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]
Hope and pragmatism compete on Ukraine’s frontlines when considering a future with Trump as U.S. president
Soldiers in a Ukrainian artillery battery on the front lines of the country’s east were only vaguely aware of American election results pointing to Donald Trump’s victory on November 6, but firm in their hopes for the next president of the United States....
Ukraine tries to outsmart a brutal Russian army distracted by rebellion and infighting
The ambush had been postponed three times before Ukrainian commanders decided one recent night that conditions were finally right. Cloaked in darkness, a battalion of Kyiv’s 129th brigade pressed ahead, advancing stealthily on unsuspecting Russian soldiers. By...
Ukrainian family finds closure after 16-month ordeal to identify a veteran killed in Bucha
The Ukrainian veteran’s gravestone carries his photograph and birthday, but the date Roman Shadlovskyi died is a broad estimate: March 2022, the month Russian forces brutally killed both civilians and military personnel before ending their occupation of Bucha....
Russia seeks to escalate global hunger crisis with halt to deal allowing Ukraine grain exports
Russia on July 17 halted a breakthrough wartime deal that allowed grain to flow from Ukraine to countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia where hunger is a growing threat and high food prices have pushed more people into poverty. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov...
Global currency: Why the invasion of Ukraine could give the Chinese yuan a boost against the U.S. dollar
By Tuugi Chuluun, Associate Professor of Finance, Loyola University Maryland The Chinese economy’s sheer size and rapid growth are impressive. China maintained one of the highest economic growth rates in the world for more than a quarter of a century, helping lift...
Environmental toll of war: The pollution caused by Russia’s invasion will take Ukraine years to clean up
Olga Lehan’s home near the Irpin River was flooded when Ukraine destroyed a dam to prevent Russian forces from storming the capital of Kyiv just days into the war. Weeks later, the water from her tap turned brown from pollution. “It was not safe to...
Diane Baima: Former Milwaukee teacher shares stories of life in rural Ukraine during 9 months of war
Diane Baima grew up in America’s midwest, being born and raised in Minnesota, attending college in Madison, and later working in Milwaukee. Her love of education would eventually bring her to Ukraine, where her hope for a peaceful post-Soviet era collided with...
Years of investigating Holocaust atrocities are helping unearth Russian war crimes in Ukraine
“Everywhere, when we liberate our land, we see one thing … Russia leaves behind torture chambers and mass burials of murdered people. This was the case in Bucha and other cities in the north of the country after the occupation. This was the case in the Kharkiv...
Could Russia collapse? It may be unthinkable but nobody predicted the end of the USSR either
By Matthew Sussex, Fellow, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University Among the many questions asked about Russia’s disastrous war against Ukraine, one of them is posed only very rarely: can Russia survive what seems increasingly likely to be...
Most Ukrainians left without power after latest wave of Russian brutality targets vital energy resources
A punishing new barrage of Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure on November 23 caused power outages across large parts of the country as well as neighboring Moldova, piling more damage onto Ukraine’s already battered power network and adding to the misery...
The cold and dark of Kyiv: Russia uses air strikes on infrastructure to plunge Ukraine into the Stone Age
When the power is out, as it so often is, the high-rise apartment overlooking Ukraine’s war-torn capital feels like a deathtrap. No lights, no water, no way to cook food. And the risk of not being able to escape from the 21st floor in time should a Russian...
Russian shells continue hitting near nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhia as blackouts roll across Ukraine
Powerful explosions from shelling shook Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, the site of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, the global nuclear watchdog said on November 20, calling for “urgent measures to help prevent a nuclear accident” in the...
A deal with the devil: Why Ukraine cannot sign a peace deal with a Russian gun to its head
Signing an agreement with Russia to stop the war with Ukraine would amount to signing a deal with the devil, a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as external forces seek to pressure the nation into a toxic deal to end more than two years of...
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.
