Features

• July 03, 2025

  Denmark Takes EU Presidency As Questions Over Security Swirl

  Denmark has taken over the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union as questions swirl over Europe's security and trade and a war still raging on its eastern flank.

• July 02, 2025

  A Journalist In Jail: Freed Former RFE/RL Reporter Recalls Belarus Prison Ordeal

  Longtime former RFE/RL journalist Ihar Karnei was arrested in July 2023 after the KGB came to his home in Belarus. Freed in a US-brokered inmate release last month, he describes the “inhuman conditions” still faced by what rights activists say are nearly 1,200 political prisoners in Belarus.

• July 01, 2025

  Iran Pivots Toward China, But Is Beijing Ready To Play Ball?

  After a devastating war with Israel exposed the weakness of its air force, Iran is reportedly turning to China for advanced military hardware. But Beijing’s reluctance -- and Moscow’s inaction -- highlight the limits of Tehran’s alliances and the depth of its strategic isolation.

• July 01, 2025

  Georgia Risks EU Sanctions; Ukraine Hits Roadblocks In NATO, EU Bids

  I'm RFE/RL Europe Editor Rikard Jozwiak, and this week I am drilling down on two major issues: potential Georgia sanctions and Ukraine’s set-back on EU and NATO membership.

• July 01, 2025

  Ukrainians Turn Soviet Van Into Modern Warfare Tool To Fight Russian Drones

  A Soviet-era “Bukhanka” van, retrofitted with modern tech, scans for Russian drones, helping Ukrainian troops survive fierce battles near Pokrovsk, the current hotspot in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

• July 01, 2025

  Russia's War Economy Is Heading To Recession. It Probably Won't Slow Down The War.

  Russian officials are telegraphing a slowdown of the country’s war economy -- the first major slump since the launch of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine more than 40 months ago. What it means for the war is uncertain.

• June 30, 2025

  'I Was Like A Piece Of Meat, I Told Them To Kill Me:' Ukrainian Survived Torture Before Fleeing Russian Occupation

  The former deputy mayor of Nova Kakhovka, Serhiy Davydyuk, recounts brutal torture and escape from his hometown occupied by Russia after the 2022 full-scale invasion.

• June 30, 2025

  Ukrainian Families Flee Again As Russians Push Closer To Dnipropetrovsk

  As Russian forces push closer to Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, many families already displaced by war are being forced to flee once more. With evacuations under way and the front line advancing, they don’t know if they’ll ever see their homes again.

• June 30, 2025

  Georgia Faces Possible EU Sanctions and Visa Review Over Democratic Backsliding

  The EU is weighing new measures against Georgia’s government amid crackdowns on the country’s opposition and democratic backsliding, with options ranging from targeted sanctions to a review of key trade and visa agreements.

• June 29, 2025

  For A Sick Ukrainian Girl, A Promise Of Treatment In Israel Ends In Tragedy

  Amid the war in Ukraine, a girl from Odesa named Nastya Buryk was fighting her own battle with leukemia. Her mother sought out medical care in Israel, where they spent more than two years. But the violence they had escaped in Ukraine caught up with them in Israel when a new war with Iran began.

• June 28, 2025

  Life, Death, And Torture Under Russian Occupation In Ukraine

  In 2022, Serhiy Davydyuk did not think Russia would launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine – but it did. For Davydyuk, what followed was capture, incarceration, and interrogation aided by beatings, electric shocks, and threats of execution – and, later, release and escape from occupied territory.

• June 27, 2025

  Khamenei's Bunker Leadership: What Does It Mean For Iran's Future?

  As Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vanished into a bunker during the Iran-Israel war, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps stepped into the spotlight. Did his absence expose deep cracks in Iran’s leadership -- and set the stage for a new era of military dominance?

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