Here are some of the most compelling photographs from the 50th week of 2021 from around RFE/RL's region. For more photo galleries, see our photo gallery archive.
Photos Of The Week #50
- By RFE/RL
1
Macedonian sex workers carrying red umbrellas walk in front of the memorial house of Mother Teresa during a rally to mark the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers in Skopje, North Macedonia. Sex workers face a much greater risk of being exposed to sexual violence on the job.
2
Rhythmic gymnast Szofia Bernat of Hungary performs her routine during the individual all-around event at the Divine Grace International Experimental Rhythmic Gymnastics Tournament at VTB Arena in Moscow.
3
Taliban security officials patrol at a zoo in Kabul.
4
The Osokorky station of the Kyiv subway features a mural painted in 2018 as part of the More Than Us project by street artists from Ukraine, Switzerland, the United States, Brazil, Costa Rica, Spain, Belgium and Australia.
5
Children watch a cockfighting match on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan.
6
Ukrainian soldiers stand on a street as a local resident walks by in the village of Travneve, near the front line in the Donetsk region.
7
A man holds a candle in front of portraits of victims of the Army Public School (APS) attack in Peshawar, Pakistan, on the seventh anniversary of that massacre, which left 156 people dead.
8
After heavy snowfall on the outskirts of Moscow, a woman walks past an arch of light that has been installed for the upcoming New Year and Christmas celebrations.
9
Afghan youths enjoy the first snow of the year in Kabul on December 15.
10
People working in Kosovo's hospitality sector attend a protest against COVID-19 restrictions in front of a government building in Pristina on December 15.
11
Doctors and nurses wearing protective gear turn over a COVID-19 patient in the intensive care unit of the Szent Laszlo Hospital in Budapest. Hungary ranks in the top five in the world in per-capita deaths from the coronavirus.
12
Spectators line up outside the National Stadium in Karachi to watch Pakistan's T20 cricket match against the West Indies on December 13.
13
A demonstrator holds a candle as people gather in front of Russia's Supreme Court in Moscow on December 14. The Supreme Court has resumed a hearing into a request by federal prosecutors to shut down one of the post-Soviet world's oldest and most prestigious human rights organizations, Memorial International.
14
Burqa-clad Afghan women sit in front of a beauty salon in Jalalabad with images that have been defaced with spray paint.
15
Police examine the scene of an accident near the Serbian border where a car carrying migrants crashed into a house in Morahalom, Hungary, on December 14. Seven migrants were killed. Police said the driver of the car refused to stop for a police check and tried to escape at high speed.
16
People ride a merry-go-round at the Christmas Market on Red Square in Moscow.
17
People wearing masks and costumes wait before performing in a show of winter traditions at the Village Museum in Bucharest. In pre-Christian rural traditions, dancers wearing colored costumes or animal furs toured from house to house in villages singing and dancing to ward off evil.
18
A woman wearing a burqa and a child walk past Taliban fighters along a roadside in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
19
Participants wearing Santa Claus costumes take part in a charity run in Pristina, Kosovo, on December 12.
