KI_official

The way Ukrainians, near the front line or deep in the rear, have mobilized so much of society, all on their own, to help the war effort has been nothing short of unbelievable. In the space of a few weeks after the invasion, friends of mine who were artists, DJs and stylists became experts in levels of ballistic protection for bulletproof vests and the tech specs of night vision goggles. At the train station in Lviv, through which millions of refugees flowed, grandmas from all across the region were sending in buckets of potato-filled dumplings to feed to cold, hungry people. Not to mention the culture of regular donations- Ukrainians taking huge chunks out of their personal incomes every month to donate to the army or volunteer orgs. There are very few people who haven’t been involved in one way or another- Francis

One of my favorite topics. There are probably thousands of foreign correspondents in Ukraine now. A lot of them are doing an incredible job covering the war. But there have been some recurring issues with the foreign outlets coverage of the invasion and Ukraine in general. Often, they look at Ukraine through a Russian lens — even if they do so unconsciously. The devil is in the details. When you headline your report “Russia loses territory in Kherson Oblast” it implies that Russia HAD territory in Kherson Oblast, which it didn’t — Kherson Oblast is a part of Ukraine. Great examples came from the coverage of staged referendums in the occupied territories — Western media reports about it were often parroting Russian propaganda. We wrote an editorial about that, which you can read here: https://kyivindependent.com/opinion/editorial-stop-using-russias-propaganda-language-to-talk-about-its-war-in-ukraine Scroll to the end to find some examples.

Often, journalists seek to achieve artificial balance in their stories about the war to appear neutral — “this side says… that side says.” The issue is, they often end up “balancing” evidence-based reporting from the ground with what Russia SAYS happened — effectively equalizing facts and propaganda. – Olga

It's a really good question and an important one for people's understanding of what is going on. I'll take it as Illia doesn't have connection at home in Bucha tonight.

Some of the replies already here are really spot on. This kind of news is significant for the big picture, but can be misleading with regards to the situation on the front line.

Russia's military capacity is enormous, both in terms of manpower and equipment reserves, not to mention their domestic military industry, which is mostly intact since the Soviet era.

The early phase of the war was frantic, and Russia's decisions were unbelievably misguided (read: stupid). Now, the front line is a lot more static and defensive, and making big breakthroughs is a lot harder for either side. For Ukraine to conduct more counteroffensives, they need to break through fortified lines defended by infantry, artillery, and armour, of which Russia still has a lot, to say the least. Speaking with Ukrainian soldiers and commanders near the front in Donbas really gets this point home to you, against the current of optimistic news.

Time will tell, but the ability of HIMARS and similar systems to eliminate these key targets behind enemy lines will eventually erode Russia's capacity to fight in the long term, but they are adapting as well.

It's hard to imagine Russia conducting more large-scale offensives successfully in the future, but it is worth remembering that the leadership has committed to the idea of this war being an existential one, that they can fight and win much like WWII, without worrying at all about the human cost.

As for Ukraine, they can and will look to keep advancing, but they do really need more and better weapons systems to break through Russia's defensive posture along the line as it stands. We here truly hope that with so much at stake and everything invested in defending Ukrainian sovereignty so far, this understanding will come soon among Ukraine's partners. -Francis

I think we’ll be a pretty loud country with a very explosive and emotional political life, a strong military power of Eastern Europe, lots of IT businesses. There will be lots of opportunities for investment, lots of contacts to rebuild infrastructure, etc etc, and one contract gives jobs to many people in other trades of life. As the history shows, recovery growth is almost always very impressive -- ILLIA

On sensitivity, great question. I’ll try to answer with some examples.

If I was leaked information about Ukrainian army secretly planning a surprise counter-offensive in the coming days, I wouldn’t publish it. Sure, it’s an interesting story, but does it really serve the public interest to learn about the counter-offensive in advance?But if I learned about ongoing corruption in the Ukrainian government or military, I would publish it. The public deserves to know. Shedding light on misconduct gives a chance of stopping it. Publishing stories like that, even during war, is helping Ukraine, not hurting it.
That’s why we were the first Ukrainian media outlet to write about weapons allegedly going missing in one unit of the Ukrainian military. Here’s the story: https://kyivindependent.com/investigations/investigation-international-legion-misappropriation
Here’s our editorial explaining why we chose to do it, and it also provides a wider answer to your question: https://kyivindependent.com/opinion/editorial-why-we-choose-to-publish-stories-about-misconduct-in-ukrainian-military - Olga