Kyiv Independent

The Kyiv Independent is an award-winning English-language media outlet covering Ukraine and Eastern Europe.

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The Kyiv Independent is Ukraine’s fastest-growing English-language media outlet, established in November 2021, just three months before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Kyiv Independent was born out of a fight for freedom of speech. It was co-founded by a group of journalists who were fired from the Kyiv Post, then a prominent newspaper, as the owner attempted to take the newsroom under control and end its critical coverage of Ukrainian authorities.

Just three months after the Kyiv Independent was launched, Russia invaded Ukraine. Our team stayed in Ukraine and kept on reporting on what was now a war against their country.

The team’s resilience and uncompromising reporting quickly made the Kyiv Independent a key source of news from Ukraine for millions of people around the world.

We vowed to serve the principles of honest journalism even during an ongoing war. We have published investigations, including into misconduct within the Ukrainian military. It has solidified our readers’ trust in us as an independent news source. The Kyiv Independent has won multiple awards for its work.

We had to grow fast. Today, the Kyiv Independent is a dynamic organization producing stories, video reports, newsletters, documentaries, and more. In March 2023, we formed a separate unit within the team to investigate Russian war crimes. The team has published nine documentaries so far, uncovered multiple war crimes, and seven international awards for its work.

Unlike many news organizations, the Kyiv Independent has no single owner or external source of financing. Instead, the majority of our funding comes directly from our readers — most of whom give just $5 a month. In 2024, 70% of our revenue was from membership and donations.

Thanks to the support of our readers, the Kyiv Independent doesn’t need to depend on a wealthy owner — and doesn’t have a paywall. Our journalism is free and accessible to everyone, regardless of ability to pay, because we believe that everyone should have access to accurate and reliable information.

Our Mission

Serve as the bridge between Ukraine and the world, delivering reliable news, context, and on-the-ground reporting.

Our Values

The Kyiv Independent serves its readers and community, and nobody else.

The Kyiv Independent won’t be dependent on a rich owner or an oligarch. Support from our readers, donors, and commercial activities fund the publication.

The newsroom decides and executes the publication’s editorial policy in the community’s best interests. Attempts to influence it from outside will not be tolerated.

The Kyiv Independent will always be at least partly owned by its journalists.

The Kyiv Independent strives to maintain financial sustainability to preserve its independence.

Our Achievements

We reach almost 3 million monthly readers in 2025. Millions of people now read the Kyiv Independent every month. Our monthly website audience grew from 13,000 readers in January 2022 to close to 3 million monthly readers in 2025.
Over 30,000 stories have been published since launching the Kyiv Independent, including daily news updates, war coverage, business, culture, and opinions.
We have published more than 150 field reports, including dozens of stories from the front lines, bringing you on-the-ground coverage from places like Avdiivka, Bakhmut, Chasiv Yar, and Vovchansk.
We have conducted 30 investigations, including an award-winning investigation into alleged misconduct in Ukraine’s International Legion and leaked documents showing Russia’s plan to take over Belarus by 2030.
The Kyiv Independent currently has seven active newsletters with over 230,000 subscribers. They cover the latest events in Ukraine, front-line dispatches, business news, and much more.
We built a vibrant, global community of more than 20,000 members. Since its launch, more than 50,000 people have financially supported the Kyiv Independent.
We have won 20 awards for our journalism and one award for our audience growth.
We grew our team from 18 to 70+ people. A bigger team allows us to increase the impact and reach of our journalism.
Our War Crimes Investigations Unit has produced nine investigative documentaries about Russia’s systemic atrocities in Ukraine, including the deportation of children and torture of POWs.
KI’s YouTube channel features our video content, including reports from the front lines, a show about the latest news “Ukraine This Week,” exclusive interviews, and much more. So far in 2025, we have reached over 14 million views and 270,000 subscribers.

We need your support to keep going.

Your support means that, as we face 2025 and the uncertainties it brings, we will be stronger, more resilient, and will be able to continue bringing you reliable journalism from Ukraine, whatever may come.

Please consider donating to the Kyiv Independent.

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Kyiv Independent is hosted at Myriad USA

Fundraisers

Feed fundraiser card link to Support the mental health of the Kyiv Independent's team

Official fundraiser

Support the mental health of the Kyiv Independent's team

The Kyiv Independent is raising $68,000 to fund a full year of mental health support for our entire team — so the people who live through this war and report on it can keep going. Journalism always takes a mental toll before you add a war to it. In Ukraine, our journalists live through the same attacks they report to the world. And it is not only the reporters: our newsletters get coded from bomb shelters, community letters written from subway stations, marketing campaigns launched from behind a bathroom wall — the safest corner of an apartment during a strike. Everyone here carries the same weight. The story the world likes to hear is that people in Ukraine are resilient and unbreakable. We are resilient. But we are not unbreakable. In the first year of the full-scale invasion, 93% of Ukrainians surveyed for one study reported at least one mental health issue at a moderate or severe level. That was year one. We are now in year five, and the pressure keeps growing. This past winter was one of the hardest yet. Due to Russia’s campaign targeting Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, Ukrainians lived with severe energy cuts for months, while temperatures inside apartments did not rise above 16°C (around 61°F). Our team worked by laptop light and turned to our community to help support us in the cold. Then came May and a new wave of Russia’s brutal aerial attacks on Kyiv. Ballistic missiles give almost no warning — it takes them only minutes to reach the capital — and sometimes the sirens sound only after the explosions. When the subway station itself shudders from a strike while people are sheltering inside, you start to wonder whether anywhere is still safe. And through all of it, the newsroom keeps working. As one of our colleagues once put it, the workload is so intense that there is no time for burnout. It is half a joke, but it reflects a real and growing crisis in the Ukrainian media industry. According to one 2025 study, 92% of the media workers surveyed showed symptoms of burnout. To help our team members get through this challenging time, we launched our Mental Health Support program over a year ago. It covers individual therapy sessions or provides access to an online psychological support platform. Some rely on it all year; others only in an emergency. Either way, it is part of what keeps the newsroom running. "I believe in this program because I have felt what it does. Just knowing the support is there — already taken care of, whenever you need it — lifts a quiet weight, in work that never really switches off. For anyone on the team who wants it, that reassurance is essential." — Daryna Shevchenko, CEO of the Kyiv Independent Therapy is not a magic cure for any of this. But it gives you a way to cope, the space to find the mechanisms that work for you, and a place where you are heard and understood.. Support our team and help the people behind this newsroom keep going.

$475 raised

9 supporters

This fundraiser has ended

Feed fundraiser card link to Winter Support Fundraiser

Official fundraiser

Winter Support Fundraiser

Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have plunged Kyiv into an unprecedented energy crisis, leaving millions without stable electricity, heating, and water during subzero temperatures. Despite freezing homes and prolonged blackouts, the Kyiv Independent team continues to report and keep the world informed. The $25,000 winter support fundraiser will help provide the maintenance of the generator, power banks, power stations, space heaters, chemical heating pads, and short-term relocation, so the team can stay online and warm.

$43,154 raised

314 supporters