Joanna Kakissis
Joanna Kakissis is a foreign correspondent based in Kyiv, Ukraine, where she reports poignant stories of a conflict that has upended millions of lives, affected global energy and food supplies and pitted NATO against Russia.
Kakissis began reporting in Ukraine shortly before Russia invaded in February. She covered the exodus of refugees to Poland and has returned to Ukraine several times to chronicle the war. She has focused on the human costs, profiling the displaced, the families of prisoners of war anda ninety-year-old "mermaid" who swims in a mine-filled sea. Kakissis highlighted the tragedy for both sideswith a story about the body of a Russian soldier abandoned in a hamlet he helped destroy, and sheshed light on the potential for nuclear disaster with a report on the shelling of Nikopol by Russians occupying a nearby power plant.
Kakissis began reporting regularly for NPR from her base in Athens, Greece, in 2011. Her work has largely focused on the forces straining European unity — migration, nationalism and the rise of illiberalism in Hungary. She led coverage of the eurozone debt crisis and the mass migration of Syrian refugees to Europe. She's reported extensively in central and eastern Europe and has also filled in at NPR bureaus in Berlin, Istanbul, Jerusalem, London and Paris. She's a contributor to This American Life and has written for The New York Times, TIME, The New Yorker online and The Financial Times Magazine, among others. In 2021, she taught a journalism seminar as a visiting professor at Princeton University.
Kakissis was born in Greece, grew up in North and South Dakota and spent her early years in journalism at The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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On his arrival, Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram: "Japan. G7. Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine. Security and increased cooperation for our victory. Today, peace will be closer."
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Ukraine's top judge has been arrested after allegedly receiving nearly $3 million in bribes for favorable rulings, the latest crackdown on endemic graft as Ukraine seeks to join the European Union.
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An agreement allowing Ukrainian grain to ship through the Black Sea has been extended for two months just a day before its expiration — overcoming Russia's threats to pull out of the deal.
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As Ukraine co-hosts the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool, it's showcasing a song inspired by a famous last stand. It will be performed by a duo intended to promote an inclusive Ukrainian identity.
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Ukraine appears on the verge of launching a counteroffensive, hoping to take back the territory that Russia has occupied. But one Ukrainian official is hoping for more.
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At least 24 people were killed in the central Ukrainian city of Uman Friday, as Russia fired missiles and drones at Ukraine.
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An apartment building in the Ukrainian city of Uman has been hit after a series of airstrikes across the country on Friday. The attack is the deadliest strike on a Ukrainian apartment since January.
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The Chinese leader's call comes as he has sought to play the role of peacemaker, though chances of a big breakthrough are slim, given how far apart Russia's and Ukraine's positions remain.
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NPR's Elissa Nadworny talks with NPR Reporter Joanna Kakissis in Ukraine about how the recent intelligence leaks in the U.S. are affecting relations between allies.
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Built largely with Western donations, the spa-like retreat provides soldiers with counseling, aromatherapy and more. But most soldiers are there for no more than a week.