Mike Eckel

6 days ago | rferl.org | Mike Eckel

Eighty years after the surrender of Nazi Germany, Russian President Vladimir Putin had plenty to say about it and the unparalleled destruction that the Soviet Union suffered during World War II. Not so much about that other war, the largest in Europe since World War II: Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In fact, except for a passing mention of what Putin calls the "special military operation," there was none at all. It might be a coping mechanism. Or it might be a split-screen visual.

1 week ago | rferl.org | Mike Eckel

It’s the marquee celebration of the Russian calendar, the flagship event for Kremlin efforts to exalt the Soviet role in defeating Nazi Germany. In recent years, the Red Square Victory Day parade has also served as the backdrop for President Vladimir Putin to glorify Moscow's war on Ukraine, as Russia's casualties –- dead and wounded -- surpass three-quarters of a million, according to Western estimates.

1 week ago | rferl.org | Mike Eckel |Serhiy Stetsenko

Three months ago, Ukraine’s president was sitting in the White House’s Oval Office, berated by U.S. President Donald Trump and his vice president for balking at a major deal giving Washington privileged access to Kyiv’s lucrative mineral wealth. The blow-up threatened a decisive, and possibly catastrophic, disruption in U.S. support for Ukraine’s war-fighting effort.

2 weeks ago | rferl.org | Mike Eckel

The White House's lead envoy for Russia was set to hold talks in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin, with a peace proposal that would mark a major shift in US policy: recognition of Moscow's claim to Ukraine’s Crimea. The proposal, which was first circulated by US officials after talks in Paris last week, is one of several that Steve Witkoff is expected to raise with Putin when the two meet later on April 25.

1 month ago | rferl.org | Mike Eckel

Ukrainian forces tried to seize the battlefield initiative in multiple locations over the winter while struggling to avoid a rout as they pulled out of Kursk, the Russian region they invaded last summer to great fanfare. Across the 1,100-kilometer front line, Russian troops dialed back their monthslong grinding forward movement, using sodden field conditions to instead replenish unit strength and weaponry stores in anticipation of better weather.