🇺🇦 Meanwhile in Ukraine — telling Ukraine’s story to the world Every day, millions of people see only fragments of what Ukraine is living through. Our team of Ukrainian journalists works to change that — by reporting the truth, documenting courage, and amplifying the voices that Russia tries to silence. We show what really happens on the ground: — frontline stories and verified war updates — moments of resilience and humanity — culture, history, and the people who refuse to disappear — the global solidarity that keeps Ukraine alive We are fully independent. No sponsors. No state funding. Just Ukrainians doing everything they can to keep the world informed. If our work matters to you — if our posts helped you understand Ukraine better, feel closer to its people, or stay connected to the truth — we invite you to stand with us. Your support, even $3, keeps this project alive and ensures the world does not look away. From the U.S. to the U.K., Canada, Sweden, Australia and beyond — readers from more than 40 countries already help us continue. We’d be honoured to have you with us too. 💙💛 Thank you for being here. And thank you for helping Ukraine be seen. ➡️ Patreon (monthly support): patreon.com/MeanwhileinUkrai… ➡️ Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/meanwhileinua ➡️ PayPal (one-time support): paypal.me/meaninua ➡️ Buy Me A Coffee (one-time or monthly): buymeacoffee.com/meaninuak Thank you for standing with us. Together, we keep Ukraine’s voice alive. 💙💛

Defenders 🇺🇦

Ukrainian drone operators have no equal on the planet. The tech matters. The people behind it matter more. That is Ukraine’s real edge. Slava Ukraine. Slava heroyam.💙💛

One night, Ukraine’s “long-range sanctions” reached six Russian regions and the Black Sea. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said two defense plants were targeted in the Tula and Voronezh regions. SBU units struck oil facilities in Krasnodar Krai, while drone infrastructure was targeted in the Kaluga and Oryol regions. He also reported combat operations against Russian occupation forces in the Bryansk region and a strike on a target in the Black Sea. The scale is the story: defense industry, oil, drones and military assets were pressured across multiple directions at once.

A Russian Su-30SM almost met a Ukrainian kamikaze drone on takeoff. The combat jet was lifting off from occupied Crimea when the drone nearly struck it. It escaped a direct hit. For Ukrainians, this is not just a near miss. It is a combat threat challenged at the moment it enters the sky.

Russia prepared for Shandryholove; Ukraine’s real attack came at Nove. According to Third Army Corps commander Andrii Biletskyi, Russian forces expected the main attack along the Shandryholove-Zelena Dolyna axis and were caught off guard by the actual direction. The Third Army Corps liberated Nove, Ridkodub and Katerynivka, and restored control over Karpivka and Novomykhailivka. Biletskyi says enemy personnel losses reached around 2,000, with more than 250 taken prisoner. Ukraine regained 51 km² in this phase, bringing the total returned since the offensive began to 176 km². The enemy was not simply pushed back. It was made to prepare for the wrong fight. That is how the third season of “Vivaldi” ended.

For Europe, Ukraine can become a headline; for Ellie, it is where she lives. The British creator behind Ellie’s Ukrainian Life has recorded a video for Europeans about the reality in Ukraine, speaking as someone whose everyday life is here. She was here before the full-scale invasion. She is still here now. That makes her message harder to dismiss as something distant.

Russian UAV operators were based at a sugar factory in Belgorod Oblast; Ukrainian aviation hit the site. The strike targeted a Russian base in Nova Tavolzhanka. At least eight UAV specialists from Russia’s 128th Brigade were killed, five were wounded, and a warehouse containing drones and ammunition was destroyed. Additional Russian personnel may still be under the rubble. This was a strike on the infrastructure behind Russian drone operations: trained crews, UAVs and ammunition concentrated at one base.

Ukraine’s interceptor drones are no longer a lab project: prototypes are already shooting down Russian UAVs in combat. Head of the Presidential Office Kyrylo Budanov says Ukraine is now scaling production and preparing for mass combat use of the interceptors, which could begin within several months. It is another step in the race between increasingly fast Russian attack drones and the Ukrainian systems being built to stop them. Budanov also said another large Ukraine-Russia prisoner exchange could take place as early as next week.

Bearded soldiers 💙💛