Author: Mike Eckel / Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

The hint by Russian President Vladimir Putin wasn’t exactly subtle. “When the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people,” Putin said on September 21, as he announced an order to mobilize hundreds of thousands of men to fight in...

The speech was expected to be about Ukraine, where Russia’s military is struggling seven months into its invasion and where Moscow is claiming four partially occupied regions as its own in a land grab condemned by Kyiv and the West. However, the bulk of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nationally televised address from the Kremlin’s opulent...

The head of Russia’s Communist Party, these days considered the closest thing to an opposition political party, had frank words about the “extremely difficult and troubling circumstances” facing lawmakers in the wake of Ukraine’s stunning battlefield successes. “For as long as I can remember, there has never been such a situation like this,” Gennady Zyuganov...

Six months in, Russia needs soldiers. Tallies of Russian military casualties since the invasion of Ukraine was launched in February vary. U.S. officials put Russia’s dead and wounded at between 70,000 and 80,000, a figure echoed by British and other Western intelligence estimates. For months now, Russian commanders and recruiters have been conducting a quiet...

In the end, what was notable about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s speech during Victory Day ceremonies was what he did not say. He did not declare a general mobilization for all-out war against Ukraine. He did not declare victory in a war that is now past its 75th day. He made no threat about Russia’s...

PRAGUE – Russia will be held accountable for war crimes and violations of international law allegedly committed by its forces in Ukraine, a European Union official vowed, amid mounting Ukrainian and international efforts to gather evidence for future criminal investigations. In an interview with RFE/RL at its headquarters in Prague, Eamon Gilmore, the European Union...

These days, the nightly newscasts on Russian state television are more triumphant proclamations about the “special military operation” in Ukraine than actual newscasts. There’s virtually no public mention of the rising death toll among Russian soldiers. Russia media are banned from using the words “war” or “invasion” in describing the war and the invasion. President...

It was a large-scale Russian military invasion of Ukraine involving around 130,000 military personnel, mainly from the 20th and 8th Combined Arms Armies. Paratroopers from the 76th and 98th Air Assault Divisions crossed the Ukrainian border from the north, headed toward Kharkiv. From the southeast, units including the 7th and 106th Air Assault Divisions moved...

KYIV – The jets – private, elite and chartered – were clearly seen on the flight trackers, as was the direction they were headed in: out of Ukraine, toward the West, away from a country facing the threat of a major new Russian invasion. That so many were flying out of Kyiv on February 13...

KYIV – Weapons training, which featured a piece of pressed composite wood cut in the shape of a rifle, was going well for 18-year-old Anna Kuksa until she pivoted to her left, as ordered by her camouflaged trainer. One of her fellow students turned to the right, and they collided and tripped over each other....

About three hours after the conclusion of the most important European security talks in years, Russia’s deputy foreign affairs minister sat before a thicket of news microphones and offered up a combative postmortem. Further degradation of the situation with NATO, Aleksandr Grushko said on January 12, will lead to “the most severe and unpredictable consequences...

President Vladimir Putin has demanded that the West provide Russia with security guarantees “immediately” amid spiraling tensions involving a massive deployment of Russian troops toward Ukraine. Speaking at his annual news conference on December 23, Mr. Putin responded testily to a reporter’s question about Russia’s intentions, listing off a litany of grievances about Ukraine and...