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]
Milwaukee Independent reflects on third anniversary of its first assignment to cover the war in Ukraine
Three years ago, almost to the day on May 20, a team of journalists from Wisconsin crossed into Ukraine during the early phase of Russia’s full-scale invasion. It was the first time any news outlet from the state had reported directly from within Ukraine after the war...
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...
Trump shuts down humanitarian parole option for Ukrainian refugees in a pro-Kremlin shift toward Putin
A group of American citizens and immigrants is suing the Trump administration for ending a long-standing legal tool presidents have used to allow people from countries where there is war or political instability to enter and temporarily live in the U.S. The lawsuit...
Trump’s abrupt policy change on Ukraine to support Putin raises fears he will abandon Taiwan next
U.S. President Donald Trump’s abrupt reversal of three years of American policy toward Ukraine has raised concerns China might become emboldened to push its territorial claim on Taiwan, though experts say Beijing is most likely in a wait-and-see mode right now...
Winter of war: Display of scorched transformer highlights Russia’s attack on civilian energy
A charred transformer from one of Ukraine’s badly damaged power plants has come to a square in Kyiv’s city center, a stark reminder of the scale of destruction caused by Russian strikes on the country’s energy system. The massive blackened hulk...
Ukrainian hospital clowns replace fear with joy for cancer patients who survived Russian missile strike
Their costumes are put on with surgical precision: Floppy hats, foam noses, bright clothes, and a ukulele with multicolored nylon strings. Moments later, in a beige hospital ward normally filled with the beeping sounds of medical machinery, there are bursts of giggles...
Cultivating grapes: Napa Valley teaches Ukrainian winemakers how to heal their war-ravaged vineyards
As the head of an association of winemakers in southern Ukraine, Georgiy Molchanov knows a lot about how to cultivate grapes but not so much how to grow them amid undetonated mines. But that was the situation he found himself in after a Russian rocket dropped the...
Victoria Amelina: Posthumous book by Ukrainian author documents war crimes since Russian invasion
A posthumous book by Victoria Amelina, the Ukrainian author killed last year during a Russian missile strike, will be published in February upon the war’s third anniversary. Looking at Women Looking at War: A War and Justice Diary, which draws upon...
Olena Zelenska: Ukraine’s youth should see themselves as “a generation of winners” not victims of war
Ukraine’s First Lady wants her country’s children to view themselves not as a generation enduring a grinding war but rather as “a generation of winners.” On the sidelines of a day spent at a rehabilitation camp for Ukrainian children in the...
1000 Days of Defiance: Ukraine’s continued fight for survival and the looming impact of Trump’s return
November 20, 2024, marks the tragic milestone of the 1,000th day since Russia launched an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. The brutal assault, intended to topple Ukraine’s government within days, instead ignited a fierce national resistance and a war that has...
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....
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...
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.
