Europe

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (left) meets Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban on Feb. 23, ahead of Monday's key vote in Hungary's parliament on Sweden's bid to join NATO.

World News

Hungary has approved Sweden's bid to join NATO, the final hurdle to membership

1:08pm February 26, 2024

by Rob Schmitz

Hungary's parliament has approved Sweden's bid to join NATO, clearing the way for the Nordic nation's accession to the military alliance after two years of intense negotiations.

Donald Tusk (center), then in the opposition, marches with Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski (left) and former President Lech Walesa (right) in a protest last year organized by Civil Platform, the coalition of political parties now running Poland's government.

World News

Poland's judiciary was a tool of its government. New leaders are trying to undo that

12:16pm February 26, 2024

by Rob Schmitz

Poland's far-right Law and Justice party spent eight years stacking the courts with allies, destroying the judiciary's independence. The new government is finding it's tough to undo the damage.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy answers media questions, during his press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Sunday.

World News

31,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed so far in the war, Zelenskyy says

4:39pm February 25, 2024

by Joanna Kakissis

It's the first time Ukraine has publicly given a figure for military casualties. As Russia's war on Ukraine enters its third year, Zelenskyy says 2024 could be decisive.

World News

Ukraine is relying on the U.S. to address its weapons shortage

7:57am February 25, 2024

by Ayesha Rascoe

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks to retired General Ben Hodges, a former commander of the US Army in Europe, about how shortages of weapons are affecting Ukraine's war effort.

World News

Alexei Navalny's body has been returned to his family

7:57am February 25, 2024

Over a week since his death in an Artic prison, Russian authorities released the body of opposition leader Alexei Navalny to his mother.

Lytvynova stands near an apartment building in her Kyiv neighborhood that was damaged by multiple Russian strikes over the course of the war.

World News

I'm a Ukrainian journalist. I never expected to be a war reporter in my own country

5:00am February 25, 2024

by Polina Lytvynova

Polina Lytvynova, an NPR producer in Ukraine, reflects on the changes two years of war with Russia have brought to her country — and to her work as a journalist.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gets off a Tu-160M strategic bomber after a flight in Kazan, Russia, on Thursday.

World News

Putin remains defiant as ever 2 years into Russia's war in Ukraine

6:08pm February 24, 2024

by Charles Maynes

The Russian leader had a busy week, one that saw him exude confidence about Russia's military and economic resilience as Ukraine has increasingly struggled on the battlefield.

After 2 years of war in Ukraine, 6 cities hold out hope

5:10pm February 24, 2024

by Joanna Kakissis

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago. Russia expected a quick victory. Ukraine expected Russian defeat. But the war goes on.

A woman places a piece of paper with words of grief for Alexei Navalny paying the last respect to him at the Memorial to Victims of Political Repression in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Saturday.

World News

Alexei Navalny's body has been handed over to his mother, an aide says

12:27pm February 24, 2024

by The Associated Press

The director of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation thanked "everyone" who had called on Russian authorities to return the Russian opposition leader's body to his mother.

Clockwise from top left: lawyer Liudmyla Lysenko in Kyiv; restaurant co-owner Iryna Savchenko in Kramatorsk; tour guide Artem Vasyuta in Odesa; homemaker Nataliya Kucherenko in the Sumy region; obstetrician Iryna Kulbach in Dnipro; and architect Max Rozenfeld in Kharkiv.

World News

After 2 years of war in Ukraine, 6 cities hold out hope under fire

9:42am February 24, 2024

In the 80% of Ukraine that remains in Kyiv's hands, two years of full-scale war with Russia have brought grief, destruction and, despite all, optimism.