Features

• August 10, 2025

  Study Abroad And Build Drones: How Foreign Children Are Serving Russia's Military Machine

  In Kyrgyzstan, teens are being recruited into Russia’s Alabuga Polytech, a technical school linked to combat drone production, under the guise of career training. Despite its military ties, the school is backed by local institutions, raising alarm over youth involvement in a foreign war.

• August 09, 2025

  Exclusive: Medvedev's Son Works For Russian Military Giant

  Ilya Medvedev, the son of former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, has a job at an affiliate of Rostec, the giant state industrial conglomerate that makes many of the weapons Moscow uses in its war against Ukraine, RFE/RL’s Russian investigative unit, Systema, has found.

• August 09, 2025

  Belarus Steps Up Attacks On Opposition, 5 Years After Crushing Mass Protests

  As exiled Belarusians gather at political rallies in Warsaw, Vilnius, and other cities this weekend, many have packed masks to conceal their identities because they know the authorities back home could target their families five years after they brutally crushed mass street protests.

• August 08, 2025

  Pentagon Faces 'Wake-Up Call' To Meet Drone Innovation Highlighted In Ukraine War

  The war in Ukraine has ushered in a radically different era of drone warfare -- one built not around a few elite systems but around millions of small, cheap, and expendable drones deployed by soldiers at the front. And the U.S. is scrambling to catch up.

• August 07, 2025

  What's Next For Trump's Ukraine Peace Push After The Putin-Witkoff Meeting?

  After what he called “great progress” at his envoy’s meeting with Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump may meet with Putin soon – and a trilateral summit with Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also being discussed. Here are three key questions about next steps in the US bid to end the war in Ukraine.

• August 07, 2025

  Kazakhstan's Atomic Maneuvers: Astana Tilts Toward Beijing In Its Nuclear Energy Ambitions

  Kazakhstan has chosen China to build its third nuclear plant, deepening Beijing’s role in its energy sector. As Russia faces sanctions and funding issues, Astana is shifting toward China as a more stable partner, signaling a strategic pivot in its nuclear and geopolitical future.

• August 06, 2025

  After The 12-Day War, Iran Turns To Veteran Politician Ali Larijani

  As the Iranian authorities grapple with the aftermath of the June conflict with Israel and the United States, the return of veteran politician Ali Larijani as secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council marks something of a political comeback but was not unexpected.

• August 06, 2025

  The US Wants To Squeeze Putin. Are Oil Sales To China The Answer? 

  Amid an approaching August 8 cease-fire deadline in Ukraine and ongoing US-China trade talks, the White House is looking to pressure China to stop buying Russian oil. But is Beijing willing to hurt Russia's economy?

• August 05, 2025

  Kherson Residents Flee Island District As Russians Blast Key Bridge

  Residents of Kherson city's Korabelniy district have been scrambling to evacuate as fears grow of being cut off by Russian bombing. Glide bombs hit the main bridge connecting the island district with the main parts of the city on August 2.

• August 05, 2025

  Their Men Are At War, Now Ukrainian Women Are Driving Subway Trains

  Driving subway trains was once deemed too "dangerous and harmful," for women. But amid a manpower shortage in Ukraine, women have begun filling the underground role.

• August 04, 2025

  Residents Of Donetsk And Mariupol Face Survival Struggles As Water Shortages Worsen

  In the Russian-occupied cities of Donetsk and Mariupol, an escalating water crisis has pushed daily life to the brink of survival, forcing officials from the local level all the way up to President Vladimir Putin to seek solutions.

• August 04, 2025

  Under The Missiles: The Women Racing To Save Ukraine's Photographic Treasures

  A small team of archivists are working around the clock to put Ukraine's historic photographs online amid fears the prints and negatives could be wiped out by a Russian strike.

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