Illia Ponomarenko (; born 25 February 1992) is a Ukrainian journalist, war reporter and defense analyst writing for '' The Kyiv Independent''. In January 2023, given his prominent role in reporting from the conflict, he was described by ''

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

'' as "likely the best-known Ukrainian after President

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, ; russian: Владимир Александрович Зеленский, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Zelenskyy, (born 25 January 1978; also transliterated as Zelensky or Zelenskiy) is a Ukrainian politicia ...

Early life

Ponomarenko was born in 1992.

Career

Russo-Ukrainian War

Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ponomarenko saw his Twitter following soar to over one million, as many sought on-the-ground information in the early days of the invasion; ''Der Spiegel'' wrote that "for people worldwide, he became the most important chronicler of the war during this period." Since then, he has been regularly cited in international media, as well as writing translated opinion pieces, such as for Norwegian ''

Aftenposten ( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 million ...

''. Ponomarenko grew up in

Volnovakha Volnovakha ( uk, Волнова́ха, ; russian: Волнова́ха) is a town in Ukraine. It served as the administrative center of Volnovakha Raion, one of the 18 districts of the Donetsk Oblast. Before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, ...

, and studied at

Mariupol State University The Mariupol State University (MSU; uk, Маріупольський Державний Університет, Mariupolskyi Derzhavnyi Universytet) is a university in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. History In September 1991, at the instigat ...

. He has stated he was studying international relations in

Mariupol Mariupol (, ; uk, Маріу́поль ; russian: Мариу́поль) is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius River. Prior to the 2022 Russian i ...

when the city was occupied in 2014 by Russian-backed forces. He began reporting on the clashes for BBC Radio in this period. He previously wrote for

Kyiv Post The ''Kyiv Post'' is the oldest English-language newspaper in Ukraine, founded in October 1995 by Jed Sunden. History American Jed Sunden founded the ''Kyiv Post'' weekly newspaper on Oct. 18, 1995 and later created KP Media for his holdings. ...

, but following the abrupt reformatting and temporary closure of Kyiv Post in November 2021, Ponomarenko was among the team of journalists who founded ''The Kyiv Independent''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ponomarenko, Illia 21st-century Ukrainian journalists War correspondents of the Russo-Ukrainian War Living people 1992 births People from Volnovakha