Here are some of the highlights produced by RFE/RL's team of correspondents, multimedia editors, and visual journalists over the past seven days, including content from Gandhara, the RFE/RL website focusing exclusively on developments in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
'Smashed To Pieces': Besieged Mariupol Teeters On The Brink
For weeks, civilians and defenders of Ukraine's Azov Sea port city of Mariupol have been trapped inside the besieged city, which Russia sees as a crucial strategic goal. As the Russians press their attack, efforts to evacuate civilians and provide humanitarian aid are being stymied. By Oleksandr Yankovskiy and RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
'Why Do You Want To Go To Ukraine?': Life In Russian-Occupied Berdyansk
Russian military patrols prowl the streets, Russian channels fill the airwaves, and the occupying forces take a cut of the fishermen’s catch. Phone service is dead, and protests have been quashed. This is life in Berdyansk, an Azov Sea port city seized by Russian forces days after the invasion of Ukraine. By Viktoria Roshchyna
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Ukraine Exhumes Bucha Victims For Forensic Tests, Reburial
Ukraine Exhumes Bucha Victims For Forensic Tests, Reburial
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. (WARNING: Viewers may find the content of this video disturbing.) By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
'Part Of Russia's Arsenal': Allegations Of Rape By Russian Forces In Ukraine Are Increasing
In the wake of the withdrawal of Russian forces from around Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine, numerous allegations rapes committed by Russian soldiers are emerging. Ukrainian prosecutors are probing whether the alleged incidents indicate a policy of war crimes approved by the Russian authorities. By Aleksandr Kasatkin, Yulia Zhukova, and Sashko Shevchenko
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Asked About Military Achievements In Ukraine, Russians Mostly Echo State Media
Asked About Military Achievements In Ukraine, Russians Mostly Echo State Media
A Current Time correspondent asked people on the streets of Moscow and Arkhangelsk what Russia had achieved after six weeks of war in Ukraine. Most repeated the Kremlin line, as they hear it on Russian media, but a few offered radically different answers. By Current Time
Analysis: Finland And Sweden's Steady March To NATO
It is almost a certainty now that Finland and Sweden will join NATO, making it the biggest political and military redrawing of the European map since the countries of Central and Eastern Europe joined the military alliance, as well as the European Union, in different waves in the late 1990s and early 2000s. By Rikard Jozwiak
Pakistan's Imran Khan: Down But Not Out
After three tumultuous years in power, Imran Khan was ousted as Pakistan's prime minister over the weekend. Despite his ouster, experts say the political career of the 69-year-old, who still retains some support among his urban conservative political base, is not over. By Abubakar Siddique
ALSO READ: Pakistan's Shahbaz Sharif Steps Out Of Brother's Shadow To Take Premiership
Afghan Farmers Fear For Livelihoods As Taliban Bans Opium
Afghan farmers were upset when the Taliban banned opium cultivation this month and experts say the Taliban's cash-strapped, pariah government is unlikely to provide alternative livelihoods for the farmers. By RFE/RL's Radio Azadi
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'I Didn't Have A Childhood': The Emotional Scars Of Iran's Child Brides
'I Didn't Have A Childhood': The Emotional Scars Of Iran's Child Brides
According to official Iranian statistics, there was a 32 percent increase in girls marrying between the ages of 10 and 14 in Iran in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same quarter in 2020. Here, two women who married as children talk about the psychological and physical toll that marrying young has had upon them. By RFE/RL's Radio Farda
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Kurdish Traders Brave A 'Killing Field' On Iran-Iraq Border
Kurdish Traders Brave A 'Killing Field' On Iran-Iraq Border
Kurdish traders known as Kulbars make the hazardous journey from Iranian to Iraqi Kurdistan, earning just enough money to survive. Some have fallen to their deaths. More have been killed by Iranian border guards, with 52 killed in 2021, according to the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights. By RFE/RL's Radio Farda