- ✓Almost all Ukrainian news is free to watch and read from Ireland — you rarely need a VPN at all.
- ✓For TV news in Ukrainian, Suspilne and the United News (Yedyni Novyny) telethon stream free on YouTube.
- ✓For news in English, the Kyiv Independent, Ukrainska Pravda, Ukrinform, NV and Kyiv Post are all free, no paywall, no VPN.
- ✓Stick to established outlets — the war has brought a wave of fake “news” sites and disinformation; verified sources are the safeguard.
- ✓A VPN only occasionally helps — for a full geo-locked live-TV news channel via Megogo, or if a network blocks a site.
The quick answer
Following Ukrainian news from Ireland is free and easy, and you almost never need a VPN. For TV news in Ukrainian, Suspilne and the United News (Yedyni Novyny) telethon stream free on YouTube — with English and Russian feeds too. For news in English, outlets like the Kyiv Independent, Ukrainska Pravda, Ukrinform, NV and the Kyiv Post are all free and open from here. A VPN only comes in for the rare geo-locked live channel.
Suspilne & the United News telethon on YouTube, plus free English outlets like the Kyiv Independent — all no VPN, no paywall.
Free TV news in Ukrainian
The most important source needs nothing set up. Suspilne, Ukraine’s public broadcaster, and the joint United News telethon — running since February 2022 — are distributed free on YouTube and other digital platforms, worldwide. That means the verified national news reaches you in Ireland with no VPN, no subscription and no account. Their YouTube channels also carry English and Russian feeds, so it works whether you want the original or a translated broadcast. Bookmark the official Suspilne channel and you have live and catch-up national news on tap.
Ukrainian news in English
For reading — and for sharing verified news with people in Ireland who don’t read Ukrainian — there’s a strong set of free, paywall-light English-language outlets:
- The Kyiv Independent — Ukraine’s best-known English-language newsroom, with fast, reliable war and politics coverage.
- Ukrainska Pravda (English) — the English edition of one of Ukraine’s major outlets.
- Ukrinform — the national news agency, in English, with wire-style updates.
- NV (The New Voice of Ukraine) and the Kyiv Post — two more established English-language sources.
All are open from Ireland with no VPN, and between them you get both quick updates and deeper analysis in English.
Sticking to trusted sources
This is the part that genuinely matters during a war, so we’ll be direct. Alongside the real outlets, there’s a steady flow of fake “news” sites, doctored clips and anonymous Telegram channels designed to mislead. A few simple habits keep you safe: stick to established, named outlets like the ones above; cross-check a big claim against two trusted sources before believing or sharing it; and be wary of a site that mimics a known brand but sits on an odd web address. Reliable Ukrainian journalism is free and easy to reach — which means there’s never a need to rely on a source you can’t identify.
When would you need a VPN?
Honestly, rarely — and we’d rather say so. For the free TV news and the English outlets above, a VPN adds nothing. It only earns a place in two narrow cases: if you want a full live Ukrainian TV news channel that’s geo-locked to Ukraine (reachable through Megogo with a Ukraine IP), or if a network you’re on — a workplace or public Wi-Fi — blocks a news site, in which case any VPN restores access. That second case is also a good reason to use a VPN on public Wi-Fi generally.
If you do need one
For a geo-locked live channel, you want a reliable Ukraine (Kyiv) server. NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark, Proton VPN and CyberGhost all offer Ukrainian IPs on physical Kyiv servers. Our top three:
See our best VPN for streaming ranking, or our overall best VPN for Ireland picks.