an exceptional book, “The Last Days of Stalin”, that retraces the last days of Joseph Stalin, Joshua Rubenstein tells of the great embarrassment that seized the guards, doctors, and members of his first circle. A fear to act that precipitated his death. Overview of this book, which I invite you to read, in 7 key moments of the last days of the one who finds Vladimir Putin a worthy successor in horror.

Secret battle plans, intercepted communications and Russian soldiers explain how a “walk in the park” became a catastrophe for Russia.

Yan Rachinsky, from rights group Memorial, tells the BBC he ignored the order from the Kremlin.

When we use the phrase, “escalation dominance,” it refers to a situation in which one party in a conflict is able to gain an advantage by escalating to a level that its opponent is either unwilling or unable to match or exceed. In this case, the party possessing escalation dominance is able to gain an advantage over its rival, as in a confrontation, the rival will avoid escalation because of the imbalance against it.

Paul Whelan was left behind. Again. President Joe Biden announced Thursday morning his administration traded convicted Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout — who'd been serving time in a U.S. federal prison since 2011 — for Brittney Griner, a WNBA superstar who was arrested in February after cannabis oil was found in her luggage at an airport near Moscow.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov signaled the Kremlin could be ready to negotiate an end to the Ukraine war so long as the West meets certain conditions. Lavrov's remarks come more than eight months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the "special military operation" in Ukraine on February 24. Although Moscow initially hoped for a quick victory, the invasion has revealed weaknesses in their military that blunted the Kremlin's gains.

Nato foreign ministers are meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday in Bucharest; US says aid will help Ukraine deal with damage to energy infrastructure...

This was stated by acting head of the State Environmental Inspectorate, Ihor Zubovych, at a press conference "Damage caused by Russia to Ukraine's environment over nine months of war." "To date, more than UAH 1.387 trillion have been calculated using only three available methods. Damage caused to atmospheric air reached UAH 927.6 billion, land due to pollution and contamination – UAH 443.7 billion, and the total amount of damage caused to water bodies is UAH 15.7 billion,” the official said.

Griner has begun serving the remainder of her nine-year sentence at a remote penal colony 300 miles southeast of Moscow, the American basketball star’s defense attorneys said Thursday in a statement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russian soldiers of committing war crimes and killing civilians in Kherson, which was retaken by Ukraine last week. “Investigators have already documented more than 400 Russian war crimes. Bodies of dead civilians and servicemen have been found,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address on Sunday, without specifying the locations where the bodies had been discovered.

Olga Lehan's home near the Irpin River was flooded when Ukraine destroyed a dam to prevent Russian forces from storming Kyiv just days into the war. Weeks later, the water from her tap turned brown from pollution. "It was not safe to drink," she said of the tap water in her village of Demydiv, about 40 kilometers (24 miles) north of Kyiv on the tributary of the Dnipro River.

Kaspersky is stopping the operation and sales of its VPN product, Kaspersky Secure Connection, in the Russian Federation, with the free version to be suspended as early as November 15, 2022. As the Moscow-based company informed on its Russian blog earlier this week, the shutdown of the VPN service will be staged, so that impact on customers remains minimal.

When Russia's drone strike hit a residential building in central Kyiv on the morning of Oct. 17, emergency workers turned up at the scene within minutes. As rescuers worked to put out the fire and clear out the rubble of the severely damaged high-rise apartment complex, medics provided first aid to the wounded. Police officers documented preliminary casualties.

India successfully placed 36 satellites in space for a British communications firm on Sunday.

A Russian court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner of her nine-year prison sentence for drug possession, a step that could move her closer to a possible high-stakes prisoner swap between Moscow and Washington.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of preparing to blow up a dam at a hydroelectric plant in southern Ukraine, which would lead to a "large-scale disaster". In his overnight address he said the Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper river had been mined by Russian forces, according to Ukrainian information.

KIVSHARIVKA, Ukraine (AP) — Nine-year-old Artem Panchenko helps his grandmother stoke a smoky fire in a makeshift outdoor kitchen beside their nearly abandoned apartment block. The light is falling fast and they need to eat before the setting sun plunges their home into cold and darkness.

“Our preschoolers are much smarter than American children,” a professor insisted. “We will need a more advanced curriculum for the show.”

Newly mobilized recruits are already at the front in Ukraine, a growing chorus of reports says, fighting and dying after only days of training.