Alexander Khrebet’s Post

Meet the European Press Prize 2023 Winners! ✨ This year, our Special Award was dedicated to Ukraine Reporting. It was won by Anna M. and Alexander Khrebet with "Suicide missions, abuse, physical threats: International Legion fighters speak out against leadership’s misconduct." ✨ "Russian Asset Tracker", a project by The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, The Guardian and many media and research partners, won our 2023 Innovation Award. ✨ Maartje Bakker and César Dezfuli won our Migration Journalism Award, in its first edition, with "The long road to a home in Europe." ✨ Our 2023 Public Discourse Award was won by Alla Konstantinova with ""She lost consciousness as it was happening and she’s actually grateful she did.” What we know about the rapes perpetrated in Ukraine by Russian soldiers." ✨ The Winner of our 2023 Investigative Reporting Award is "Death Weapons: Inside a Teenage Terrorist Network", by Alexander Nabert, Christina Brause, Nick Robyns-Early, Bryan Bender. ✨ Johannes Böhme is the Winner of our 2023 Distinguished Reporting Award with "The travelling tribunal." (He could not be with us, but sent us a video message!) To read all their winning projects ➡️ buff.ly/3N1wwiU #europeanpressprize

We are thrilled to announce that the Kyiv Independent has won the most prestigious journalism prize in Europe — The European Press Prize. Anna M. and Alexander Khrebet’s story — “Suicide missions, abuse, physical threats: International Legion fighters speak out against leadership’s misconduct” — has earned first place in the Special Award category. The European Press Prize celebrates the highest achievements in European journalism. The winning story was an investigative piece, focusing on the alleged misconduct in the International Legion, a special military unit created for foreigners who volunteer to fight for Ukraine. Whether to publish this story was a difficult decision to make. Many believe press should not write about contentious topics like these during war, as it can undermine the West’s trust in Ukraine, or Ukrainians’ trust in their army and government. But journalists serve the public interest. The public deserves to know the uncensored truth. We believe that shedding light on the alleged theft in the military doesn’t hurt Ukraine, stealing does.  We believe that exposing misconduct in the military or government helps Ukraine, not hurts it. Earning this award validates the tough decision we made that day, and galvanizes us in our mission to continue delivering the unfettered, unbiased truth about Ukraine. Read the award-winning story here: https://lnkd.in/gimTrSfV

The Kyiv Independent will soon launch a new project called "Ukraine's true history," publishing stories, videos, and a newsletter explaining Ukraine's past and present without distortions and myths. We're set to walk you through topics such as Ukrainian 20th-century nationalism, how Russia went to great lengths to steal Ukrainian culture, the true history of Crimea, and explain Russia's neverending attempts to conquer Ukraine. Subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/gdKVYB76 Subscribers will have a chance to win one of the 10 copies of Serhii Plokhy's future book, The Russo-Ukrainian War, with the author's signature. “I have been writing about the history of Russian-Ukrainian relations for the last three decades, and still the all-out attack on Ukraine by Putin’s Russia came as a surprise to me,” says Plokhy. “In this book, I try to explain not only the causes, the course and the possible consequences of the war, but also its many surprises, from Putin’s miscalculations to Zelensky’s ability to inspire and unite his nation, and the entire world, to resist the aggression.”

At an abandoned building about 20 minutes drive from Bakhmut, wounded Ukrainian soldiers pour in from the front line to receive emergency medical care. Front-line medics near Bakhmut are under enormous pressure as Ukrainian soldiers’ casualties mount due to Russia’s seemingly endless attacks.