Notes and Essays -- John Brown

from Quora Jayaram Muthuswamy     Former Representative for JS Magazine in Bangalore. (1970–1982)   58m "Would Putin agree to stop the war if Ukraine moved its troops 25 miles west? "No. [says the author of this article] ..."

Read in Browser Why we keep doing this work Membership Growth Manager Yana Zhuryk Hello dear reader, This is Yana Zhuryk, membership growth manager here at the Kyiv Independent. You haven’t heard from me yet — I usually stay behind the scenes — but you may have seen some of the work I’ve been a part of, like our  anniversary campaign in November . Today I’m writing this email from my dark apartment in Kyiv, curled up under a few blankets with my cat. I feel extremely lucky that she decided to cuddle — it doesn’t happen often, she has that kind of personality. Outside, it’s −15 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit). The electricity has been out for around five hours already. My laptop is running on a charging station, and the Wi-Fi is on a power bank. In Ukrainian, February is called  лютий (lutyi)  — literally “fierce” or “severe.” It’s hard to think of a better word for days like this. Maya, my cat, earlier this week I recently had a conversation with my best friends ab...

Vladyslav Heraskevych said he would risk disqualification to wear a helmet that the International Olympic Committee said defied a ban on political speech. Vladyslav Heraskevych, a Ukrainian athlete, at a skeleton training session in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Monday. His helmet features images of countrymen who were killed in the war with Russia. Credit... Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters By  Heather Knight Reporting from Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy The New York Times , Feb. 10, 2026 Updated  2:17 p.m. ET A Ukrainian athlete cannot wear a helmet featuring images of his countrymen who were killed in the war with Russia, Olympic officials said on Tuesday, ruling it a violation of the Games’ prohibition on political speech. But the athlete, the skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych, said the ban would not stop him. He said he would wear the helmet during training on Wednesday and in competition on Thursday and Friday. The risk of disqualification will not deter him, he said. Mr. Heraskevych, wh...