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]

Parade of Denial: Russia exploits 80th anniversary of VE Day to honor a war it worked with Hitler to start
While most of the democratic world solemnly marks VE Day, as the Victory in Europe Day and end of World War II on May 8, the Kremlin will again stage its annual May 9 military parade across Red Square. It is a performance designed not to commemorate, but to control a...

A cowardly retreat: Trump trades his “24-hour” boast for dodging blame as Ukraine peace efforts collapse
During his campaign, Donald Trump said repeatedly that he would be able to end the war between Russia and Ukraine “in 24 hours” upon taking office. He has changed his tone since becoming president again. Trump’s swaggering promise to end Russia’s war of...

Propaganda’s reach: How Kremlin disinformation tactics echo in Trump’s America and erode truth
As Russia wages its brutal and unprovoked war on Ukraine, a troubling alignment has emerged not only among those inside Russia’s media sphere, but also among some Ukrainian Americans and conservative U.S. TV viewers who repeat narratives that mirror Kremlin...

Ukrainians remain hopeful but feel uncertain as Russia illegally holds thousands of civilians captive
When she heard her front door open almost two years ago, Kostiantyn Zinovkin’s mother thought her son had returned home because he forgot something. Instead, men in balaclavas burst into the apartment in Melitopol, a southern Ukrainian city occupied by Russian...

Capture of Chinese soldiers fighting alongside Russia is latest example of China’s geopolitical looting
The Ukrainian military has captured two Chinese men fighting alongside the Russian army in the eastern Donetsk region and has information that “significantly more” are with Russian forces, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on April 8....

Ukrainian veteran amputees crippled by Russia’s full-scale invasion learn adaptive skiing in U.S.
Ukrainian war veteran Oleksandr Shvachka lost his left leg to Russian tank fire outside Kyiv. Three years on, the latest step in his physical and mental rehabilitation recently unfolded under a brilliant blue sky on a snow-covered mountain more than 5,000 miles away....

A Russian asset: Trump’s policy behavior confirms evidence he was groomed by the Kremlin since the 1980s
The “Kyiv Independent” published an explosive interview on February 26 that torched any lingering doubt about President Donald Trump’s deep ties to Russian intelligence. Veteran journalist Craig Unger has tracked Trump’s relationships with Moscow for years...

Milwaukee residents rally in outrage over Trump’s humiliation of Zelenskyy and betrayal of Ukraine
Ukrainians in Milwaukee and around the world have been rallying around President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the aftermath of the ambush he suffered at the White House, when Donald Trump and JD Vance used the meeting to publicly humiliate the wartime leader and promote Russian lies.

Putin’s Proxy: An unhinged Trump berates President Zelenskyy in ambush set by Vance at White House visit
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance unleashed a blistering verbal assault on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on February 28, abruptly canceling a long-anticipated minerals deal and severing hopes for continued U.S. backing of...

Trump shuts down humanitarian parole option for Ukrainian refugees in a pro-Kremlin shift toward Putin
A group of American citizens and immigrants is suing the Trump administration for ending a long-standing legal tool presidents have used to allow people from countries where there is war or political instability to enter and temporarily live in the U.S. The lawsuit...

Trump’s abrupt policy change on Ukraine to support Putin raises fears he will abandon Taiwan next
U.S. President Donald Trump’s abrupt reversal of three years of American policy toward Ukraine has raised concerns China might become emboldened to push its territorial claim on Taiwan, though experts say Beijing is most likely in a wait-and-see mode right now...

2000 Meters to Andriivka: Oscar winner Mstyslav Chernov takes viewers back to Ukraine’s frontlines
The day Mstyslav Chernov won the BAFTA for his documentary “20 Days in Mariupol” was the day he learned two soldiers he knew had been killed in combat. They were primary subjects of his new film “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” a harrowing portrait...

A Russian asset: Trump’s policy behavior confirms evidence he was groomed by the Kremlin since the 1980s
The “Kyiv Independent” published an explosive interview on February 26 that torched any lingering doubt about President Donald Trump’s deep ties to Russian intelligence. Veteran journalist Craig Unger has tracked Trump’s relationships with Moscow for years...


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.