Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

2022-04-19 11:34:25 Days after the loss of Russia's Moskva cruiser -- the largest naval ship to sink in 40 years -- the fate of the crew is still shrouded in mystery.

But Dmitry Shkrebets knows the true fate of his 20-year-old son, even if Russia won’t yet tell him.

Naval officers contacted him to say his son was not dead but rather included among the “missing,” a statement he seemed to find incredulous considering the circumstances.

“Guys, missing on the high seas?!!!” he wrote in a post on his VKontakte social media page.

"I think the people that allowed this to happen should be punished," Dmitry Shkrebets told RFE/RL. "And how they cynically lie on the [TV] channels that all [of the crew] are alive. How can they lie so cynically?"

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-moskva-sinking-sailor-deaths-quiet/31809581.html Open / Comment

2022-04-16 01:16:36 The identities of a Russian soldier and his wife who discussed the rape of Ukrainian women in a phone call have been revealed following an investigation by RFE/RL.

“Yes, I allow it. Just wear protection,” the woman says between laughs.

https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-rape-russian-soldier-wife-bykovsky/31805486.html Open / Comment

2022-04-12 18:17:41 Viktoria Roshchyna, a contributor to our Ukrainian Service, traveled to the occupied city of Berdyansk, near Mariupol.

After a lengthy journey through Russian checkpoints -- and a week in the custody of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), part of the occupying force, which accused her of working for its Ukrainian equivalent, the SBU -- this is what she saw.

https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-berdyansk-russia-occupation-life/31798991.html Open / Comment

2022-04-12 14:23:15 Ukraine's Foreign Minister said that the coming fight in eastern Ukraine would more closely resemble battles from WWII. Lawrence Freedman of King's College London's Department of War Studies explains what that means for the Russian and Ukrainian sides and what to expect in the days and weeks ahead.

https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-ukrainian-military-leaders-strategic-choices-freedman/31797657.html Open / Comment

2022-04-12 13:36:07 Ukrainian authorities exhumed dozens of bodies from mass graves in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha for forensic tests and to prepare them for proper burial.

There is strong evidence that Russian forces committed war crimes in the town. The head of Ukraine's National Police told RFE/RL on April 8 that many victims were shot in the temple at point-blank range. Open / Comment

2022-04-08 18:13:26 A child's blood-spattered toy, suitcases, and charred cars littered the railway station in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, on April 8 after a Russian rocket attack that struck when around 1,000 people were waiting for a train to evacuate them to a safer part of the country. Open / Comment

2022-04-06 22:45:03 Roman and Leonid Butusin were born in Vladivostok, Russia, but died fighting for the Ukrainian Army against Russian invaders. "They were real Ukrainians," said one mourner.

Their father moved the family to Ukraine in 2014, feeling disgusted by Russia's aggression against Ukraine. Open / Comment

2022-04-05 16:41:27 Thirty years ago, their city was surrounded by Bosnian Serb forces and kept under siege for nearly four years.

Now, Bosnians tell RFE/RL's Balkan Service that they see the same evil repeating itself in Ukraine and want Europe and the world to do more to put a stop to it. Open / Comment

2022-04-04 23:00:21 Images of dozens of bodies lying in the streets of the village of Bucha, near Kyiv, have been seen around the world, prompting accusations of war crimes against Russian forces.

RFE/RL correspondent Levko Stek traveled there on April 3 shortly after its liberation by Ukrainian forces, witnessed the carnage in the streets, and spoke to residents about what happened there.

At the time of publication, RFE/RL could not independently verify all of the accounts. Open / Comment

2022-04-04 13:06:59 Russian forces have been accused of committing atrocities in the town of Bucha, northwest of the Ukrainian capital. Bodies of civilians were seen lying in the streets as Ukrainian troops took up positions in the Kyiv suburb following a Russian withdrawal. The mayor of Bucha, Anatoliy Fedoruk, said that some 300 locals had been shot during the occupation by Russian forces and the majority of them were allegedly dumped in a mass grave. Open / Comment