Siobhán O’Grady named chief Ukraine correspondent with The Washington Post

Siobhán will become a strong partner to bureau chief Isabelle Khurshudyan, who has led our team in Ukraine since The Post established a bureau last May, a few months after Russia’s invasion. Siobhán will also work closely with Ukraine-based reporter David L. Stern and several Ukrainian journalists, along with a rotating team of photographers, video journalists, safety advisers and other reporters.

The addition of a chief correspondent to the team reflects The Post’s long-term commitment to consistency and excellence in covering a conflict that is reshaping Europe and the world. Along with Isabelle, Siobhán will be based in Ukraine full-time, ending her long-distance commute from the Middle East.

Siobhán joined The Post in 2018 as a foreign affairs writer based in the D.C. newsroom. Before moving to Cairo as bureau chief, she reported for The Post from Afghanistan, Cameroon and Lebanon. Her standout work from her time based in Egypt has included intrepid coverage of the humanitarian disaster in Yemen and of the continuing battle for power in Libya more than a decade after Moammar Gaddafi’s death.

She is a graduate of Dickinson College and has studied in Morocco and Cameroon. Siobhán began her career at Foreign Policy, then spent 18 months freelancing across Africa from Nigeria, Togo, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana and elsewhere for the Los Angeles Times, the Atlantic and other news outlets. She speaks fluent French and elementary Arabic and is learning Ukrainian.

Siobhán is in Ukraine on a multi-week reporting trip, her sixth since the war began. She will move to Kyiv in July, along with her husband, Tim McDonnell, an editor at Semafor, and their dog, Babette, who have patiently endured her long absences from their Cairo apartment. Please congratulate Siobhán on her new role.