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"I had to wade -- take off my clothes and cross the water to the other side." How a Russian engineer resigned from his defense-industry job and fled to Lithuania on foot via Belarus in the dead of the night.

Are Moldovans more tolerant toward the LGBT community, who have long faced persecution and discrimination? Ten years ago, the small Eastern European state was hailed for passing landmark legislation to protect minorities, including LGBT people. But now a recent poll suggests little has changed.

Beijing and Ankara have expanded their engagement in Central Asia in recent months as the region's governments look for new partners to boost their economies and balance against a more assertive Kremlin.

The Moscow-appointed head of Ukraine's Kherson region said weeks after Russia's invasion that his "soul" was Ukrainian. Now he has a fast-tracked Russian passport.

In an interview with Current Time, Ukraine’s deputy head of military intelligence warned that Kyiv is on the brink of losing territory and is currently outgunned.

Russian forces in control of territory in Ukraine’s south are reviving discussions about holding referendums on integrating the occupied areas into Russia.

In a comprehensive interview, Western military strategist Edward Luttwak blames Germany for the Ukrainian war and warns Kyiv and its allies against pursuing "total victory." Instead, he says, a democratic answer could lie in "an actual plebiscite" in eastern Ukraine.

As the war in Ukraine rages, Russian President Vladimir Putin likens himself to Tsar Peter the Great -- but critics find a glaring flaw in the comparison. Meanwhile, Dmitry Medvedev provides the poisonous voice-over for a terrible, troubled time.

Here are some of the highlights produced by RFE/RL's team of correspondents, multimedia editors, and visual journalists over the past seven days.

RFE/RL's Georgian Service spoke to David Patrikarakos, a British journalist and contributing editor at UnHerd, who has recently been on the ground reporting from Ukraine. In the interview, Patrikarakos says the war is only in its early stages and "a long phase of frozen conflict" is likely.