Author: RFE/RL

Sweden’s security police and prosecutor’s office say a preliminary investigation into leaks from two Russian gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea has strengthened suspicions of sabotage as the cause. The Swedish Security Police said on October 6 that the probe confirmed that “detonations” caused “extensive damage” to the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2...

The United States and its allies are preparing to impose fresh sanctions on Russia in the wake of what the West and the United Nations have called “sham” referendums in four Ukrainian regions, with the White House saying the measures would exact a “severe” economic price on Moscow. On September 28, European Commis-sion President Ursula...

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union said leaks in two major Russian underwater pipelines designed to ship natural gas to Germany were caused by “sabotage” and vowed to take strong action to protect critical European infrastructure. However, their statements on September 28 stopped short of accusing anyone of being behind the...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on September 21 demanded that a special United Nations tribunal impose “just punishment” on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in a video address to the U.N. General Assembly just hours after U.S. President Joe Biden said Moscow “shamelessly violated the core tenets” of the U.N. Charter with its “brutal, needless...

U.S. Secretary Antony Blinken made a surprise visit to Kyiv as the United States pledged another $2.675 billion in aid to Ukraine and other countries to bolster security around Europe amid Russia’s unprovoked invasion of its neighbor. Mr. Blinken made the visit on September 8 while on a trip to Poland and said that the...

The head of Ukraine’s atomic agency, Enerhoatom, has accused Russian occupation troops at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in war-torn southeastern Ukraine of torturing and killing some of the facility’s Ukrainian staff and abducting around 200 of them. Enerhoatom President Petro Kotyn told the German newspaper group Funke in statements published on September 8 that...

The United States has accused Russia of war crimes through the forcible transfer of up to 1.6 million Ukrainians to Russian-controlled territory in the current war, prompting senior United Nations officials to demand international access to the so-called filtration camps. Moscow denied the charge and said millions of Ukrainians had chosen to go to Russia...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Russian troops to flee from an offensive launched by his forces near the strategic southern city of Kherson occupied by Moscow since early in the war, saying Ukraine’s military were taking back their territory. Speaking in his nightly address late on August 29, Mr. Zelenskyy vowed that Ukrainian troops...

A senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had broken through Russian defensive lines in several fronts as part of Kyiv’s newly launched southern offensive near the strategic city of Kherson, which has been occupied by Russian forces since early in the war. Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych in a video address late...

A mission from the United Nations nuclear agency has arrived at Ukraine’s Russian-controlled Zaporizhia nuclear power plant despite artillery shelling in the area that delayed the investigators and forced one of the plant’s reactors to shut down. Plant operator Enerhoatom said in a brief message on Telegram that the team from the International Atomic Energy...

PRAGUE – The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, says the bloc’s 27 members have agreed to suspend an agreement with Russia, which had made it easier for Russians to obtain tourist visas, as a sanction for Moscow’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Borrell announced the decision, which falls short of the total ban on...

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says Russian and Russian-allied forces have been “forcibly transferring” Ukrainian civilians, including those fleeing fighting, to the Russian Federation or areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia. The rights group said in a 71-page report, released on September 1, that the transfers are a “serious violation” of the laws of war that...