Ukraine

Russian forces have entered the outskirts of the eastern Ukraine frontline city of Toretsk, Ukraine's military said late on Monday (7 October), less than a week after the fall of the bastion town of Vuhledar.  

Georgia stands at a crossroads. Once a beacon of democratic reforms in the post-Soviet space, the country has grown increasingly authoritarian under its current government and distanced itself from the West. The parliamentary elections on 26 October 2024 will be a defining moment. 

Russian troops have taken complete control of the eastern city of Vuhledar, which Ukrainian forces have been defending since the beginning of Moscow’s full-scale invasion two and a half years ago.

Russian authorities have subjected hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners of war to “widespread and systematic torture” while supervisors in detention facilities aware of that treatment did nothing to stop the abuse, according to a report published by the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The new head of NATO vowed on Tuesday to help shore up Western support for war-ravaged Ukraine and expressed confidence that he can work with whoever is elected president of the United States, the alliance's most powerful member, in November.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to discuss his plans for winning the war against Russia as he meets Thursday with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia could respond with nuclear weapons if it were attacked with conventional arms in the latest changes to the country’s nuclear doctrine. … Putin did not refer to Ukraine directly, but said the revisions to the doctrine were necessary in view of a swiftly changing global landscape that had created new threats and risks for Russia.

[…] The longtime Russian leader on Monday signed a decree boosting the number of active troops by 180,000 soldiers — making the Russian army the second largest in the world by active troop size.

Nine European countries protested on Friday (13 September) against the International Monetary Fund’s plans to resume missions to Russia, saying it would damage the reputation of the Fund to resume dialogue with a country that has invaded another.

Amid continuing prohibited weapons transfers to Ukraine and Russia during the ongoing war, top disarmament and legal officials issued calls on Friday for parties to the conflict to abide by international law and protect civilians. … Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has recorded over 11,700 civilians killed and more than 24,600 civilians injured in Ukraine.