Major developments in current affairs are rarely isolated events, but often the result of decades of history in the making. Historians and international affairs experts have argued that Russia's war in Ukraine is no exception, though they don't all agree about the cause.

Russia's FSB security service has said Ukrainian intelligence orchestrated an attack on the key transport link. Meanwhile, Ukraine's Zelenskyy has called for an "air shield."

Russia's oldest human rights organization has been liquidated after a court ruled it was not correctly registered. Critics say the move is reminiscent of the Soviet era.

Alexander Nevzorov was sentenced to eight years in prison in absentia. He was targeted for his reporting on the bombing of a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine.

Russia’s foreign minister is coming off a barnstorming tour of the African continent, which included Mali, where coup leaders have kicked out the French and replaced them with Wagner mercenaries. The same scenario has already unfolded in the Central African Republic, and Mali’s neighbor Burkina Faso could be next to welcome the Russians.

Western support for Moldova is growing as the country rejects Russian political meddling. While it may be small, Ukraine’s western neighbor is of strategic importance in the war.

In a interview with FRANCE 24, Moldova's minister of internal affairs said that Moscow was attempting to "reinstall a pro-Russian government" in Moldova, and that "Russian interest groups" and "fugitive oligarchs" were behind recent protests calling for the resignation of the pro-Western President Maia Sandu.

Authorities in Russian-annexed Crimea claim to have repelled a Ukrainian drone attack in Sevastopol, while the head of Wagner forces says Moscow has pledged to send more ammunition. Follow DW for the latest.

Moscow said several drones targeted the city early Tuesday which came after Kyiv reported a fresh wave of drone attacks — the third in 24 hours — earlier in the day.

As Moscow blames Ukraine for drone strikes, the head of the EU's legislature emphasized her support for Kyiv in a DW interview.

The American reporter Evan Gershkovich who was detained by Russian authorities on espionage charges in March met with US consular officials a second time at the Lefortovo prison in Moscow.

Award-winning Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina has a long record of covering human rights abuses in the region, and this is not the first time she has been targeted.