Here are some of the most compelling photographs from the 41st week of 2021 from around RFE/RL's region. For more photo galleries, see our photo gallery archive.
Photos Of The Week #41
- By RFE/RL
![The Russian city of Yekaterinburg is blanketed by smog from peat fires on October 15. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/05e00000-0a00-0242-f39c-08d98fc638a7_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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The Russian city of Yekaterinburg is blanketed by smog from peat fires on October 15.
![Samira, 9, poses for a photo in the living room at her orphanage in Kabul. Samira wants to be a doctor when she grows up. "I want to serve my homeland and save others from disease, and I also want other girls to study so that they become a doctor like me in the future," she says.](https://gdb.rferl.org/46c30000-0aff-0242-2029-08d98fe66f81_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Samira, 9, poses for a photo in the living room at her orphanage in Kabul. Samira wants to be a doctor when she grows up. "I want to serve my homeland and save others from disease, and I also want other girls to study so that they become a doctor like me in the future," she says.
![Afghan girls sit on a couch at their home on a hill overlooking Kabul. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/46c30000-0aff-0242-7525-08d98fc422c7_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Afghan girls sit on a couch at their home on a hill overlooking Kabul.
![ A teacher stands inside a bullet-ridden school in Babro village in Afghanistan's Arghandab district.](https://gdb.rferl.org/46c30000-0aff-0242-854f-08d98fc465f4_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A teacher stands inside a bullet-ridden school in Babro village in Afghanistan's Arghandab district.
![Ukrainians celebrate Defenders Day on October 14, a holiday created in 2015 to honor veterans and fallen members of the armed forces.](https://gdb.rferl.org/46c30000-0aff-0242-7818-08d98f25f480_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Ukrainians celebrate Defenders Day on October 14, a holiday created in 2015 to honor veterans and fallen members of the armed forces.
![A demonstrator in Sofia on October 13 holds a wooden cross during a protest against the Bulgarian government's plans to close coal-fired power plants in the country.](https://gdb.rferl.org/023f0000-0aff-0242-4991-08d98e5ab4fc_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A demonstrator in Sofia on October 13 holds a wooden cross during a protest against the Bulgarian government's plans to close coal-fired power plants in the country.
![Crows sit on grave crosses in the section of a cemetery reserved for COVID-19 victims in Kolpino, outside St. Petersburg in Russia. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/023f0000-0aff-0242-505a-08d98e581ebd_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Crows sit on grave crosses in the section of a cemetery reserved for COVID-19 victims in Kolpino, outside St. Petersburg in Russia.
![A farmer works at a cannabis plantation in the Panjwai district of Afghanistan's Kandahar Province. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/023f0000-0aff-0242-0265-08d98e593dff_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A farmer works at a cannabis plantation in the Panjwai district of Afghanistan's Kandahar Province.
![A municipal worker cleans the Druzhba Narodov (Friendship of Nations) fountain at the All-Russia Exhibition Centre in Moscow. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/023f0000-0aff-0242-d76c-08d98e592d6f_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A municipal worker cleans the Druzhba Narodov (Friendship of Nations) fountain at the All-Russia Exhibition Centre in Moscow.
![Amid a surge in coronavirus cases in Romania, patients lie on beds in an emergency room that has been turned into a COVID-19 unit at the Bagdasar-Arseni hospital in Bucharest.](https://gdb.rferl.org/02340000-0aff-0242-ebde-08d98e398f71_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Amid a surge in coronavirus cases in Romania, patients lie on beds in an emergency room that has been turned into a COVID-19 unit at the Bagdasar-Arseni hospital in Bucharest.
![A woman looks at her phone as she walks across a bridge with the Russian Foreign Ministry building in the background in central Moscow on October 12. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/023f0000-0aff-0242-5b4e-08d98d759b6d_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A woman looks at her phone as she walks across a bridge with the Russian Foreign Ministry building in the background in central Moscow on October 12.
![Patients suffering from dengue fever receive medical treatment at a field hospital set up by the authorities amid an outbreak in Lahore, Pakistan. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/02340000-0aff-0242-173a-08d98d754825_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Patients suffering from dengue fever receive medical treatment at a field hospital set up by the authorities amid an outbreak in Lahore, Pakistan.
![A migrant, who was detained after crossing into Latvia from Belarus, sits next to the border area near Vorzova. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/023f0000-0aff-0242-b83e-08d98d76c45b_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A migrant, who was detained after crossing into Latvia from Belarus, sits next to the border area near Vorzova.
![Members of the Red Cross help a Taliban member who claims to have lost a leg earlier in a U.S. air strike. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/052e0000-0a00-0242-f099-08d98d76cc6b_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Members of the Red Cross help a Taliban member who claims to have lost a leg earlier in a U.S. air strike.
![Passengers wearing face masks ride a tram in Belgrade amid a new surge in coronavirus infections in Serbia. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/02340000-0aff-0242-7e28-08d98d6944f8_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Passengers wearing face masks ride a tram in Belgrade amid a new surge in coronavirus infections in Serbia.
![An aerial autumn view of the Spaso-Kamenny Monastery on Kubenskoye Lake in Russia's Vologda Region](https://gdb.rferl.org/052e0000-0a00-0242-d3c0-08d98c8d1f84_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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An aerial autumn view of the Spaso-Kamenny Monastery on Kubenskoye Lake in Russia's Vologda Region
![Relatives and friends stand next to the graves of victims of a suicide bomb attack on worshippers at a Shi'ite mosque in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz, which killed dozens of people on October 8. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/052e0000-0a00-0242-54cd-08d98c8c1bba_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Relatives and friends stand next to the graves of victims of a suicide bomb attack on worshippers at a Shi'ite mosque in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz, which killed dozens of people on October 8.