Ten sanatoriums in the crumbling resort town of Tskaltubo are under the hammer, years after billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili vowed to purchase and restore the famed properties.

US First Lady Melania Trump has brokered a localized cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine for the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian city of Oleshky, with Kyiv confirming preparations for an operation to establish humanitarian corridors and evacuate civilians.

Battered by mismanagement, sanctions, and war, Iran’s economy is in deep trouble. The cost-of-living crisis is forcing people to change what they eat, how they socialize, and what they can afford to do with their lives.

RFE/RL joins Ukraine’s 93rd Mechanized Brigade on a dangerous route to Druzhkivka where Russian drones target vehicles and troops. Only a few thousand civilians remain inside the battered frontline city as Russian bombs devastate homes and Ukrainian forces hold the line.

The Kremlin has heavily invested in the promise that retreating Arctic sea ice opens up a once impassable route that is further from the reach of Ukrainian drone attacks or European naval interdiction of shadow fleet vessels. But officials are learning that cutting a path through ice isn't easy.

After 14 years dominating Serbian politics, Aleksandar Vucic faces the biggest challenge to his rule in parliamentary elections on October 25 from an opposition movement that has sprung from mass student protests. But there’s growing concern about whether voting will be fair.

A US congressman has urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to sanction four Serbian businessmen with close ties to former president Aleksandar Vucic, accusing them of corruption and election interference ahead of a closely watched parliamentary vote.

The deportation of several Tajik opposition figures from Germany and other European countries, and their subsequent imprisonment, have heightened fears among Tajik oppositionists in exile. Some say they fear not only being sent home but also losing the Western support they once counted on.

US officials publicly accused Russia of threatening a Finnish-operated commercial satellite that provides imagery and intelligence to Ukraine and other nations, calling the move “deliberately reckless.”

RFE/RL's Sandro Jupalakiani explains how Georgia's ruling party wants to ban the country’s largest opposition parties, a move critics warn would undermine democratic freedoms and ties with the West.

In 2022, Ukraine relied almost entirely on Chinese components for its military drones. While that dependency has now been drastically reduced, Ukraine still relies on Beijing for essential parts that remain difficult to replace at the necessary scale and cost.

Amid growing controversy over restrictions on Ukraine's use of Starlink satellite Internet services, which its military relies heavily on, US President Donald Trump claimed that the company's head, Elon Musk, had lifted limitations on Kyiv's access.

Russia has released 74-year-old US citizen Stephen Hubbard, who had been detained since 2022. He had been sentenced to prison for allegedly acting as a mercenary in Ukraine, charges his family disputed. President Vladimir Putin announced Hubbard’s release during talks with US envoy Steve Witkoff.

The Soviet-era Roghun Dam project has endured decades of uncertainty and opposition. Now major funding tranches appear to have the project on track to transform Central Asia's energy landscape -- and displace tens of thousands of Tajik villagers.

A viral video of two Ukrainian border guards’ violent pursuit of a man trying to cross the Dniester River into Moldova has highlighted a route Ukrainians use to escape Russia’s war and the prospect of fighting in it. In this case, all three men ended up in Moldova – and the guards were detained.

Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired teacher from Michigan held by Russia since 2022 on accusations of joining Ukraine's armed forces, has been freed in what is being framed as a goodwill gesture by the Kremlin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told US envoy Steve Witkoff that Moscow was willing to resume stalled, US-mediated peace talks with Ukraine, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said after the two met at Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg.

Vladimir Putin’s secluded residence near Russia’s Lake Valdai is surrounded by fences, security forces, and air defenses. Just kilometers away, locals face restricted access to the lake and surrounding forests, while families bear the cost of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

In what Ukraine's military is calling a historic first, a soldier who suffered injuries to both legs on the battlefield was evacuated by an unmanned aerial drone. His fellow servicemen say the soldier is "a hero" who didn't hesitate to strap himself to the hexacopter drone and fly back to his unit.

Ukraine’s forces have retaken 26 settlements in the Dnipropetrovsk region, but the villages are largely destroyed and uninhabitable. As Russian troops are pushed back, Ukrainian forces face the challenge of holding the reclaimed territory under constant threat from drones.