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]
Chernobyl at 40: What secret files from the Soviet nuclear disaster reveal about political deception
By Lauren Cassidy, Lecturer German and Russian Studies, Binghamton University, State University of New York On April 26, 1986, Soviet engineers at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant were conducting a safety test. Doomed by a fatal design flaw and pushed to the limit by...
When war ends: Why the U.S. is unlikely to invest in Ukraine’s recovery with a new Marshall Plan
By Frank A. Blazich Jr., Curator of Military History, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution President Donald Trump wants Ukraine to repay the United States for helping to defend the country against Russia’s invasion. Since 2022, Congress has...
Russia outlines plan to rebuild its armored forces in preparation for large-scale war with NATO
In its most recent intelligence assessment, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that Russia’s defense industry is pursuing a long-term effort to expand T-90 tank production and reestablish its pre-war tank reserves, signaling intent to maintain a...
A diminished Russia risks losing control of Far East territory as China and North Korea expand influence
Russia’s remote Far Eastern territories are becoming the focal point of what Ukrainian intelligence describes as a gradual foreign takeover, with China and North Korea tightening their economic and demographic grip on a region that makes up nearly half of the Russian...
How Putin isolates Russia’s internet from the rest of the world by blocking access to websites
YouTube videos that won’t load. A visit to a popular independent media website that produces only a blank page. Cellphone internet connections that are down for hours or days. Going online in Russia can be frustrating, complicated, and even dangerous. It’s...
Brutal Russian attack targeting civilians kills families in Ukraine’s western city of Ternopil
A large Russian drone and missile barrage on Ukraine’s western city of Ternopil killed at least 25 people, including three children, authorities said on November 19. The nighttime attack hit two nine-story apartment blocks in Ternopil, located around 120 miles...
Ukraine’s long-range drones that rattle Russia are built in the shadows and launched at night
At a secret location in rural Ukraine, columns of attack drones are assembled at night and in near silence to strike deep inside Russia. Their targets are strategic: oil refineries, fuel depots, and military logistics hubs. Since the summer, Ukraine’s long-range...
Ukraine’s AI drones are reshaping modern warfare as precision strikes outpace traditional artillery
As a Russian soldier slips out from the tree line, a Ukrainian reconnaissance drone detects movement, zooms in, and an enemy vehicle appears on the operator’s screen. Heorhii Volkov, commander of Yasni Ochi (Clear Eyes), a drone unit with 13 Khartiia Brigade, orders a...
Wisconsin first to introduce resolution condemning Russia’s cruel abduction of Ukrainian children
Wisconsin has become the first state in the nation to introduce a resolution formally condemning Russia’s abduction and forced deportation of Ukrainian children, marking what advocates called a moral and historic stand for human rights. The joint resolution, announced...
Traveling VR exhibit “War Up Close” depicts invasion of Ukraine through 360° photos by Mykola Omelchenko
On the same day Wisconsin became the first state in the nation to officially condemn Russia’s forced deportation of Ukrainian children, visitors to the Capitol experienced a hauntingly immersive window into the war’s toll on civilians. The War Up Close virtual reality...
Haunted by captivity: Ukrainian POWs begin rebuilding their lives after months of Russian trauma
Since his release from a Russian prison in April, Stanislav Tarnavskyi has been in a hurry to build the life in Ukraine he dreamed about during three years of captivity. The 25-year-old has proposed to his girlfriend, bought an apartment and adopted a golden...
Trump flips position at UN by saying Ukraine can win back all its territory after months of embracing Putin
Donald Trump said on September 23 that he believed Ukraine could win back all territory lost to Russia, a dramatic shift from the U.S. leader’s repeated calls for Kyiv to make concessions to end the war. Trump posted on social media soon after meeting with...
Fog and winter weather open gaps in Ukraine’s defensive lines as Russians push deeper into Donetsk
The fog rolls in across eastern Ukraine, and with it comes danger. For Ukrainian defenders, the murky weather that blankets the front lines has become as much an adversary as Russian forces themselves, grounding the drones that have become Ukraine’s primary...
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.
