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The announcement of Russia’s retreat from the Dnieper River’s west bank hit like a lightning bolt, seen instantaneously as another tactical victory for Ukraine, another embarrassing setback for Moscow, and a political problem for President Vladimir Putin. But it’s not clear what’s happening and why.

Dozens of contract soldiers from Bashkortostan have renounced their contracts and refused further combat duty in Ukraine. One of those soldiers who returned home last month described his ordeal for RFE/RL.

Iran admits sending drones to Russia, a new investigation finds that Iranian drones are packed with Western components, and hard-liners call for the authorities to take lethal measures against protesters.

Ethnic Kazakhs who have returned to their ancestral homeland from abroad say they are being resettled in northern areas that have large numbers of ethnic Russians. The government insists the program tackles underpopulation -- but others say Astana wants to balance the ethnic makeup of those regions.

A report from the NGO Safeguard Defenders about Chinese "police stations" abroad has created ripples around the globe and sparked investigations across Europe. But in Hungary and Serbia, two countries with warm relationships with Beijing, authorities appear keen to "sweep it under the rug."

Dutch resistance is widely blamed for keeping Bulgaria and Romania out of Europe's border-free zone despite EU institutional acknowledgment that they're "more than ready to join."

Russia has erected hundreds of tents at three new encampments in Belarus, satellite images obtained by RFE/RL show. Is it an indication that a new invasion into Ukraine from Belarus is in the offing? Or something else?

Shortly after the release of his new video, Omen, which makes foreboding predictions about the future of Iran's clerical leadership if it continues its violent crackdown on anti-government demonstrations, Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi was arrested and hasn't been heard from since. 

I'm RFE/RL Europe Editor Rikard Jozwiak and this week I'm drilling down on two major issues: whether the EU's "solidarity lanes" will get enough grain out of Ukraine and whether the OSCE will be able to pass a 2023 budget despite Russian objections?

Visual evidence analyzed by Human Rights Watch undermines the authorities' claims that weapons used to suppress the July protests, in which there were hundreds of casualties, were nonlethal.