re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict.

Well deserved grant. If you have an interest in the conditions on the ground in Pokrovsk or drone operators in action, watch the video.

Charles Douglas-Home Memorial Trust renews funding for Kyiv Independent’s front-line reporting

September 2, 2025 2:09 pm

The Charles Douglas-Home Memorial Trust has made a generous grant for the second year in a row to support the Kyiv Independent's front-line reporting. The new grant will cover a full year of salary for the Kyiv Independent's front-line reporter, Francis Farrell, and videographer Olena Zashko for 2025–2026.

“Although they still maintain teams or individual correspondents in Ukraine, coverage of the actual battlefield by large Western media outlets has plummeted over the past year. There are two main reasons for this: first, the declining importance placed on Ukraine by newsrooms around the world; and second, perhaps more importantly, the increased danger from drones in front-line areas — even as far back as 20 kilometers from the zero line itself.

“In this environment, Western audiences — whether ordinary people at home who want to understand what’s really happening on the front line, or policymakers, diplomats, journalists, and experts — are all starved of high-quality coverage.

“Despite this, we at the Kyiv Independent have not stopped making regular trips to the battlefield, always striving for deeper, closer, and higher-quality reporting, even as the danger grows with each passing month. For that reason, it means the world to us, as front-line correspondents, to have the financial backing of the Charles Douglas-Home Trust. This support allows us to continue our work frequently, independently, and at a high level of quality,” Francis said.

As the Charles Douglas-Home Memorial Trust continues its mission to support quality journalism worldwide, its latest contribution to the Kyiv Independent exemplifies the enduring power of solidarity and the vital role of the press in shaping informed and resilient societies.

“This is the second consecutive year that we are pleased to stand behind the Kyiv Independent’s front-line reporting.

It is a particular honour to support both front-line reporter Francis Farrell and videographer Olena Zashko, as they bring the world the truth from Ukraine’s front lines. At a moment when so many international outlets have stepped back, we feel it is essential that independent journalism from Ukraine continues to reach the world. This is the largest charitable grant we have ever given,” said Christopher McKane, trustee of the Charles Douglas-Home Memorial Trust.

Last year, the trust’s support fully covered Francis’ salary and reporting work. Now, in 2025, it extends its funding to also support Olena, ensuring the Kyiv Independent’s front-line reporting team can continue documenting Russia’s war from the ground.



The Kyiv Independent

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The SBU has issued a new in absentia suspicion against Russian judge Konstantin Prostov of the Southern District Military Court, who sentenced captured defenders of Mariupol to long prison terms. In 2024, he gave two Ukrainian National Guard fighters 18 years in a strict-regime colony under fabricated charges. Both defended Mariupol with the 12th Brigade from the start of the full-scale war. Prostov had already been charged in June for similar sentences against other POWs.

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"... in absentia suspicion".

fuel situation update...

Fuel Crisis in Russia Worsens, No Let Up in Ukrainian Drone Bombardment

As the West dithers with its sanctions on Russian petroleum products, Ukraine has been honing its own, very effective, “drone sanctions” on Russian energy output.

by Stefan Korshak | Sept. 2, 2025, 4:37 pm

Ukraine’s punishing bombardment of Russian oil refineries is triggering downstream shortages and outages – with motorists from western Russia to the Pacific Ocean reporting spot shortages and empty gas stations.

Cause and effect were especially evident on Tuesday in Russia’s heavily industrialized Saratov region, on the Volga River, one the most massively hit targets of Ukrainian strikes in August.

Local media in Samara, a relatively wealthy territory of about 3.3 million residents, reported severe diesel fuel shortages and pumps empty of 92- and 95-octane gasoline at most locations across the region.

The Russian fuel retail company GP Vympel, a major gasoline and diesel distributor in the Saratov district and surrounding regions, in an announcement on Monday, warned its trucks could no longer deliver product to regional customers – hundreds of local wholesalers and gas stations – because of “developments arising from unavoidable conditions.”

The “conditions” referred to Vympel in part was this: Ukrainian drones on Sunday attacked and set afire the Kuibyshev oil refinery south of Samara. Kamikaze aircraft zeroed in on cracking towers needed for distillation and reservoirs.

The refinery is completely offline, and repairs will take weeks, weekend Russian energy industry news reports said.

In the Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine, gasoline shortages and outages also were reported, with pricing for gasoline and diesel shooting up 20% over the weekend. Most stations were simply out of fuel in Russian-controlled portions of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions. In Donetsk and Luhansk, geolocated images on Monday and Tuesday showed queues of hundreds of vehicles waiting for fuel.

Shortages also were reported on intercity highways used by Russians traveling to seaside vacations on the Black and Azov Sea coasts, local Telegram channels monitored by Kyiv Post reported.

In Russia’s Amur River Khabarovsk region – more than 6,000 kilometers (about 3,700 miles) east – as well as districts on the Pacific Ocean, motorists and local news agencies reported fuel shortages and outages over the weekend and on Monday. Car queues were spotted in the Sea of Japan port cities of Vanino and Sovetskaya Gavan.

The Ukrainian research group Spravdi reported that all of Khabarovsk Oblast, a territory of 1.2 million residents, was “completely out of gasoline.” Any fuel sold in coming months in the territory will be rationed, the report said.

The Russian state response has been to prioritize government-run businesses and major cities in western Russia, leaving far-flung regions with little fuel to buy and facing sharp price spikes, the report said.

