The United States has new powers to increase economic pressure on Russia, but their impact will depend on whether the Trump administration uses them consistently and makes clear what it wants Moscow and other governments to do, former US diplomat Daniel Fried told RFE/RL.

In an interview with RFE/RL, Daniel Fried, a former US ambassador and assistant secretary of state, said that the new sanctions law gives Washington leverage by exerting pressure on buyers of Russian oil and gas -- if the Trump administration is serious about implementing it.

A Russian missile and drone strike killed at least three people, including a child, in Kyiv and the surrounding region, Ukrainian authorities reported.

Iran threatened to attack energy infrastructure across the Middle East if its security isn't guaranteed as it ratcheted up its rhetoric while waiting for the United States to officially respond to a plan Tehran says would reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Kyrgyzstan is set to send a domestically produced satellite into orbit on October 1, marking the Central Asian state's first feat of spacefaring. Uzbekistan has announced its own plans for a domestic satellite.

Dozens of university students staged a rare protest in Iran, where the authorities have waged an intensifying campaign against dissent.

In this week's Wider Europe, Rikard Jozwiak drills down on whether the EU could drop some of its Belarus sanctions and the road map for the most advanced EU candidates.

Students at Tehran's Allameh Tabatabaei University protested against the mandatory dress code for women that make the wearing of head scarves, or hijabs, compulsory.

A new wave of deadly Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities is fueling bipartisan calls in Washington for US President Donald Trump to use sweeping new sanctions powers against Moscow, with lawmakers arguing that greater economic pressure could strengthen efforts to end the war.

The death toll from Russia’s jet-powered drone attacks mounted in Ukraine while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that the Kremlin is preparing for a new mobilization at home and a fresh deployment of 10,000 North Korean troops.

A wave of Russian attacks hit civilian sites in several Ukrainian cities on September 28. In Kyiv, fire broke out after strikes on the National Academy of Sciences and a major medical clinic. An office building in Dnipro and an apartment block in Kharkiv also came under attack.

The Iranian authorities routinely refuse to return the seized belongings of political prisoners. The practice is intended to punish former inmates even after they have been released, activists say.

Russia continued its attacks on Ukraine, killing two people, including an Azerbaijani citizen, and injuring dozens others, including 10 children, in strikes on the Kyiv region and Kharkiv.

Ukrainian troops trek nearly 20 kilometers to reach Bilozerske in the embattled Donetsk region. Russian drone and aerial attacks have laid waste to the city that used to house 15,000 inhabitants. Speaking with RFE/RL, one soldier said that "everything is bad" near Dobropillia.

Firearms allegedly diverted into illegal channels by a police officer near Sarajevo may have reached Iran-linked criminal networks across Europe, sources familiar with a Bosnian weapons-trafficking investigation told RFE/RL's Balkan Service.

RFE/RL takes apart a Russian Geran-4 drone to uncover what makes the jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) faster, harder to intercept, and capable of operating deep inside Ukraine -- from its turbojet engine and advanced camera to foreign-made communications and navigation components.

At least 17 Afghans died of extreme dehydration in mid-September after crossing Iran through Pakistan, according to a human rights organization. Among them were a mother and her four daughters.

US President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Trump said he believes that both sides "want to see the war end." Zelenskyy said Ukraine is pushing for an agreement with Russia on halting attacks on energy infrastructure.

US President Donald Trump has said a “massive deal” is being discussed with Belarus, under which it would provide cheaper potash supplies than Canada. But questions since the announcement have swirled over whether Belarus can replace the world's largest potash producer to meet US needs.

The crises in the Middle East are creating a growing challenge for Saudi Arabia: how it gets its oil to global markets. Shipping costs are rising, oil has topped $105 a barrel, and global inventories are being rapidly drained.

An RFE/RL investigation links Russian sniper Artem Dementyev to killings and shootings of civilians during the 2022 occupation of Bucha. Ukrainian investigators say ballistic evidence, surveillance footage and witness testimony point to his involvement in at least five killings and torture.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly as Russia launched a missile and drone attack on Ukraine, killing at least four people in Dnipro.

Welcome to Wider Europe, RFE/RL's newsletter focusing on the key issues concerning the European Union, NATO, and other institutions and their relationships with the Western Balkans and Europe's Eastern neighborhoods. I'm RFE/RL Europe Editor Rikard Jozwiak, and this week I am drilling down on two issues: sanctioning Russia's military industry and Canada’s "associate membership" of the EU. Briefing #1: New Sanctions Targeting The Russian Military, While Oligarchs Are Removed From ListsWhat...

Reza Valizadeh, a dual US-Iranian citizen and former journalist for RFE/RL's Radio Farda, is marking two years behind bars in Iran.

Reza Valizadeh, a former journalist for RFE/RL's Radio Farda, has been incarcerated in Tehran's Evin prison for two years. The dual US-Iranian citizen is serving a 10-year sentence for “collaborating with a hostile government,” a conviction his supporters and press-freedom groups reject.

