Friends, classmates, and teachers gathered in Kyiv to say goodbye to sisters Vira and Lyubava Yakovleva, killed in a Russian strike on May 14. Vira was 17. Lyubava was 12. Their father had already been killed in the war in 2023.

Iranian monarchist groups are voicing anger over reports that FIFA intends to ban the so-called Lion and Sun flag, often used as a symbol of resistance to the theocratic rule that took over the country in 1979. The soccer association says the flag is a "political" symbol and is therefore forbidden.

Ukraine's city of Odesa is welcoming beachgoers for the summer season on its Black Sea coast. Despite the risk of Russian strikes, Odesa's beaches offer a temporary respite to war-weary Ukrainians. On the coast, divers help keep Odesa's waters safe by removing debris from downed Russian drones.

Kyiv Residents have mixed reactions over the removal of a statue of writer Mikhail Bulgakov, author of The Master And Margarita. Born in Kyiv, the novelist penned sharp satires of Soviet society. But Ukrainian officials said Bulgakov also symbolized Russian imperial thinking.

RFE/RL joined a patrol by a unit of Ukraine’s special anti-drone police, operating on the outskirts of Kramatorsk, a frontline city in the Donetsk region. Officers use drone-detection systems and protective gear to intercept Russian first-person-view (FPV) drones before they can reach the city.

In Central Asia, newborn boys outnumber girls at a rate well beyond the worldwide average. That shift is the result of sex-selective abortion, in which families choose to terminate a pregnancy when a daughter is expected. Observers warn that this choice is not always made freely by pregnant women.

Two more men have been executed in Iran in connection with the January protests with human rights groups condemning growing repression in the country. An Iranian man was also sentenced to 10 years in prison for simply shooting video of protests that first erupted in December 2025.

Russian forces hit a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel near Ukraine's Chernobyl power plant, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said June 7. He called the strike an "extremely vile" attack as international atomic energy monitors announced it did not lead to a spike in radiation.

In an interview with RFE/RL, Representative Don Bacon, a Republican from Nebraska, backed tough sanctions on Russia, saying that the United States should keep applying financial pressure. He said Ukraine's recent attacks on military targets inside Russia appear to be "a game-changer" in the war.

More than three months into Iran's conflict with the United States and Israel, Iranians say they are desperate about meeting basic needs. Some are down to one meal a day, meat is rare, and household appliances are sold off to pay bills. Some Iranians sent messages to RFE/RL's Radio Farda.

This year, Serbia granted citizenship to four times as many Russians as people of all other nationalities combined, and some of them were under international sanctions, an RFE/RL analysis shows.

Mourners paid tribute to Ukrainians killed on May 14 when a Russian air attack caused an apartment building to collapse in Kyiv. "They just wiped out people," said one witness about the attack at a makeshift memorial near the ruins. Meanwhile, Russia followed up with more attacks May 16.