Russia’s aviation chief said Friday that a Ukrainian drone attack was under way in the region of Chechnya at the time an Azerbaijani airliner attempted to land before diverting to…
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — A North Korean soldier who was captured while fighting in Russia’s war against Ukraine has died of his wounds, South Korea’s spy agency said Friday. Pyongyang has…
CHISINAU, MOLDOVA — The parliament in ex-Soviet Moldova, controlled by pro-Western lawmakers, approved a 10-year defense strategy on Thursday calling for increased military spending as part of a plan to join…
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — South Korea’s spy agency said Friday it had confirmed that a North Korean soldier sent to back Russia’s war against Ukraine had been captured by Ukrainian forces….
The Kremlin completed preparations to isolate the Russian segment of the internet from the rest of the World Wide Web, experts told VOA Russian. The Kremlin may implement severe internet…
Both Russia and Ukraine expanded the use of drones in 2024 as a relatively cheap means of warfare that requires an opponent to use a much more expensive air defense…
FRANKFURT, GERMANY — Finnish authorities have detained a Russia-linked ship as they investigate whether it damaged a Baltic Sea power cable and several data cables, according to police and news media…
Azerbaijan on Thursday observed a nationwide day of mourning for the victims of the plane crash that killed 38 people and left all 29 survivors injured as speculation mounted about…
Ukraine’s military said Thursday it shot down 20 of the 31 drones that Russian forces launched in overnight attacks. The intercepts took place over the Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and Kyiv…
BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN — Experts say Kyrgyzstan’s efforts to enforce Western sanctions against companies supplying dual-use goods and equipment to Russia are constrained by opposition from business, limited bureaucratic resources, and unwillingness…
ISTANBUL — In a dim one-room apartment in one of Istanbul’s poorest neighborhoods, 11-year-old Atakan Sahin curls up on a threadbare sofa with his siblings to watch TV while their mother…
LILLE, FRANCE — French authorities said they rescued 107 migrants trying to cross the Channel from France to England on Wednesday. Over the course of Christmas Day, 12 rescue operations were…
PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo’s election appeals authority on Wednesday canceled a ban on the main party of the ethnic Serb minority, allowing it to field candidates in the upcoming parliamentary election. …
Vatican City — Pope Francis in his traditional Christmas message on Wednesday urged “all people of all nations” to find courage during this Holy Year “to silence the sounds of arms…
Moscow — A Russian cargo ship called Ursa Major that sank in the Mediterranean Sea was the victim of “an act of terrorism,” state news agency RIA cited the vessel’s owner…
Moscow — A Russian-born U.S. citizen already imprisoned in Russia on a bribery conviction has been handed a second 15-year jail term for espionage, Russian news agencies reported Tuesday. A Moscow…
SARAJEVO — Lawmakers in Bosnia’s Serb Republic regional parliament on Wednesday ordered Serb representatives in state institutions to block decision-making and reform laws needed for the Balkan country’s integration into the…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Russian forces attacked his country with more than 70 missiles and that targets included Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Zelenskyy said Ukrainian air defenses shot…
Paris — France’s president and prime minister managed to form a new government just in time for the holidays. Now comes the hard part. Crushing debt, intensifying pressure from the nationalist…
The Hague, Netherlands — An Amsterdam district court on Tuesday sentenced five men to up to six months in prison for violence that erupted around a UEFA Europa League football match…
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis kicked off the 2025 Holy Year on Tuesday, inaugurating a celebration of the Catholic Church that is expected to draw some 32 million pilgrims to Rome…
Prague — The list of sacrifices that Alesya Marokhovskaya has made to keep reporting on Russia from exile runs long: her home, her country, family, friends, culture, safety. This month alone,…
Istanbul — An explosion at an ammunition factory in northwest Turkey left 11 dead and five injured Tuesday morning. The blast occurred in Balikesir province, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency….
MOSCOW — An engine room explosion sank a Russian cargo ship in the Mediterranean Sea between Spain and Algeria and two of its crew are missing, the Russian Foreign Ministry said…
Ukraine’s military said Tuesday it shot down 36 of the 60 drones that Russian forces deployed in overnight attacks. The intercepts took place in the Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv,…
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Tuesday formally inaugurates the 2025 Holy Year, reviving an ancient church tradition encouraging the faithful to make pilgrimages to Rome, amid new security fears following…
Russia recently expanded punishment against independent journalists and activists that the Kremlin designated as “foreign agents,” with Moscow charging a prominent exiled reporter, Tatyana Felgengauer, on criminal counts in absentia….
WASHINGTON — A journalist jailed in Azerbaijan for nearly seven months has said he believes his arrest is linked to his reporting. Farid Mehralizada, an economist and journalist with VOA’s sister…
Orleans, France — Nabil Attar sprinkles sesame and pomegranate over creamy mutabal, a roasted eggplant dip from his native Syria — one of his mother’s many recipes now featured at his…
PARIS — France unveiled a new government on Monday, composed of former ministers and senior civil servants that Prime Minister Francois Bayrou will hope can oversee the passage of a 2025…