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]

Ukrainian armed forces now control almost 390 square miles of Russia’s Kursk region in blow to Putin
Ukraine’s top military commander says his forces now control 386 square miles of Russia’s neighboring Kursk region, the first time a Ukrainian military official has publicly commented on the gains of the lightning incursion that has embarrassed the...

Ukrainian family finds closure after 16-month ordeal to identify a veteran killed in Bucha
The Ukrainian veteran’s gravestone carries his photograph and birthday, but the date Roman Shadlovskyi died is a broad estimate: March 2022, the month Russian forces brutally killed both civilians and military personnel before ending their occupation of Bucha....

Russia seeks to escalate global hunger crisis with halt to deal allowing Ukraine grain exports
Russia on July 17 halted a breakthrough wartime deal that allowed grain to flow from Ukraine to countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia where hunger is a growing threat and high food prices have pushed more people into poverty. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov...

Global currency: Why the invasion of Ukraine could give the Chinese yuan a boost against the U.S. dollar
By Tuugi Chuluun, Associate Professor of Finance, Loyola University Maryland The Chinese economy’s sheer size and rapid growth are impressive. China maintained one of the highest economic growth rates in the world for more than a quarter of a century, helping lift...

Ukraine’s dam collapse seen as worst environmental catastrophe in Europe since the Chernobyl disaster
The Russian destruction of the Kakhovka Dam was a fast-moving disaster that is swiftly evolving into a long-term environmental catastrophe affecting drinking water, food supplies and ecosystems reaching into the Black Sea. The short-term dangers can be seen from outer...

Volodymyr Karplyuk: Irpin needs to be heard as the city faces both problems and progress with recovery
Emmanuel Macron, Justin Trudeau, Anthony Blinken, Olaf Scholz, Bono from U2, Mario Draghi. About 100 world-famous people have visited Irpin over the past 9 months. Destroyed, but unconquered Irpin has become an attractive photo zone for foreign guests and a symbol of...

Millions have seen power restored since blackouts swept across war-battered Ukraine days earlier
Ukrainian authorities endeavored on Holodomor Memorial Day to restore electricity and water services after recent pummeling by Russian military strikes that vastly damaged infrastructure, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying millions have seen their power...

Experts from Ukraine join NATO probe of fatal missile strike that killed two in Poland
Experts from Ukraine have joined Polish and American investigators who are looking into a missile blast that killed two men in eastern Poland this week. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on November 18 that the Ukrainian experts were at the grain-drying...

Zdyrko Yaroslav: My journey across Ukraine to report on the war with a photojournalist from Milwaukee
“Without the help of the Milwaukee Independent’s editorial team for the project Reports From Ukraine, I would not have been able to take a single photograph. Very heartfelt thanks is due them. Yaroslav Zdyrko provided security, logistical support, and was our...

Holodomor Memorial Day: Honoring Ukrainian victims on 90th anniversary of Stalin’s genocide and famine
The observation of Holodomor Memorial Day on November 26, a solemn time to remember the Ukrainian people who were victims of Stalin’s genocide by famine, takes place against a backdrop in 2022 that parallels the cruelty of 90 years ago. Following the playbook of...

Mariupol’s Holodomor Memorial destroyed by occupation troops to further erase Ukrainian history
Russian occupiers of Mariupol dismantled the Monument to the Victims of Holodomor in late October, the Famine of 1932-33 created by dictator Joseph Stalin that claimed the lives of millions of Ukrainians. The current Russian regime has asserted...

World Health Organization warns that millions face a “life-threatening” winter in Ukraine
Rolling blackouts across Ukraine may continue through March, according to one of the country’s energy chiefs, as Ukrainians brace for a grim winter after weeks of relentless Russian strikes against its power grid. Sergey Kovalenko, CEO of private energy provider...

Frontline “soldier artists” from Ukraine perform a cultural concert of gratitude for Milwaukee
Wisconsin Ukrainians hosted a special concert for the Milwaukee community on June 15, performed by frontline Ukrainian soldiers as part of the “Music Tour of Gratitude to America,” an initiative to thank the people of the United States for their unwavering...


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.