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]
U2’s Bono questions if the world still values mercy as peace retreats in an age overshadowed by war
Cannes is a short trip from Bono’s seaside villa in Eze-sur-Mer. He bought it with The Edge in 1993, and considers himself grateful to a coastline that, he said, gave him a “delayed adolescence.” “I can tell you I’ve slept on beaches...
Оглядаючись на третю річницю своєї першої поїздки для висвітлення війни в Україні, Milwaukee Independent
Три роки тому, майже день у день — 20 травня — команда журналістів із Вісконсину перетнула кордон України в перші місяці повномасштабного вторгнення Росії. Це був перший випадок, коли медіа зі штату висвітлювали події безпосередньо з України після ескалації війни у...
From Abuja to Irpin: Milwaukee’s Sister Cities Day celebrates international ties built through people
City Hall came alive with music, dance, and heartfelt stories on May 16, as Milwaukee marked its 2025 Sister Cities Meet and Greet Day, honoring the relationships that continue to grow between Milwaukee and its seven international partners. From Abuja to Irpin,...
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...
Echoes of Yalta: How Stalin got what he wanted in Poland and now Putin could get in Ukraine
By Wendy Webster, Professor of Modern Cultural History, University of Huddersfield As Britain celebrated Victory in Europe (VE) Day on May 8, 1945, the Polish airmen of RAF 305 Bomber Squadron captured a starkly different sentiment in their diary. “‘Victory!’ every...
Life goes on in the Ukrainian city of Sumy despite the bloody Palm Sunday attack and daily threats
The humdrum of daily life in Sumy belies the constant threat of death its people have lived with since Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago. Days after Russia targeted the city’s center in back-to-back missile strikes, killing 35 people and injuring more than...
Why Putin covets Ukraine’s territory and turned Crimea from a playground into a battleground
Russia’s seizure of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine exactly 11 years ago on March 18, 2014, was quick and bloodless, but it sent Moscow’s relations with the West into a downward spiral unseen since the Cold War. It also paved the way for Russia’s...
A small Ukrainian theater reinvents itself with an all-female cast while male actors are away at war
The 43-year-old Ukrainian actor took to the stage wearing a black leather jacket and with a moustache painted on her face. Ruslana Ostapko was performing in multiple traditionally male roles in a recent production of the Chernihiv Regional Youth Theater. With so many...
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...
The opening of McDonald’s first restaurant in Irpin marks a milestone in post-war reconstruction
The city of Irpin, once a key battleground in the defense of Kyiv during the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion, will soon be home to its first McDonald’s restaurant, a 550-square-meter location slated to open near the city’s railway station. The development...
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.
