Olga Rudenko

Whilst Rudenko was still in Chicago, a large number of her colleagues at the Kyiv Post were sacked by the newspaper's proprietor Adnan Kivan after they refused to accept a new editor Kivan appointed after alleged pressure from Ukrainian authorities,[1] following legal conflict between the Kyiv Post and then-Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova after critical coverage of Venediktova.

As Russia's troops gathered on the border, Rudenko described President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as "mediocre" in an op-ed for the New York Times titled "The Comedian-turned-President is seriously in over his Head".

With the likelihood of phone and internet connections being lost, Rudenko moved out of the city to western Ukraine where she continued to work to report on the developing situation in her war-torn country.

[5][6] The journalist's wages were supported by a grant from the European Union and the Kyiv Independent's CEO Daryna Shevchenko had to work out how to invest the £1.5m of crowdfunding that the publication had attracted.

[8] Speaking to the magazine about the changing style of news reporting as the Russian invasion of Ukraine unfolded, Rudenko said: "It felt like we were defending the essence of journalism.