Joanna Kakissis
Joanna Kakissis leads NPR's bureau in Kyiv, coverage of Ukraine and Russia's war on the country.
Since the Kyiv bureau officially opened in January 2023, she has documented the war through Ukraine's people: The citizen-spies who helped liberate their city from occupation; the talented young novelist killed in a missile strike; the small-town mayor trying to deliver aid to his besieged city; the second-graders attending classes underground in a besieged city; the ninety-year-old 'mermaid' swimming in a mine-filled sea; the suburban moms who formed a volunteer air-defense unit.
Kakissis started working with NPR in 2011 from Athens, Greece as a freelancer, traveling throughout Europe for the network. Her reporting focused on the forces straining European unity — migration, nationalism and the rise of illiberalism. She led coverage of the eurozone debt crisis and the mass migration of mostly Syrian refugees to Europe. She's reported extensively in central and eastern Europe and also filled in at NPR bureaus in Berlin, Istanbul, Jerusalem, London, Paris and Rome.
Before joining NPR's staff in 2022, she was a contributor to the award-winning audio documentary program This American Life and also wrote for The New York Times, TIME, The New Yorker online and The Financial Times Magazine, among others. In 2021, she taught a journalism seminar on nationalism and migration 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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NPR staffers recommend "The Theater," "In Trees," "The Infinity Machine," and "Restrung" for this nonfiction installment of "Books We Love."
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In an interview with NPR, one of Ukraine's top negotiators Sergiy Kyslytsya explains why Kyiv believes it now has the leverage to force Russia into serious negotiations. -
Sergiy Kyslytsya, a top Ukrainian peace negotiator, says long-range drone strikes into Russia have strengthened Ukraine's hand and could compel Vladimir Putin toward a ceasefire deal.
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Everyone in Ukraine has a story about syrnyki, the tangy, curd-cheese pancakes that have been a breakfast staple for hundreds of years.
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After a week of nationwide protests over the direction of Ukraine's military strategy in the ongoing war with Russia, the Ukrainian military has a new commander, Mykhailo Drapatyi. Here's what to know. -
Protests over President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's dismissal of the country's defense minister coincide with a fresh wave of Russian strikes across Ukraine.
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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fired the country's popular defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, who pushed for innovation on the battlefield through use of drones and turned the tables on Russia. -
As Ukraine signs drone deals and awaits licenses for Patriot missiles, the country's popular, tech-savvy defense minister, who helped Ukraine turn the tables on Russia through drone warfare, is fired.
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Ukraine pushes allies in NATO for anti-ballistic air defense after the latest major Russian attacks kill more than 20 in Kyiv and surrounding area.
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Russia pounds Kyiv ahead of NATO summit, as Ukraine war returns to center stage amid high-stakes diplomacy.
