Author: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Ukraine’s defense and foreign affairs ministers have stressed the need for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) engagement – including membership for Ukraine – to safeguard security in their country and the entire Black Sea region, as Russian forces continued their assault on the city of Bakhmut and elsewhere in eastern Ukraine. “We need a system...

The Russian forces who occupied Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson from March until November 2022 ran a “torture center” and other similar facilities at which they unlawfully detained and tortured Ukrainian civilians, Human Rights Watch (HRW) asserted in a report issued on April 13. The New York-based rights monitor said the purported torture center was...

Russian President Vladimir Putin made an unannounced nighttime visit to Mariupol, the occupied Ukrainian city that symbolizes Kyiv’s fierce resistance to Moscow’s invasion, in a possible show of defiance after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a war for his arrest. Putin flew by helicopter to the port city, which had been destroyed by Russian...

Russia has perpetrated large-scale violations of international human rights and humanitarian norms – some of them amounting to war crimes – since the start of its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago, the United Nations-backed Independent Internatio­nal Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said in a report released on March 16. The report...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelens­kyy acknowledged that the battle for the eastern Donbas region is “painful and challenging” as the Kremlin’s forces continued efforts to encircle the city of Bakh­mut, which has been largely destroyed after months of Russian shelling. “I would like to pay special tribute to the bravery, strength and resilience of the soldiers...

The top diplomats from the United States and Russia met briefly for the first time in more than a year, as officials from the Group of 20 (G-20) major economies held meetings dominated by Russia’s year-old invasion of Ukraine. During the March 2 gathering in New Delhi, India, German Foreign Affairs Minister Annalena Baerbock directly...

The U.S. delegation to the parliamentary assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has urged the assembly to host its meetings in OSCE states that are prepared to block Russia’s participation, vowing not to allow Russia’s “reprehensible propaganda to go unchallenged” at the OSCE or in any other international forum. “The...

Kyiv says ‘speed’ is key The United States and Germany have announced plans to send dozens of advanced battle tanks to Ukraine following intense debate and pressure from North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies to respond positively to Kyiv’s calls for as many as 300 tanks to help it repel Russia’s 11-month-old full-scale invasion. Their...

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia’s recent strategy of targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure will not divide Ukraine’s supporters. Mr. Blinken on November 30 told a news conference in Bucharest following a two-day North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) foreign affairs ministers’ meeting that Russian President Vladimir Putin has focused “his ire and his fire”...

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down in 2014 by a Russian-made missile fired from a field in eastern Ukraine, the Dutch court handling the trial of four suspects in the downing of the plane said on November 17. “The court is of the opinion that MH17 was brought down by the firing of a...

The United States has announced additional rounds of weapons for Ukraine valued at around $1 billion as Ukraine presses the West to deliver more military aid in the face of a Russian offensive in the eastern Donbas region. U.S. President Joe Biden said he informed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the United States would provide...

The actress Angelina Jolie has made an unexpected visit to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. Ms. Jolie met with orphaned and displaced children, including several who evacuated from Mariupol, Ukraine, as Russia continued its attack. She also met with doctors and volunteers caring for the children. “The purpose of Angelina’s visit is to bear...