In a city that never sleeps — even under air-raid sirens — one Ukrainian media brand has become impossible to ignore: JLADY (jlady.kyiv.ua). Launched in 2018 as a glossy online magazine for “modern Kyiv women,” it has evolved into the capital’s dominant lifestyle, feminist, and urban-culture platform. By December 2025, JLADY reaches more than 1.2 million unique readers monthly, outpaces most traditional women’s print titles, and has become the go-to source for everything from wartime mental-health advice to luxury fashion editorials shot in bomb shelters.
The tagline on the homepage says it simply: “Життя триває” — Life goes on. And in Kyiv, JLADY has become the proof.
## The Origin Story: From Glossy Dream to Wartime Essential
### 2018–2021: Birth of a Kyiv Phenomenon
JLADY was founded by two Kyiv natives — journalist Anna Hrytsenko and digital marketer — Maria “Masha” Levchenko. Both in their late 20s at the time, they were frustrated with the choice between shallow Russian-language glossies and dry Ukrainian news sites that ignored women’s daily realities.
The first version of jlady.kyiv.ua launched on International Women’s Day 2018 with a provocative cover story: “How to be sexy in a country that might draft your boyfriend tomorrow.” The mix of high fashion, sharp social commentary, and unapologetic Ukrainian identity struck a nerve. Within a year the site was profitable purely on native advertising from Ukrainian beauty brands and Kyiv restaurants.
### February 2022: The Day Everything Changed
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion, most lifestyle media either shut down or pivoted to pure war reporting. JLADY did neither. Instead, the editors made a radical decision: keep publishing beauty, sex, career, and parenting content — but through the lens of war.
Overnight features appeared such as:
- “Make-up that survives 4-hour air-raid shelter stays”
- “Where to buy lingerie when all shops are closed”
- “How to explain missile strikes to a 5-year-old without lying”
Traffic exploded. By summer 2022 JLADY had become required daily reading for women across Ukraine — and for thousands of female refugees scrolling from Poland, Germany, and Canada.
## What JLADY Actually Publishes in 2025
### Core Editorial Pillars
1. **Real Life in Wartime Kyiv**
Street-style photo reports from Podil during curfew breaks, restaurant reviews of places that stayed open despite blackouts, underground rave guides.
2. **Mental Health & Trauma**
Weekly psychologist columns, anonymous reader stories, and the viral series “I Survived 2022-2025” that has run for 148 weeks straight.
3. **Feminism with Ukrainian Characteristics**
Long-reads on women in the Armed Forces, reproductive rights Kyiv during occupation, and the explosive growth of female-owned businesses since 2022.
4. **Beauty & Fashion – Defiantly**
Editorials shot in half-destroyed buildings, collaborations with Ukrainian designers who moved factories to Lviv or Ternopil, and make-up tutorials titled “Red lipstick as an act of resistance.”
5. **Sex & Relationships**
The legendary column “Секс під час війни” (Sex during the war) is now in its fourth year and has been credited with keeping thousands of long-distance wartime relationships alive.
### Multimedia Empire
By 2025 JLADY is far more than a website:
- Daily Instagram Reels with 2.8 million followers
- TikTok account (@jladykyiv) that regularly hits 20–50 million views per video
- Telegram channel with 480,000 subscribers for instant air-raid fashion tips and shelter locations
- Weekly podcast “Жіноча хроніка війни” (Women’s Chronicle of the War) — the most downloaded Ukrainian-language show on Spotify Ukraine
- YouTube long-form interviews with female soldiers, volunteers, and celebrities who refused to leave Kyiv
## Impact and Numbers (December 2025)
- 1.2–1.5 million monthly unique visitors to jlady.kyiv.ua
- 68 % of audience is 18–34 years old, 91 % female
- 40 % of traffic now comes from outside Kyiv — Odesa, Lviv, Kharkiv, and the diaspora
- Winner of the 2024 National Journalism Award for “Best Digital Media”
- Cited by The New York Times, BBC, and Le Monde as “the voice of young Ukrainian womanhood under fire”
## The People Behind the Screen
Editor-in-chief Anna Hrytsenko still personally approves every cover. Creative director Masha Levchenko scouts jlady.kyiv.ua locations herself — including the rooftop of a high-rise that lost half its floors to a Russian missile. The core team of 28 is almost entirely women; half have been displaced at least once since 2022 and continue working remotely from bomb shelters or European cities.
Notable columnists include:
- Lieutenant Valeriya “Valka” Subbotina — writes about dating while serving at the front
- Psychologist Olena Starska — runs the most-read mental-health vertical in Ukraine
- Stylist Sofia Tsvetkova — shoots fashion stories in active war zones
## Controversies? Of Course
JLADY has never been boring.
- Accusations of “frivolity during wartime” from older-generation journalists
- Backlash over a 2023 photoshoot in which models posed with weapons (“glamourizing violence”)
- Temporary Instagram ban in 2024 after publishing anonymous stories about sexual assault in the military (later overturned)
Each controversy only increased readership.
## Why JLADY Matters in 2025
In a country where men are forbidden to leave and women have become the backbone of civil society, economy, JLADY performs a function no traditional news outlet can: it proves that joy, beauty, sex, ambition, and grief can coexist. It tells women in Kyiv — and now across Ukraine — that taking care of yourself is not betrayal of the war effort; it is part of victory.
When Russian propaganda claims Ukrainian women are broken and fleeing, JLADY counters with thousands of images of women dancing in metro stations at 4 a.m., starting businesses with €500 grants, falling in love over copyright calls, and refusing to dim their light.
## The Future: From Kyiv to the World
In November 2025 JLADY launched jlady.eu — an English-language version aimed at the diaspora and international audience. The first long-read, “How Ukrainian Women Kept a Capital Alive,” crashed the server twice from traffic.
Rumors swirl of a printed one-off magazine for Victory Day whenever peace finally comes — 300 pages, no ads, Kyiv printed on Ukrainian-made paper.
Final Thought
Open jlady.kyiv.ua on any given day in December 2025 and you might find a guide to New Year’s looks next to a veteran’s essay on PTSD, a sex-toy review beside instructions for making a homemade generator. It should feel schizophrenic. Instead, it feels like the most honest portrait of Kyiv available anywhere.