Read more here:
kyivindependent.com/ukraine-need...
19.01.2026 18:11
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But EU country position papers lay bare the difficult situation that EU countries face, dependent on American technology to back Kyiv even as U.S. President Donald Trump's increasingly brazen statements on Greenland thrust the transatlantic alliance into its biggest crisis in decades.
The EU announced in January that it will spend an unprecedented 60 billion euros ($70 billion) on military equipment for Ukraine.
Scoop: Ukraine will need $27 billion in military equipment produced outside the EU in 2026, because the bloc is either unable to match U.S. made systems or produce them fast enough, documents show.
From “Light outage schedule” to “The Bachelor 2025,” here’s what Ukrainians Googled in 2025.
kyivindependent.com/chart-of-the...
US, Ukraine minerals deal will finally go live in 2026
kyivindependent.com/us-ukraine-m...
"If immobilized Russian assets remain untouchable despite a clear legal and financial mechanism, the lesson will be that European solidarity ends where fear of action begins, even in self-defense,” Iryna Mudra, deputy head of President Zelensky’s office, told the Kyiv Independent.
"The quickest path to ensure a just and lasting peace in Ukraine and Europe is to make sure that Russia understands that it cannot win a war of attrition" @lucalerymoffat.bsky.social's latest article highlights the EU reparations loan's strategic significance
kyivindependent.com/the-key-to-e...
⚡️Destroy. Fix. Repeat: Russia is creating a devastating doom loop inside Ukraine’s energy system.
Read our latest in the Kyiv Independent: kyivindependent.com/destroy-fix-...
Ukraine is considering a cocktail of ideas to keep its finances afloat while it waits for Brussels to greenlight new aid, and a big drop in foreign aid in 2026 looms.
See my latest piece for the Kyiv Independent:
kyivindependent.com/kyiv-plots-h...
I spoke with Iryna Mudra in an exclusive interview on Oct. 22. Read Ukraine’s official position in the piece below.
kyivindependent.com/exclusive-uk...
European leaders failed to reach a political agreement last night after weeks of jockeying over questions around the financial and legal plumbing of the loan and how the money should be spent.
Conspicuously absent: what does Ukraine think?
When Zelensky’s top legal advisor Iryna Mudra suggested to European partners in 2022 that Russia’s frozen assets be used to compensate Ukraine, she says she was met with little enthusiasm.
3 years later, there is wide European support for a ‘reparations loan’ to Kyiv, backed by the Russian assets.
Ukraine's central bank leaves interest rate unchanged at 15.5%
'Very cautious decision' — Ukraine's central bank leaves interest rate unchanged at 15.5%.
See more here: kyivindependent.com/very-cautiou...
Ukraine’s average daily official and market exchange rates.
Ukraine's central bank has held the country's exchange rate relatively stable in the last year after the initial volatility caused by Russia’s full-scale invasion. But that might be about to change.
Read more: kyivindependent.com/will-ukraine...
The International Monetary Fund left its forecasts for Ukraine’s economic growth unchanged, despite a looming hole in the country’s finances and intensifying Russian attacks on energy infrastructure.
The European Council has agreed to reduce and eliminate duties on a range of Ukrainian agricultural products, paving the way for the first significant update to tariffs under an EU-Ukraine trade agreement since it was adopted in 2016.
GDU Figure of the Week
After 2022 Ukraine often relied on electricity imports.
But this summer, Ukraine, once again became a structural exporter. And last month, Ukraine's exports even exceeded pre-invasion levels.
www.linkedin.com/posts/green-...
thx to R.Stubbe
Check out and follow Work-in-Data! I've been working on this since 2021 — first as a research assistant helping to build the datasets, and now as a writer helping to spread new findings about global inequality.
There are three short blogs up on the website with more to come!
As leaders attend the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome, reconstruction feels furthest in the places it's needed most.
See my latest for the Kyiv Independent.
Important story in EuroMaidan Press, which builds on reports that Russia uses Ukrainian civilians for ‘target practice’.
I recently spoke to Olena who lives just 4km from Russian-occupied territories.
She told me that her city, Nikopol, is a “training ground” for new Russian recruits. A short🧵
Great read, congrats!
Number 3: Ukraine’s closer trading relations with the EU.
Over 60% of Ukraine's exports now go to the EU, relative to about 40% before the war.
Reverting to pre-war rules may pose challenges to Ukrainian exporters, who have adapted to trade with fewer tariffs.
Imports of these products did initially spike after tariffs were removed, but then declined.
When Ukraine unblocked Black Sea export routes, it eased the situation.
Unilateral import bans on some Ukrainian products imposed by Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, also contributed to the decline.
Number 2: EU imports from Ukraine of all 290 agricultural products for which tariffs were lifted in June 2022.
The influx provoked protests from local farmers who claimed Ukrainian goods were overwhelming markets and lowering prices.
It’s also been touted by politicians as a sign of Ukraine’s incompatibility with the EU.
I spoke with two experts who challenge these claims. See more in the piece.
In my piece for the Kyiv Independent, I report what today’s return of EU tariffs on Ukrainian agricultural goods means for everyone involved.
Here are a three charts that tell part of the story.
Number 1: the surge of cereal imports from Ukraine into bordering EU countries.
Yesterday, the day after I posted this thread, a high-rise building in Nikopol was hit by a drone.
Here’s a video recorded by a pedestrian.
Source: UNITED24 telegram channel.
