Russia

FILE - EU and Chinese flags are seen at the Europa building in Brussels, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019 (John Thys/Pool Photo via AP, File)

World News

Ukraine top of agenda as China, EU prepare to meet at summit

3:22am April 01, 2022

by The Associated Press

The European Union is seeking China's assurances that it won't assist Russia in circumventing economic sanctions for invading Ukraine and cooperation on ending the war at today's virtual meeting.

A local resident carries a cage on Thursday while walking past an apartment building destroyed in the besieged city of Mariupol.

Russia-Ukraine war: What happened today (March 31)

4:56pm March 31, 2022

by NPR Staff

A roundup of key developments and the latest in-depth coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Ivan Fedorov (third from left), then first deputy head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional State Administration, attends a meeting on road repairs in southeastern Ukraine in 2020. Fedorov, now the mayor of Melitopol, was abducted by Russian forces earlier this m

World News

Ukraine mayor says Russian soldiers who kidnapped him knew nothing about his country

4:44pm March 31, 2022

by Eleanor Beardsley

Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov was held by Russian forces for five days. They told him they wanted to free his town from Nazis. "I told them in my 30 years in this town I've never seen a single Nazi."

President of South Ossetia Anatoly Bibilov (right) during the Victory Day military parade marking the 75th anniversary of the victory in World War II, on June 24, 2020 in Moscow.

World News

Georgia's South Ossetia region might vote on joining Russia

3:55pm March 31, 2022

by NPR Staff

Leaders of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia say they're planning a referendum to join the Russian Federation.

Angelina Voychenko (left) and her children and Yuliya Bortnik (right) and her son fled Mariupol after hiding for weeks in the basement of Voychenko's parents' home, with no electricity, phone service or heat, as the building shook from fighter jets and ex

World News

Ukrainians navigate a perilous route to safety out of besieged Mariupol

11:20am March 31, 2022

by Becky Sullivan

"It is either die or leave. We had no other way," says one woman who arrived in Zaporizhzhia after three attempts at escape. Officials say nearly 100,000 people are still trapped in the besieged city.

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This aerial view taken near Kyiv on Wednesday shows a destroyed house in the village of Lukianivka.

Russia-Ukraine war: What happened today (March 30)

4:58pm March 30, 2022

by NPR Staff

A roundup of key developments and the latest in-depth coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Expedition 66 crew members (left to right) Mark Vande Hei of NASA and cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos are seen inside their Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft after it landed in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan on Wednesday in Zhezk

A U.S. and 2 Russian astronauts return to Earth together following a trip to space

4:03pm March 30, 2022

by Joe Hernandez

A NASA astronaut and the Russian cosmonauts parachute-landed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday after a trip back to Earth from the International Space Station, in a rare instance of U.S.-Russia cooperation.

Sanctions have had a dramatic impact on the Russian economy when it comes to things like the value of the ruble, but they can't stop the tanks, says Juan Zarate, a former assistant secretary of the Treasury.

How sanctions factor into negotiations between Russia and Ukraine

2:48pm March 30, 2022

by Rachel Treisman

Sanctions can't stop the tanks, but they have had a dramatic impact on the Russian economy and could pressure President Vladimir Putin to change his behavior, says a former Treasury official.

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Olga and Oleksandr hug as they wait beside a vehicle painted with the word "volunteers" at an evacuation center in Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine, on Tuesday. Olga's father is stuck in Mariupol, and Oleksandr is hoping to get in a volunteer convoy to the city, now

World News

Maternity patients among 20,000 civilians forcibly deported to Russia, Mariupol says

2:46pm March 30, 2022

by Bill Chappell

More than 70 hospital patients and staff members from the besieged Ukrainian city have been sent to Russia against their will, officials say, a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.

Joey and Paula Reed protest in Lafayette Park near the White House on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. Their son, Trevor Reed, just started a second hunger strike to protest his treatment in a Russian prison.

The parents of an American detained in Russia are protesting outside the White House

2:01pm March 30, 2022

by Rachel Treisman

Trevor Reed started his second hunger strike in Russian prison after being sent to solitary confinement instead of getting treatment for tuberculosis. His parents want to meet with President Biden.