Rustem Khalilov - Ukrainska Pravda

Of mice and mines (and dehydration): two territorial defence soldiers hold their position for 165 consecutive days

Rustem Khalilov, 10 December, 05:30

American blood spilt on Ukrainian soil: how Keith Kellogg's daughter, Meaghan Mobbs, is giving names back to those who fell in Ukraine

Sevgil Musaieva, 29 September, 05:30

Every drone is hunting you here: life in Kherson under constant Russian attacks

Rustem Khalilov, 17 September, 05:30

"I'm going to make a run for it. You coming?" 48 hours in the life of a Ukrainian soldier who escaped Russian captivity and execution

One warm June morning, Anatolii Osukhovskyi, a chief sergeant in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, was lying on the ground with his hands tied, pinned down by a heavy log, awaiting his execution – a memory that will stay with him for life.

Rustem Khalilov, 26 August, 05:30

Construction amid explosions, land for Wagner fighters, and the targeting of women activists: how Russia is changing the face of Crimea

The Crimean new-build housing market is booming and prices continue to rise. The Russian authorities are announcing large-scale construction projects such as the "Crimean Dubai" and trying to lure even more Russians to the peninsula in various ways.

Rustem Khalilov, 27 May, 05:30

"He died? Then who met me yesterday?" Three stories involving the number 200

These are three stories of people who encountered the number 200 – each at a different time, under different circumstances. For some, it saved them from the enemy. Others heard it addressed to them. And someone even found an alternative to it – one you likely haven’t heard of.

Rustem Khalilov, 8 May, 05:30

Natasha, you got it! The former kindergarten teacher who downed a Russian missile

How a kindergarten teacher became an anti-aircraft gunner, how difficult it is to shoot down a missile flying at breakneck speed, what a person loses and gains when they join the army – these are the stories that Nataliia Hrabarchuk, a soldier of the Ukrainian Air Force, told Ukrainska Pravda.

Rustem Khalilov, 28 March, 05:30

Going home – to occupation. What makes some Ukrainians return to Russian-occupied territories?

Any calculations of those who returned to the Russian-occupied east of Ukraine are unlikely to be objective. However, the battles over numbers have left out the main question: why do some Ukrainians still return to the temporarily occupied territories?

Rustem Khalilov, 18 February, 05:30

Last stop: the front line. How and why Russia brings migrants to the occupied territories of Ukraine

How does the mechanism of attracting labour migrants to the occupied territories of Ukraine work? What are its preconditions? And what might its consequences be?

Rustem Khalilov, 5 February, 05:30

Conveyor belt of terror: how Russia uses double-tap strikes in Ukraine, as it did in Syria

Yevhen Buderatskyi, 3 December 2024, 05:30

"I'm a woman – they won't touch me." But the Russians did. On Russia's abduction and torture of Ukrainian civilians

Rustem Khalilov, 7 November 2024, 05:30

Ramadan on the front line: the Ukrainian Muslims fighting without a sip of water or a crumb of bread

Rustem Khalilov, 3 April 2024, 05:30

An army without Zaluzhnyi: Who is General Syrskyi, Ukraine's new Commander-in-Chief?

Olha Kyrylenko, 9 February 2024, 01:30

The story of a Ukrainian reconnaissance officer who crawled for three days and two nights

This is a story about invincibility. About a struggle against thirst, despair and deadly fatigue from which you eventually emerge victorious. It’s a love story too. Told in the special agent’s own words

Rustem Khalilov, 20 November 2023, 05:30

Tuzla Fortress. Putin's provocations and Kuchma's unexpected discovery that Ukraine is not Russia

Ukrainska Pravda spoke to the key figures in the events that unfolded around Tuzla in 2003: Colonel General Mykhailo Koval and Serhii Kunitsyn, who was the head of the government in Crimea at the time. Former president Leonid Kuchma answered our questions in writing. This article reconstructing the events of the hot autumn of 2003 sheds light on questions like: What provocations did Putin carry out, how did he try to hide, and how did he grope about for red lines? How did looking through his binoculars on the island of Tuzla help Kuchma realise Ukraine was not Russia? And why did the events of 2003 almost culminate in a war?

Rustem Khalilov, 28 September 2023, 05:30

Plane-spotting in the weeds, unwanted fame, and the Ghost of Kyiv made out of Lego. Andrii Pilshchykov's mother tells the story of her son's life

How did Andrii 'Juice' Pilshchykov decide he wanted to become a military pilot? Why did he decide, some months before the full-scale invasion, not to renew his contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine? And why was Pilshchykov, one of the most famous people lobbying for Ukraine to be given F-16 fighter jets, not part of the first group of pilots to be trained to fly them? Liliia Averianova, Pilshchykov’s mother, answers these – and other – questions.

Rustem Khalilov, 22 September 2023, 05:30

Thirst for life. Story of a special ops soldier who fell from a boat and spent 14 hours floating in the open sea

During an operation in the Black Sea, a special ops officer Conan was overboard. For 14 hours he was alone in the open sea, under the nose of the Russians. Ukrainska Pravda found Conan to learn about this incident firsthand.

Rustem Khalilov, 20 September 2023, 05:30

"The more your trench looks like a grave, the better your chances of survival." The things that are annoying, surprising, cheering and lifesaving for frontline soldiers

Anton Filatov, a former film critic and currently a soldier of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, tells Ukrainska Pravda about the life, household, faith of a soldier at the front, and also about the four elements: earth, water, air and fire, which sometimes help to survive in war, and sometimes the opposite.

Rustem Khalilov, 22 August 2023, 05:30

Every one in twenty destroyed Russian tanks is down to their work. The story of the Ukrainian Security Service's White Wolf special unit and its commander, Oleh Yemets

На youtube можна побачити численні відео від СБУ, що демонструють успіхи "Білого вовка" – спецпідрозділу Центру спецоперацій "А" СБУ. Водночас відкритої інформації про цей підрозділ і його командира, старшого лейтенанта Олега Ємця, обмаль. "Українська правда" виправляє цей недолік.

Rustem Khalilov, 2 August 2023, 05:30

Blood sisters. What do combat medics Field Toad and Steppe Viper carry in their tactical backpacks?

Одна називає себе Жабою польовою, інша – Гадюкою степовою. Під такими ніками їх знають десятки тисяч підписників у твіттері. Вони не родички, але сестри по крові. Саме за можливість переливати пораненим на догоспітальному етапі кров, а не фізрозчин, б'ються сьогодні разом Марія Назарова та Ріна Резнік.

Rustem Khalilov, 25 July 2023, 05:30

If the UAV situation doesn't change, we'll be at the negotiating table within a year: FPV drones and their role in warfare

FPV-дрони – це нове слово у війні. Для чого вони потрібні? Як їх застосовують? Чому їх вважають одним із небагатьох засобів ураження, в яких Україна кардинально не залежить від союзників? І чому FPV-безпілотники – це не тільки допомога на полі бою, а й велика загроза для української армії?

Rustem Khalilov, 12 July 2023, 05:30

Don’t look up. How Ukrainians were (not) warned about the Russian invasion

On the eve of the first anniversary of the full-scale invasion, Ukrainska Pravda looks back at what life was like for Ukrainians while the enemy was gathering forces for a major offensive; how our Western partners believed in the escalation of the war more than the Ukrainian government did; and how come the offensive was a surprise to a large section of Ukrainian society even though there had been warnings months before it actually happened.

Rustem Khalilov, 20 February 2023, 05:30