In Photos: The End of the School Year in Russia and Ukraine

As students around the world celebrate their graduation from high school, this year’s graduation season looks markedly different in Russia than it does in neighboring Ukraine. While graduates in Russia’s two largest cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg, enjoyed lavish celebrations, many graduates in Ukraine have seen their schools destroyed in Russia’s four-month invasion of their…

Zelensky Urges G7 To Help End Ukraine War by Winter

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday urged world powers to do their utmost to help end Russia’s invasion by the end of the year, as G7 leaders planned new sanctions and vowed to support Kyiv “as long as it takes.” U.S. President Joe Biden and his peers from the Group of Seven rich nations, meeting…

Russia Denies Defaulting on Foreign Debt

Updated at 5:24 p.m. on June 27 to add Russia’s denial. Russia shot down reports that it defaulted on its external debt Monday, after a deadline on $100 million in interest payments passed. Bloomberg had earlier reported that Russia has defaulted on its foreign debt after the expiration of the grace period on about $100 million in interest…

Russia To Put WNBA Star Griner on Trial in July

U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, who is in detention in Russia on drug charges, will go on trial in Russia on July 1, a court said on Monday. Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and WNBA champion, was detained at a Moscow airport in February after she was found carrying vape cartridges with cannabis oil…

Russian Student Sapega Seeks Pardon for 6-Year Belarus Sentence – BBC

Russian student Sofia Sapega has sought a pardon from Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko a month after being sentenced to six years in prison on extremism charges, the BBC’s Russian service reported Monday.  Sapega and her then-boyfriend, Belarusian dissident Roman Protasevich, were detained in May 2021 when Minsk authorities forcibly diverted their international flight as it flew…

Zelensky to Press G7 for More Help as War Rages

President Volodymyr Zelensky will urge world powers to step up their support for Ukraine when he addresses the G7 summit on Monday, as Kyiv reels from the first Russian strikes on the capital in weeks. U.S. President Joe Biden and his counterparts from the Group of Seven wealthy democracies, meeting in the Bavarian Alps, have…