Kyiv Post

Sooo.... that trip the wife and I took from New Orleans to Houston for a funeral in 1973, had minimal gas problems. I thought the minimum problems was tying off a couple 5 gallon cans to the back bumper, and traveling local parish roads where gas stations were not completely empty and the station owners were helpful.

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Sooo.... that trip the wife and I took from New Orleans to Houston for a funeral in 1973, had minimal gas problems. I thought the minimum problems was tying off a couple 5 gallon cans to the back bumper, and traveling local parish roads where gas stations were not completely empty and the station owners were helpful.

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Water skiing everyday that summer. Gasoline went to over 30 cents a gallon. No gas lines in Lake Charles at all, not one.

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Wsit!!!! What makes you think that Ukrsine who has stalemated Russia for three and a half years, and they haven’t been fighting back?

Whoa Nellie. Russia ain’t got a chance!!!

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Ignore his ignorant posts.

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The Europeans have, in fact, woken up: they are now spending more on defense than the U.S., for the first time since the end of WW2.

This is an astonishing transformation. Europe is the real sleeping giant no matter what pink pony riders and assorted doomers would have you believe.

And unlike the Russians who have to crawl to China for handouts, the Europeans are quite capable of financing this, and more.

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Quantifying defense budgets vs. actual spending is always subjective, but there's no arguing against the trends nor the new attitude.of European voters.

Oligarch Strip of the Week, 2.0 -

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An official who earned 25 million rubles over 20 years turned out to be a billionaire with dozens of apartments abroad, luxury cars, and an agroholding with a turnover in the billions.

The Prosecutor General's Office has seized the property of former Rosprirodnadzor employee Andrey Frolov and his family.

According to the investigation, he officially earned only 25 million rubles in 20 years, but in fact became the owner of 56 real estate properties, 42 expensive cars, and a whole group of companies generating billions in income.

Now all these assets — from apartments in Turkey and Thailand to agribusiness in the Altai Territory — may be confiscated for the benefit of the state.

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About that big Power of Siberia 2 contract signed Monday... As expected, Russia pays for everything and China gets gas at below profitable margins for Gazprom. That's what happens when the Chinese imports are the only thing keeping your war effort above water. Vlad remains the Master Strategist.

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As Power of Siberia 2 Pipeline Stagnates, So Do Russia's Hopes for Pivoting Gas Exports Eastward

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While some observers expected the deal on Power of Siberia 2 to be signed during Putin’s visit to China, this did not happen. Since then, there have been no public announcements suggesting the contract has moved on.

According to the Financial Times’ sources, the project could be stalled because China asked to pay for gas at prices close to Moscow’s domestic tariffs, something that would undermine any hope for profits for Russia’s gas exporter Gazprom. Moreover, China was prepared to buy only a fraction of the 50 bcm of the pipeline’s capacity, the sources added.

At this point, the project appears unfeasible. But are there any other options left for Gazprom to boost its foreign sales after its main export direction — to Europe — has nearly been severed?

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Before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Gazprom was pumping more than 140 bcm of gas to the European Union and the U.K. per year. This was the Russian pipeline gas monopoly’s biggest and most profitable foreign market.

The Western sanctions that followed the invasion, Moscow’s retaliation with a largely unmet demand for Europe to pay for Russian gas in rubles and the Nord Stream pipeline explosions have all led to a drastic decline in supplies.

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The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES), in its recent outlook for Russia’s oil and gas production and exports, estimated that Russia’s 2023 gas exports to Europe (EU + U.K.) amounted to only 22-25 bcm, a fraction of their former glory.

This was what mainly led to Gazprom incurring its greatest annual loss in the last 20 years — an equivalent of $7 billion — in 2023. And the future prospects are not promising.

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One option for Gazprom is to divert its gas flows from Europe to Asia, primarily by looking in the direction of Beijing. The monopoly has already attempted to do that, introducing a decade ago the Power of Siberia pipeline, capable of carrying up to 38 bcm of gas from the fields of East Siberia to China. But it is expected to hit full capacity by 2025-26.

There is also the pipeline from the Far East island of Sakhalin, which with luck could bring up to 10 bcm of gas to China, but this is also nowhere near enough to replace the lost volumes in Europe.

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With no significant remaining pipeline capacity to meet Chinese demand, or rather hope for it, Gazprom is left with the only option, which is to build a new pipeline — the Power of Siberia 2.

This is what the Russian officials have been negotiating for years. But that would require time — 10-12 years, judging by the first Power of Siberia construction timeline — as well as money, something that Gazprom, surprisingly or not, does not really have.

According to independent oil and gas analyst Mikhail Krutikhin, the first Power of Siberia pipeline was unprofitable from the start because of the prices that China was willing to pay for the exported gas, which were several times below what Europe paid on average. With the second pipeline, they can demand even lower tariffs.

“Gazprom’s position is a dead end while the Chinese have a choice,” Krutikhin told The Moscow Times. “Go ahead, build a pipeline at your own expense and then we will not buy the full amount of its capacity because we don’t really need it. And if we do, it will be at Russia’s internal prices,” he said.

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The staff of the Kyiv Independent are an illuminating reflection of the modern Ukrainian society. We in the West will owe them a debt for the rest of this century.

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They sure have been illuminating this site for the past couple of years with their link spamming bot