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]
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 dream come true: Ukraine begins EU membership talks a decade after Putin illegally seized Crimea
The European Union on June 25 launched membership talks with Ukraine, a decade after Russian troops seized the Crimean Peninsula to deter the country from moving closer to the West, part of a chain of events that set the two neighbors on the path to war....
Damaged by war: Vibrant church in Ukraine rises as a symbol of the nation’s faith and culture
During the Orthodox Easter season, an extraordinary new church brought spiritual comfort to war-weary residents of the Ukrainian village of Lypivka. Two years ago, it also provided physical refuge from the horrors outside. Almost 100 residents sheltered in a basement...
Frontline “soldier artists” from Ukraine perform a cultural concert of gratitude for Milwaukee
Wisconsin Ukrainians hosted a special concert for the Milwaukee community on June 15, performed by frontline Ukrainian soldiers as part of the “Music Tour of Gratitude to America,” an initiative to thank the people of the United States for their unwavering...
Ukraine’s LGBTQ soldiers rally for legal rights in hope that their military service is changing public attitudes
Several hundred LGBTQ Ukrainian servicemen and their supporters marched in central Kyiv on June 16 to demand more rights and highlight their service to their country in its war with Russia. The service members — many wearing rainbow and unicorn patches on their...
Ukrainian faith leaders tour U.S. with plea for continued support against brutal Russian invasion
Like other Christian, Jewish and Muslim clergy in a delegation of Ukrainian interfaith leaders visiting the United States, Bishop Ivan Rusyn has a succinct message: “Please, hear our cry.” The deputy senior bishop of the Ukrainian Evangelical Church, a...
Survivors share grief days after Russia wiped out residents of village with missile strike during funeral
U.N. and local investigators searched for answers on October 7 at the site of a Russian missile strike on a small Ukrainian village that days earlier turned its sole cafe to rubble and killed nearly 52 people gathered for a dead soldier’s wake, according to...
The invasion of Ukraine is a war crime and calling it a “tragedy” shelters Russia from its responsibility
By Mariana Budjeryn, Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom, Harvard Kennedy School Russia’s war against Ukraine continues to cause unspeakable, unimaginable suffering. By now, the word “tragedy” is firmly installed in the lexicon of the war and has become...
Russia admits it has no plans to rebuild Ukrainian cities it destroyed in order to illegally annex land
Ukrainians living in parts of Donbas illegally seized by the Russians in 2022 are facing another hellish winter with the aggressor state openly saying “there’s no point” in rebuilding many of the cities it destroyed. Russian minister of construction Irek...
Ukraine’s leaders assess war resources as Russian occupation of their territory nears another winter
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he spoke with President Joe Biden about future U.S. support for Ukraine, and Russian President Vladimir Putin visited a military base near the invaded nation’s border as the warring countries prepared for the winter...
How long-range missiles provided by the U.S. enabled Ukraine’s major strike on Russian airfields
Ukraine claimed on October 17 to have carried out one of the most destructive attacks on Russian air assets since the beginning of the war, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying the assault used longer-range ballistic missiles donated by the United...
Ukrainian child enjoys normal life in Milwaukee after escaping war and finding treatment for spinal disease
Along with the hardships of the first year of war in Ukraine, Lesia Kutarenko began noticing that her baby was no longer trying to walk. He had also reverted to crawling. “Our son could walk while leaning on chairs, sofas, and walls. Like all children, he would...
Milwaukee stands with Ukraine: Rally marks 3rd year of full-scale invasion and condemns Trump’s betrayal
A wave of blue-and-yellow flags filled the air along East Wisconsin Avenue on February 23, as hundreds of Milwaukee residents gathered to mark the somber third anniversary of Russia’s brutal and unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine. With a firm stance supporting a free and sovereign Ukraine, participants urged unwavering U.S. support.
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.