The European Union looked set to remove Russian-Uzbek oligarch Alisher Usmanov and Russian-Israeli oligarch Mikhail Fridman from its sanctions list while prolonging the asset freezes and visa bans for the near 3,000 other individuals and entities on the blacklist by an unprecedented three years.

As inflation soars in Iran amid country's protracted war with the United States, Iranians are cutting back on food, giving up everyday comforts, and putting plans for the future on hold.

RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service correspondent Maryan Kushnir walked some 20 kilometers to reach the embattled city of Bilozerske, in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, which soldiers say has been effectively destroyed by Russian strikes over the past year.

Officials in Moscow have announced a new record victory for President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party in what the European Union dismissed as “sham elections” on September 21. The Central Election Commission said United Russia gained nearly 58 percent of the vote, winning 355 seats in the 450-seat State Duma in the first election to the body since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In a highly managed process on September 18-20, voters could choose from...

There was no let up in fighting between Russia and Ukraine on September 20, as voters in Russia cast ballots on the final day of parliamentary elections from which a political party calling for peace was excluded.

Work is now underway to the restore Afghanistan's Minaret of Jam, which experts say reflects a welcome departure from the icon-smashing rule of the Taliban of the 1990s. The change contrasts with the current Taliban rulers' draconian restrictions on other facets of life in the country.

Russia is racing to build Rassvet, its answer to Starlink, after losing access to the satellite network on the battlefield in Ukraine. But troubled satellites, tight deadlines, and a lack of ground terminals could leave Moscow waiting years.

Families of dozens of Kyrgyz women imprisoned in Iraq are calling on the government to bring them home. The women -- mostly wives and relatives of Islamic State fighters -- traveled to Iraq and Syria more than a decade ago as the extremist group seized swaths of territory.

Russian officials claimed voting systems came under cyberattack, as the country entered the second of three days of voting for the State Duma, the lower house of parliament.

US President Donald Trump signed into law legislation aimed at increasing economic pressure on Russia over its war in Ukraine, including by targeting Moscow's energy revenues as well as countries that continue to buy Russian oil and gas. The White House said on September 18 that Trump signed H.R. 5334, the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 -- the legislation named after the late South Carolina senator who championed tougher measures against Moscow. The signing makes...

At least 16 people were reported dead and dozens were injured after an attacker drove a vehicle packed with explosives into a police complex in Pakistan. Officials said several other attackers died in a shootout with police after the blast in the city of Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

An attack involving an explosion and gunfire at a police headquarters killed at least 20 people and injured dozens of others in the Pakistani city of Kohat in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, which borders Afghanistan.

Plans for Ukraine to produce Patriot interceptor missiles under license are “not going to solve this winter's problem” as it reels under Russian aerial bombardment, US ambassador to NATO told RFE/RL.

Fighting has escalated between the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The hostilities could have global implications, including for oil prices already high amid the Iran war.

US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker has warned that global demand for missiles for Patriot air defense systems is “outpacing supply” in an interview with RFE/RL.

US President Donald Trump says Washington and Warsaw are making "major progress" toward establishing a permanent US Army base in Poland, potentially expanding the American military presence on NATO's eastern flank.

John Coale, the US special envoy to Belarus, spoke to Current Time shortly after the release of 25 Belarusian political prisoners in exchange for the easing of sanctions. Coale said his negotiation efforts are also meant to eventually help Belarus normalize its relations with other countries.

A web of contractors, suppliers, and others with links to Russian state giant Rosneft’s big Arctic oil project includes a billionaire associate of Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin and the father of President Vladimir Putin’s purported partner, Alina Kabayeva, among others. Systema investigates.

A military airfield in Russia's Rostov-on-Don and the Slavneft-YANOS oil refinery in Yaroslavl were reportedly hit during a major overnight drone attack. Ukraine’s Security Service says three military transport planes and three helicopters were hit.

Iranian cinema has a long history of confronting censorship. But the Women, Life, Freedom protests changed the terms of that confrontation. Where filmmakers once worked within, or carefully around, an elaborate approval system to tell their stories, many now bypass it entirely at great risk.

The US military says traffic in the Strait of Hormuz continues to gain momentum amid concerns that escalating fighting between Saudi Arabia and Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen threatens another vital artery for global oil supplies in the region.

A military training exercise in Serbia featured Chinese-designed quadruped robots firing weapons, as concerns mount over Beijing-linked technology facilities being set up in the Balkan country.

Russian drones hit a passenger train in southern Ukraine on September 16, setting a train ablaze. No causalities were reported. Another Russian drone strike killed five people on a bus near Nikopol, according to officials. The strikes follow an uptick in attacks on civilian transport in recent days.

The 58-year-old Thaci, and three other former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army who fought Serb forces in the 1998-99 war, was convicted on four counts of war crimes: illegal and arbitrary arrest and detention, cruel treatment, torture, and murder.

In an interview with RFE/RL, Asrin Mohammadi recalls how her brother was killed during the brutal state crackdown on the Women, Life, Freedom protests that began four years ago.