Samya Kullab

UPDATE: I will be joining @AP's Kyiv bureau as Ukraine correspondent. It's the most challenging assignment I've had so far, but I am lucky to be part of a dedicated and courageous team. A true privilege. Our latest, the 1st since I assumed the new role: apnews.com/article/russia…

@qabdulzahra Shelly Kittleson often worked without formal assignments from editors and on a shoestring budget, taking shared taxis to lawless corners of Iraq where militia rule outweighs government control: @samya_kullab profiles the journalist kidnapped in Iraq apnews.com/article/iraq-k…

.@samya_kullab speaks to some of the Iranian Kurds who fled Iran nearly 50 years ago when they were children or young adults and have spent most of their lives in northern Iraq waiting for a return that may never come apnews.com/article/iran-w…

Every morning for the past 15 days, Abbas Haydar has walked through his village near Lebanon’s southern border with Israel, trying to imprint “every building, every crevasse, every flower” in his mind. Sometimes he wandered aimlessly; at others, he stopped to take photographs on his phone. “I wanted there to be a record that it was ours — our home and our land — before it was too late,” he said. The sum of all fears for Lebanon @rayajalabi @JamesShotter @janinaconboye @AditiHBhandari ft.com/content/9ef956…

Larijani’s replacement will be appointed by IRGC. With every assassination U.S. and Israel engineering greater radicalization of Iran’s leadership. It will makes for a bleak future for Iran, Iranians, the region and ultimately makes it far more difficult for U.S. to disentangle itself from endless conflict in the region.

Strong interview by the great @margbrennan with Iran‘s Foreign Minister @araghchi - highly recommend @FaceTheNation

But that caretaker status also lets Iraqi leaders deflect responsibility by claiming they lack the authority to act, said #Iraq analyst Tamer Badawi. “No one wants to take this big responsibility at the moment,” (...) Great talking with @samya_kullab @AP apnews.com/article/iraq-i…

Ukraine is juggling a ban designed to keep weapons (including interceptors) at home with new global demand that could leverage its expertise and make it a weapons industry player: @samya_kullab & ⁦@h_arhirova⁩ write for @AP:apnews.com/article/iran-u…

U.S. Smuggled Thousands of Starlink Terminals Into Iran After Protest Crackdown wsj.com/world/middle-e…

Remembering my lovely crazy friend Marie

Drones have redrawn Ukraine's war map, pushing the battlefield beyond the front in both directions. This fast-expanding “kill zone” increasingly defines modern warfare, shaping how the armies fight and what it takes to survive. Inside Ukraine's Kill Zone ig.ft.com/ukraine-kill-z…

International journalists are still not allowed into Gaza.

General Valerii Zaluzhnyi told @AP and @samya_kullab for the first time about a deep rift between himself and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over differing views over how to defend Ukraine. apnews.com/article/ukrain…

Save your time and ignore the kabuki theater of “peace talks” on ending the Russian war on Ukraine. Russia is not going to stop the war until it achieves a Ukrainian surrender, and Ukraine is not anywhere near the point where it must surrender. All else is noise.

.@ZaluzhnyiUA tells @AP's @SamyaKullab and Susie Blann that SBU raided his office in September 2022 using a warrant for a strip club at the same address that closed down before the full scale invasion, and that he threatened @AndriyYermak to use the military to repel it. @ZaluzhnyiUA also says the original 2023 counteroffensive plan was to concentrate forces in Zaporizhzhia, but "what happened instead, he said, was that forces were dispersed over a wide area, diluting their striking power." Also that he declined help from Paul Manafort, who approached him in the spring of 2025: apnews.com/article/ukrain…

truly one of the most inspired, inspiring, and courageous people and journalists ive ever known. travesty doesnt begin to describe this

Headlines may describe a ceasefire in Gaza, but IDF troops, tanks & drones are firing on residents almost daily. They have killed 250+ Palestinians so far, including wedding guests, a woman tending sheep, a whole family, and a teen who was then run over. washingtonpost.com/world/2026/01/…

We are disappointed that Israel's Supreme Court has granted Israel another delay regarding the independent entry of journalists into Gaza. The state is once again relying on stalling tactics to prevent us from doing our jobs. We will not let up. Journalists must be allowed in.

In a heated, curse-laden meeting, Trump told Zelenskyy at the White House that Putin told him the conflict was a "special operation, not even a war", adding that the Ukrainian leader needed to cut a deal. "If he wants [a war], he will destroy you."

‘One of the oldest urban centres on the planet’: Gaza’s rich history in ruins. My @guardian piece on the erasure of Gaza's past. As we mourn incalculable human losses, learning about its past can help us better understand the present theguardian.com/world/2025/oct…

#GAZA: Maryam Dagga for the @AP reported on Nasser Hospital doctors struggling to save children with no prior health issues who were wasting away from starvation The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office and Israeli military refused to comment on the incident. apnews.com/article/mideas…