Will Tizard

As Russian troops continue to grind past Avdiyivka, Ukrainian soldiers trying to hold the defensive line are suffering casualties and medics are scrambling to save their lives. At one emergency treatment center near the front line, crisis care is needed most often in the evenings, as RFE/RL correspondent Maryan Kushnir learned.

The Terekh family moved to Serbia from Russia in 2019, seeking a better life. They've found jobs, paid taxes, and say they never made trouble. But now Serbia is threatening to deport them. Officials refuse to explain why the family was labeled an "unacceptable security risk."

Heavy snowmelt and torrential rains have caused deadly floods around Pakistan's Peshawar and in Afghanistan's Farah Province. Dozens have died, crops were lost, and more than 2,000 homes were damaged or destroyed. The flooding follows an unusually mild winter.

Podgorica residents have been exposed to dangerous toxins for years, thanks people who burn worn-out tires to extract metal wire from the treads. That releases toxins into the air, putting neighbors at risk of serious health issues.

Sudden spring warming and rains are continuing to complicate flood recovery across Central Asia. Devastating mudslides in Kyrgyzstan and overflowing rivers in Kazakhstan and Russia follow weeks of floods and a burst dam in Orsk, Russia on April 6. av

A Kazakh refugee in Serbia who has waited nine years for official residence status has finally been given a new kind of document: a "refugee passport." Baha Sarsenov, who fled political persecution in Kazakhstan in 2015, will finally be able to travel again. But his new UN Refugee Convention travel document, as it's formally known, is not a Serbian passport. He's still awaiting citizenship, along with just two others who have been granted the document.

Lyudmila Menyuk, a veteran of Russia's war on Ukraine, helps military families through therapy. She offers them the understanding and support she would have wanted for her son, Stanislav Menuyk, who died in 2014 as a paramedic on a combat mission in the Donbas region. "Malva," as she was known by her call sign, joined the army in 2016 to avenge her son. After being wounded and discharged twice, she now helps others to recover from war's trauma.

Two villagers in the Donetsk region chose to escape the Russian occupation of their village by walking across the front line in April. Ivan Vivsyanyk, 88, had no interest in the Russian passport he was told to accept, and Lidia Stepanivna, 98, felt the same. Each decided to take their chances, heading off onto a highly hazardous 10-kilometer walk west to free Ukrainian territory.

Victims of flash floods in northern Afghanistan say they have lost family and homes since heavy rains first struck the region on May 10. Thousands have been made homeless and hundreds are dead with just as many still missing, according to authorities. Many survivors are still awaiting tents, food aid, and medical care.

Mariam Pirashvili is a unique figure in Tbilisi who moves among demonstrators opposed to Georgia's "foreign agent" bill, which critics say could curtail civil liberties. Wearing a Georgian flag, she passes around a garbage bag, collecting litter. Pirashvili says the rallies are about protesting and "tidying up our country."