putin’s madness
Amid the smoking ruins, a lone dog pads in the snow, surely unaware that death rains down regularly from the skies on the remnants of this Ukrainian city that Russia is pounding into rubble. But for now Bakhmut stands — growing as a symbol of Ukrainian resistance with...

Secretary Blinken reminds UN Security Council that “one man started this war and one man can end it”
“One year and one week ago — on February 17th, 2022 — I warned this council that Russia was planning to invade Ukraine,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the United Nations Security Council Ministerial Meeting on Ukraine Sovereignty and Russian Accountability on...

Ukraine’s port city of Odesa added to UNESCO heritage sites in danger list
The United Nations’ cultural agency decided to add the historic center of Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odesa to its list of endangered World Heritage sites, recognizing “the outstanding universal value of the site and the duty of all humanity to...

UNESCO trains law enforcement in border countries to prevent trafficking of looted Ukrainian art
The United Nations cultural organization is training law enforcement and judiciary officials from countries on Ukraine’s western borders, seeking to prevent the trafficking of looted cultural objects from Ukraine amid Russia’s war against its neighbor....

Russian forces hungry for a battlefield success continue scorched earth tactics on Ukraine civilians
Russian forces are keeping Ukrainian troops tied down with attacks in the eastern Donbas region as Moscow assembles additional combat power there for an expected offensive in the coming weeks, Ukrainian officials said recently. Intense fighting that has been raging...

Russia’s year of brutality against Ukraine has purged critics at home and inspired a surge of nationalism
Moscow’s nights display few signs of a nation at war. Cheerful crowds packed restaurants and bars in the Sretenka neighborhood on a recent Saturday night, watched by officers marked as “tourist police.” Nearby, a top-hatted guide led about 40...

Russia alters aerial terror tactics on civilians by swarming Ukraine’s air defenses with decoy missiles
Russia has switched its aerial strike tactics to fool Ukraine’s air defenses, using decoy missiles without explosive warheads and deploying balloons, a senior Ukrainian official said recently. “The Russians are definitely changing tactics” as the war...

The Olympic spotlight has allowed Ukraine to capture global attention and fight war fatigue
Ukraine’s Olympic house stands out for its somber atmosphere, with fewer celebrations and parties than the other fan clubhouses that countries set up to tout their athletes and culture. It has moments of silence for war victims and screens documentaries about...


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.