fieldreport
KHARKIV – The first signs that something ominous is happening in Kharkiv come as soon as the train from Kyiv reaches the suburbs of the city – as two pillars of smoke appear in the distance, every single phone in the carriage erupts with a piercing electronic squawking. "I guess we've arrived," says one man to no one in particular as he silences the critical push alert warning of an air raid. Kharkiv is Ukraine's second-largest city after Kyiv, currently home to around 1.3 million people. Heavily damaged but never captured during the first days of Moscow's full-scale invasion, the city and sur...
Kyiv Independent (CA)
VOVCHANSK, KHARKIV OBLAST – The glide bombs arrive in groups of three. Their flight can be heard from far away, but only in the last second before impact is it clear where it will hit. The explosions, orders of magnitude more powerful than regular artillery shells, shake the ground where the two police officers lay prone. Getting back on his feet, Oleksii Kharkivskyi, the boisterous young police chief of the border town of Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast, climbed onto a pile of rubble and pointed to the plumes of dark grey smoke rising in the distance, the nearest less than half a kilometer away. ...
Kyiv Independent (CA)
Editor’s note: In accordance with the security protocols of the Ukrainian military, soldiers featured in this story are identified by first names and callsigns only. CHASIV YAR, DONETSK OBLAST – As he creeps between rubble-strewn garages near the central square of Chasiv Yar, the eyes and ears of the reconnaissance commander are glued squarely to the overcast midday sky. From the east, the unmistakable sounds of heavy fighting roll in without pause: not just artillery fire, but a full orchestra of machine gun and rifle bursts, anti-air cannons, and the occasional Russian airstrike. Most of tha...
Kyiv Independent (CA)
SUMY OBLAST – Soldiers from one of Ukraine’s 117th Territorial Defense Brigade mobile air defense squads call themselves fowlers. The unit’s task is fending off Shahed kamikaze drones when Russia deploys these deadly birds to strike targets across the country, as well as watching the sky Ukraine shares with Russia over the border. Their service is in constant demand: Russia deploys swarms of drones against Ukraine daily. When Shaheds breach Ukraine’s airspace in the north and head towards Sumy or Kyiv, the unit is the first to confront them. Russia has launched almost 5,000 Iranian-developed l...
Kyiv Independent (CA)
KARLSKOGA, SWEDEN –In a nondescript industrial area nestled among a forest of Swedish pine, a continent-wide effort to ramp up defense production is playing out in real time. A modest, one-story building is home to a seemingly endless ceiling-mounted rail — essentially an upside-down conveyor belt — snaking through machine halls and corridors as it carries artillery shell carcasses through the final stages of manufacturing. Not too long ago, the rhythmic clunking of the rail in motion could be heard only in normal daytime hours; now, it’s at work around the clock. This facility is a large-cali...
Kyiv Independent (CA)
Editor’s note: The Kyiv Independent is not disclosing the full names of the soldiers introduced in the story, as they didn’t have a formal authorization to speak to the press. DONETSK OBLAST – Mykhailo arrived at a dugout less than an hour after it was hit by Russian drones. The 40-year-old Ukrainian soldier immediately started going through the bodies, looking for signs of life. He knew that four soldiers had been taking shelter there. Yet he saw two bodies – and no one else. "When I got there, those two were already cold," he said. It was mid-February. The men’s limbs were torn off. There wa...
Kyiv Independent (CA)
TORSKE-ZAKINTE, DONETSK OBLAST – An armored minibus speeds through the rubble-lined streets of Torske, a front-line village in Donetsk Oblast precariously close to Russian positions. The bus, which belongs to the White Angels — a special unit of Ukraine’s National Police — is on its way to the village to deliver aid and check in with the few remaining civilians. Only the hum of the engine dulls the sporadic explosions echoing in the distance. The White Angels frequently return to the village, now directly in the line of Russia’s offensives following its capture of Avdiivka, to see if anyone le...
Kyiv Independent (CA)
Editor's note: The Kyiv Independent is not disclosing the full names of soldiers due to what they cited as security concerns and their unit's protocol amid the war in Ukraine. KHARKIV OBLAST — As Russia rolls past now-occupied Avdiivka further west, other parts of the front have seen quieter days. But as the thick layers of mud dry up, a pronged Russian offensive seems imminent. Ukrainian soldiers defending Kupiansk brace for a renewed major push. "I think that (Russian troops) are preparing for a breakthrough (in the Kupiansk direction). The ground will dry up, and they will gather all forces...
Kyiv Independent (CA)
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