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]

Secretary Blinken highlights global pledges to support Ukraine in case it is abandoned under Trump
Ukraine is on its way to being able to “stand on its own feet” militarily, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on July 19, noting that more than 20 other countries have pledged to maintain their own military and financial aid to the country even if the...

Being Friends of Angels: The Milwaukee nonprofit saving lives and offering hope 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...

Fear grows over deliberate leak by Russia at Europe’s biggest nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine
Ukraine continues to accuse Russia of planning to attack one of the world’s largest nuclear power plants, but has not provided evidence to support the claims of an imminent threat to the facility in southeastern Ukraine that is occupied by Russian troops. The...

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...

Zelenskyy to meet Biden and address Congress today in first trip to Washington since Russia’s invasion began
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was making his way to Washington on December 21 for a summit with President Joe Biden and to address Congress in his first known trip outside the country since Russia’s invasion began in February. Zelenskyy said on his...

Diane Baima: A holiday season filled with thoughts of Milwaukee but with the trauma of war in Ukraine
People often ask me how we are doing, how is the situation in Ukraine, what it is like to live through an invasion. Usually, I am so busy that I do not have time to process how I am doing. The internet works sporadically, so I can only follow the news sometimes. When...

“We are here to fix it,” How Ukraine utility crews adapt and overcome after Russia strikes on power grids
Over the grinding wail of a chainsaw pruning trees, Oleh Braharnyk recalls how his crew sprang into action in Kyiv recently to repair power lines downed by Russian missiles and keep electricity flowing to his beleaguered fellow Ukrainians. Braharnyk, an electric...

Ukrainian youth choir sings in defiance of war with messages of hope and freedom
From a dank Kyiv bomb shelter to the bright stage lights of Europe’s theaters, a Ukrainian youth choir’s hymns in praise of freedom offer a kind of healing balm to its war-scarred members. The Shchedryk ensemble, described as Kyiv’s oldest...

Ukraine celebrates the Jewish Festival of Lights in the darkness of Russia’s war against humanity
Jews in Ukraine waging a “war between darkness and light” lit a giant menorah on December 18 to start the eight-day Hanukkah holiday as tens of thousands remained without electricity and Russia’s nearly 10-month war produced new victims. Dozens...

International donors race to supply generators and medical aid to hard-hit Ukraine ahead of winter’s grip
When Russian forces launched a military campaign against infrastructure in Ukraine nearly two months ago, they opened a front that carried the war along power lines, water mains and heating systems to homes, schools, offices and churches. The government in Kyiv and...

Fighting for the future: How Belarusian volunteers in Ukraine are staking their claim on democracy
By David Roger Marples, Distinguished University Professor of Russian and East European History, University of Alberta; and Katsiaryna Lozka, PhD Fellow in Political Science, Ghent University Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya recently visited...

A dream come true: Ukraine begins EU membership talks a decade after Putin illegally seized Crimea
The European Union on June 25 launched membership talks with Ukraine, a decade after Russian troops seized the Crimean Peninsula to deter the country from moving closer to the West, part of a chain of events that set the two neighbors on the path to war....


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.