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Amid the mounting casualties on both sides and Russia’s latest retreat, the coming winter months will have an outsized impact on the future of the war.

With the absence of air travel, Ukraine's railway network has been crucial during the war. At first, the night trains ferried refugees to safety; now they take a stream of people in and out of the country. Brought together from across Ukraine, everyone on the night train has a story to tell.

President Vladimir Putin and other officials have linked Russia's so-called "traditional values" with national security. As a bill that would virtually ban the mention of same-sex relationships and transgender issues wends through the legislature, LGBT citizens and activists are sounding the alarm.

Legal in only a handful of countries, the business of birthing-for-pay brings cash and conflicting feelings to the Caucasus.

Turkmen students who study abroad are being kept from flying to universities and even removed from foreign-bound planes, with officials giving no explanation. Some Turkmen suspect authorities are reluctant to let citizens leave ahead of a census that comes amid an unprecedented population decline.

As anti-government protests rage across Iran, some young people are knocking off clerics' turbans in the streets, in the latest form of protest. While some Iranians praise the "turban throwing," others express concern that clerics not affiliated with the state could suffer harassment and violence.

Yevgeny Fotin left his wife and baby boy, Bogdan, more than 20 years ago, never to play a further role in their life. That isn't stopping Fotin from fighting to collect a share of the state compensation following Bogdan's death in Russia's war against Ukraine.

A new investigation has found that the Russian general overseeing the war against Ukraine, Sergei Surovikin, benefited from lucrative deals that involved his wife's businesses, Syrian phosphate mines, and shady payments from a Kremlin-connected businessman.

Now detained on suspicion of aiding Moscow in its aggression against Ukraine, the longtime head of a prominent Ukrainian aircraft engine maker is a Russian citizen, a Schemes investigation has found.

"What kind of people are you?" Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said in a rant aimed at shaming residents of the Russian republic into volunteering to fight in Ukraine. Nonetheless, Chechnya’s parliament speaker said there are more than 1,000 vacancies in the region's security units.