Aleksandar Vucic, Serbia's former president and dominant political figure for more than a decade, has conceded defeat to the student-led protest movement in the country's pivotal parliamentary elections.

Russia wants a million drone operators by 2030 and schools are adapting fast to fill the quota. By the time students are 16, many will be taught how to fly multiple drones and how to use them in combat. The authorities are using games and competitions to draw millions of young people into the field.

As Russian forces intensify attacks on Ukraine’s Donetsk region, evacuations are accelerating in Kramatorsk, a key city still held by Kyiv. As Moscow seeks to seize all of the Donetsk region, Ukraine has issued a mandatory evacuation order for families with children in Kramatorsk and Slovyansk.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on October 24 that the Starshield and Starlink satellite systems were back to normal operations. Disruptions in the communications systems, developed by Elon Musk's SpaceX company, had limited Ukraine's defensive operations for over a week.

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers is stepping up efforts to defend Ukraine, challenging President Donald Trump’s decision to ease restrictions on Russian energy imports and demanding guarantees that Kyiv will retain access to critical American military and intelligence support.

Opium cultivation fell dramatically in Afghanistan, the world’s largest producer, after the Taliban imposed a narcotics ban in 2022. Since then, production has surged in neighboring Pakistan and Iran.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Starshield satellite communications system had returned to its previous operating speed following restrictions that had disrupted Ukrainian military operations.

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.