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]

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...

Cost of not investing: Why rebuilding Ukraine becomes more expensive each day of Russia’s occupation
By Jeffrey Kucik, Associate Professor at the University of Arizona, University of Arizona U.S. military assistance is finally on its way to Ukraine after months of being held up in Congress. Reactions to the US$61 billion spending package, signed into law by President...

President Biden calls for solidarity with Ukraine near the beaches of Normandy during D-Day ceremony
President Joe Biden marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day on June 6 by pledging “we will not walk away” from Ukraine, drawing a direct line from the fight to liberate Europe from Nazi domination to today’s war against Russian aggression. “To...

99-year-old U.S. D-Day veteran hugs President Zelenskyy and calls him a savior of the Ukrainian people
An American veteran and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared an emotional moment at a ceremony to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion to liberate France in World War II, each praising the other as a hero. Retired Staff Sgt. Melvin Hurwitz,...

President Zelenskyy accuses China of aiding Russia by pressuring countries to avoid Ukraine peace talks
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused China on June 2 of helping Russia to disrupt an upcoming Swiss-organized peace conference on the war in Ukraine. Speaking at Asia’s premier security conference, Zelenskyy said that China is pressuring other...

Officials and analysts believe that Kyiv has launched a major push against Russian forces
Ukraine has launched a major push to dislodge Russian forces from the country’s southeast as part of its weekslong counteroffensive, committing thousands of troops to the battle, according to Western and Ukrainian officials and analysts. The surge in troops and...

Putin’s alleged deployment of nuclear weapons to Belarus dismissed as more bluster and blackmail
Sometime over the summer, if Vladimir Putin can be believed, Russia moved some of its short-range nuclear weapons into Belarus, closer to Ukraine and onto NATO’s doorstep. The declared deployment of the Russian weapons on the territory of its neighbor and loyal...

True Stories of Love: Ukrainian women use painting as a therapy to help them cope with loss
In a sunlit art studio in Kyiv filled with easels and canvases, Iryna Farion puts the finishing touches on an oil painting with a predominantly dark color palette in shades of blue and brown. The artwork depicts two intertwined trees held together by their roots, as...

20 Days in Mariupol: How journalism illuminated the horrors of war in award-winning documentary
Associated Press video journalist Mstyslav Chernov had just broken out of Mariupol after covering the first 20 days of the Russian invasion of the Ukrainian city and was feeling guilty about leaving. He and his colleagues, photographer Evgeniy Maloletka and producer...

CIA whiz kid from “Charlie Wilson’s War” offers advice for the U.S. to help Ukraine win against Russia
After the last Soviet troops left Afghanistan in 1989, defeated by an insurgency equipped and guided by the United States, a two-word cable arrived at CIA headquarters: “WE WON.” It was one of the last moments of the Cold War, credited with helping push...

Hasidic life in Uman: A journey across Ukraine to the Tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov
Return to Ukraine: This feature is part of an original Milwaukee Independent editorial series that recorded news from areas across Ukraine, including Milwaukee's sister city of Irpin, from June to July of 2023. It was the second time in the span of a year that the...

Tetiana Storozhko: Being a witness to the history of Roma culture in Ukraine
Return to Ukraine: This feature is part of an original Milwaukee Independent editorial series that recorded news from areas across Ukraine, including Milwaukee's sister city of Irpin, from June to July of 2023. It was the second time in the span of a year that the...

A sense of duty: Why more wounded Ukrainian soldiers are returning to battle after amputation
The Ukrainian intelligence soldier does not know how long his clinical death lasted after an explosive detonated beneath him. All Andrii Rubliuk remembers is overwhelming cold, darkness, and fear. When he regained consciousness in his shattered body — missing both...


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.