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]
A generation of hope: Young gymnast crushed by Russian missile dreams of competing in Paralympics
When Oleksandra Paskal first took to the mat as a 4-year-old, her rhythmic gymnastics coach saw nothing but potential in a sport where the Olympics is the ultimate goal. Then a Russian missile crushed her summer house in the southern Odesa region, burying her beneath...
Evgeniy Maloletka’s image of Mariupol hospital attack wins multiple photo awards including Pulitzer Prize
Associated Press photographer Evgeniy Maloletka won the World Press Photo of the Year award on April 20 for his haunting image of emergency workers carrying a pregnant woman through the shattered grounds of a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, in...
UN Nuclear watchdog sounds alarm over Russian military threat to Zaporizhzhia plant safety
The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog has expressing growing anxiety about the safety of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, after the governor of the Russia-occupied area ordered the evacuation of a town where most plant staff live amid ongoing...
Kremlin exploits TikTok’s algorithms to flood disinformation over its brutal invasion of Ukraine
A year ago, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, TikTok started labeling accounts operated by Russian state propaganda agencies as a way to tell users they were being exposed to Kremlin disinformation. An analysis a year later shows the policy has been...
Ukrainians mark 37th anniversary of Chernobyl disaster amid escalating nuclear threats from Russia
Workers at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 26 marked the 37th anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear disaster amid an ongoing war and nuclear threats, somberly laying flowers at a monument for victims. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used...
Battle Tactics: The unexpected Ukrainian resistance continues to prevent Putin’s plans for quick victory
By Liam Collins, Founding Director, Modern War Institute, United States Military Academy West Point As Ukrainian forces fight a late-summer counterattack to wrest the southern province of Kherson from Russian control, Russian President Vladimir Putin is learning a...
Seeking Shelter: Displaced residents in war-torn Ukrainian towns fear a bitter winter without homes
If it is too cold in the garage, Vadim sleeps in his old car. He lived on the third floor of an apartment block by Borodianka’s central street, but it was destroyed by Russian grad missiles in March. There is barely anything here for him now, beyond the section of...
Wishful Thinking: Why the fallacy of making peace with Russia necessitates feeding the wolf of war
Close your eyes and try to envision the two wolves. Imagine yourself as a terrified child. I think that helps bring the myth to life … this myth, said to be Cherokee, of humanity’s two choices. The wolves are engaged in a vicious fight. The wise...
Destroyed War Machines: Ukraine follows the ancient practice of trophy displays to ridicule Russia
By Anya Free, Ph.D. Candidate in History, University of California, Davis As Ukraine prepared to celebrate its independence day even while its military forces battled a monthslong Russian invasion, government officials assembled a grandiose, yet gruesome, display on...
Zaporizhzhia could be Chernobyl 2.0: The Russians are again orchestrating an atomic disaster for the world
By Najmedin Meshkati, Professor of Engineering and International Relations, University of Southern California Russian forces occupy Europe’s largest atomic energy plant, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in the Ukrainian city of Enerhodar. Russian and Ukrainian...
An enduring resilience: Remembering Ukraine’s 1991 vote for independence and its continued courage
By Marta Dyczok, Associate Professor of History and Political Science, Specializing in Ukraine, Western University On August 24, 1991, I was one of a handful of foreign journalists working for a British newspaper and in the Ukrainian parliament when legislators...
The Dream of Democracy: Why Ukrainians have never treated their country’s sovereignty as a given
By Emily Channell-Justice, Director of the Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program, Harvard University I stood on Kyiv’s main boulevard, Khreshchatyk, one year ago, on August 24, 2021, celebrating along with thousands of Ukrainians who were watching the Independence Day...
A deal between dictators: How the renewed Russia and North Korea partnership will impact Ukraine’s future
Russia’s brutal dictator Vladimir Putin and North Korean oppressive ruler Kim Jong Un signed an agreement on June 19 that pledges mutual aid if either country faces “aggression,” a strategic pact that comes as both face escalating standoffs with 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.
