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]
Navigating the darkness: Ukraine’s power blackouts return after Russia targets civilian infrastructure
During daytime, entire districts of Ukraine’s capital are disconnected from the power grid to save energy. Traffic lights stop, choking traffic, accompanied by the constant rumble of generators installed outside cafes and shops. Ukraine, including Kyiv, is...
U.S. defends controversial plan to deliver cluster munitions to Ukraine with promise of careful usage
President Joe Biden recently defended what he said was a “difficult decision” to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine, a move the administration said was key to the fight and buttressed by Ukraine’s promise to use the controversial bombs carefully....
Ukrainian forces are biding time in counteroffensive to thin Russia’s resources before striking
The first phase of Ukraine’s counteroffensive to recapture Russian-occupied territory began weeks ago without fanfare. Apart from claiming that its troops are edging forward, Kyiv has not offered much detail on how it is going. Taking place mostly out of sight...
A Narrative of Resilience: How trauma-focused therapy is healing Ukrainian kids besieged by war
By Zlatina Kostova, Instructor in psychiatry, clinical psychologist and director of training at Lifeline for Kids, UMass Chan Medical School Childhood trauma is a global health problem. Every year, up to one billion children worldwide experience some form of...
Political Pawns: Why Russia kidnaps Ukrainian children when it is unable to care for its own
By Clementine Fujimura, Professor of Anthropology, Area Studies and Russian, United States Naval Academy Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian soldiers have forcibly taken an estimated 16,000 Ukrainian children to Russia....
Year In Review 2022: The humanitarian crisis faced by Milwaukee’s Sister City of Irpin
2022 began with Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. The traumatic war crimes against the Ukrainian people the escalating humanitarian crisis has strained the global economy and every level of civilized society. While taking place a continent...
Putin’s weaponization of winter leaves a Christmas in Ukraine without its traditional holiday glow
Just a year ago, Sophia Square in Kyiv was all about the big Christmas tree and thousands of lights spreading over the plaza. These final days of 2022, in the middle of a war that has ravaged the country for 10 months, a more modest tree stands there, its blue and...
Occupation Billboards: Russia’s propaganda war has been waged in tandem with the battlefield brutality
A Ukrainian firefighter tears off a Russian billboard in Kherson, southern Ukraine, November 17. 📸 Bernat Armangue (AP) In the liberated city of Kherson, Ukrainians have been tearing down a glaring symbol of occupation, billboards spreading Russian propaganda....
Culture as a target: Why Russian attacks specifically aim to erase Ukrainian identity
Russian troops in Ukraine are deliberately attacking the country’s museums, libraries and other cultural institutions, according to a report issued on December 2 by the U.S. and Ukrainian chapters of the international writers’ organization PEN....
Peace and PTSD: Ukraine is already working to heal the mental wounds of its soldiers
Sleep plunges the soldier back into the horrors of Ukraine’s battlefields. He can hear bombs falling again and picture explosions. He imagines himself frantically running, trying to save himself and others. The nightmares are so vivid and frightening that he...
President Zelenskyy thanks America for making Ukraine stronger to defend against Russia’s tyranny
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on December 21 that “against all odds” Ukraine still stands, as he paid a defiant wartime visit to Washington to thank U.S. leaders and “ordinary Americans” for their support in fighting off...
Ukrainians have demonstrated for three hundred days that a free democracy is worth the investment to save
Three hundred days ago, Russian president Vladimir Putin launched a new assault into Ukraine, where his troops had been fighting since 2014. Apparently, he expected that a new strike would bring a quick victory that would enable him to break away the eastern regions...
Ukraine can finally target Russian-occupied areas with long-range missiles secretly provided by U.S.
Ukraine for the first time began using long-range ballistic missiles provided secretly by the United States, bombing a Russian military airfield in Crimea and Russian forces in April. Long sought by Ukrainian leaders, the new missiles give Ukraine nearly double the...
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.
