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.
- Selected features that focus on news from Milwaukee’s Sister City of Irpin can be found here: mkeind.com/irpin
- Complete coverage from the series Reports from Ukraine can be found here: mkeind.com/reportsfromukraine
Featured: Jennifer Vosters: A visit to Kyiv that offered insight, awareness, and an inspiration for solidarity [Feb 24, 2022]
Disaster Debate: Pro-Russian voices spread toxic propaganda on social media after Ohio train crash
Soon after a train derailed and spilled toxic chemicals in Ohio last month, anonymous pro-Russian accounts started spreading misleading claims and anti-American propaganda about it on Twitter, using Elon Musk’s new verification system to expand their reach while...
Putin charged with war crimes after international court issues warrant over child abductions in Ukraine
The International Criminal Court said on March 17 that it has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. It was the first time the global court has...
Child Victims: Why prosecuting Putin for abductions in Ukraine will not guarantee the kids can return home
By Stefan Schmitt, Project Lead for International Technical Forensic Services, Florida International University The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 17, 2023, over war crimes in Ukraine, alleging he...
New mass grave: Mourners in Bucha commemorate volunteers who tried to stop Russian drive to Kyiv
Clutching flowers and wiping away tears, relatives, neighbors and friends of eight men executed by Russian forces during the occupation of the Ukrainian town of Bucha gathered on March 4 to mark the first anniversary of the deaths. The eight had set up a roadblock in...
United For Freedom: Milwaukee holds vigil to honor the lives lost in 365 days of defending Ukraine
More than 64 cities across America joined the “365 Days Defending Freedom” event, which began on February 24. The Milwaukee rally was organized to remind the world that Russia’s war against Ukraine has been going on for nine years. It has been one year since the unprovoked full-scale invasion started on February 24, 2022.
A World War: How information became a key weapon of the Ukrainian defense against Russia’s brutality
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II, and the first to see algorithms and TikTok videos deployed alongside fighter planes and tanks. The online fight has played out on computer screens and smartphones around the...
Drone footage shows the utter devastation of Bakhmut and the scale of Putin’s madness
Amid the smoking ruins, a lone dog pads in the snow, surely unaware that death rains down regularly from the skies on the remnants of this Ukrainian city that Russia is pounding into rubble. But for now Bakhmut stands — growing as a symbol of Ukrainian resistance with...
Secretary Blinken reminds UN Security Council that “one man started this war and one man can end it”
“One year and one week ago — on February 17th, 2022 — I warned this council that Russia was planning to invade Ukraine,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the United Nations Security Council Ministerial Meeting on Ukraine Sovereignty and Russian Accountability on...
Ukraine’s port city of Odesa added to UNESCO heritage sites in danger list
The United Nations’ cultural agency decided to add the historic center of Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odesa to its list of endangered World Heritage sites, recognizing “the outstanding universal value of the site and the duty of all humanity to...
UNESCO trains law enforcement in border countries to prevent trafficking of looted Ukrainian art
The United Nations cultural organization is training law enforcement and judiciary officials from countries on Ukraine’s western borders, seeking to prevent the trafficking of looted cultural objects from Ukraine amid Russia’s war against its neighbor....
Russian forces hungry for a battlefield success continue scorched earth tactics on Ukraine civilians
Russian forces are keeping Ukrainian troops tied down with attacks in the eastern Donbas region as Moscow assembles additional combat power there for an expected offensive in the coming weeks, Ukrainian officials said recently. Intense fighting that has been raging...
Russia’s year of brutality against Ukraine has purged critics at home and inspired a surge of nationalism
Moscow’s nights display few signs of a nation at war. Cheerful crowds packed restaurants and bars in the Sretenka neighborhood on a recent Saturday night, watched by officers marked as “tourist police.” Nearby, a top-hatted guide led about 40...
Russia alters aerial terror tactics on civilians by swarming Ukraine’s air defenses with decoy missiles
Russia has switched its aerial strike tactics to fool Ukraine’s air defenses, using decoy missiles without explosive warheads and deploying balloons, a senior Ukrainian official said recently. “The Russians are definitely changing tactics” as the 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.
