10 must-see stories and videos

Here are some of the highlights produced by RFE/RL’s team of correspondents, multimedia editors and visual journalists over the past seven days, including content from Gandhara, the RFE/RL website focusing exclusively on developments in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

For weeks, civilians and defenders of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on the Sea of ​​Azov have been trapped inside the besieged city, which Russia considers a crucial strategic objective. As the Russians continue their attack, efforts to evacuate civilians and provide humanitarian aid are thwarted. By Oleksandr Yankovskiy and the Ukrainian service of RFE/RL

Russian military patrols roam the streets, Russian channels fill the airwaves, and occupation forces take some of the fishermen’s catch. Telephone service died and protests were suppressed. This is life in Berdyansk, a port city on the Sea of ​​Azov seized by Russian forces days after the invasion of Ukraine. By Viktoria Roshchyna

Ukrainian authorities have exhumed dozens of bodies from mass graves in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha for forensic testing and to prepare them for proper burial. There is strong evidence that Russian forces committed war crimes in the city. Ukraine’s national police chief told RFE/RL on April 8 that many victims were shot in the temple at close range. (WARNING: Viewers may find the content of this video disturbing.) By the Ukrainian service of RFE/RL

Following the withdrawal of Russian forces from the vicinity of Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine, numerous allegations of rape by Russian soldiers are emerging. Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating whether the alleged incidents indicate a war crimes policy approved by Russian authorities. By Aleksandr Kasatkin, Yulia Zhukova and Sashko Shevchenko

A Current Time correspondent asked people on the streets of Moscow and Arkhangelsk what Russia has achieved after six weeks of war in Ukraine. Most repeated the Kremlin line as they hear it in Russian media, but a few offered starkly different responses. By current time

PRAGUE, April 14, 2022 — It is almost a certainty now that Finland and Sweden will join NATO, making it the biggest political and military shake-up of the European map since the countries of Central and Eastern Europe joined the military alliance, as well as the European Union, in different waves in the late 1990s and early 2000s. By Rikard Jozwiak

videos have highlighted the mistreatment of Iran’s large Afghan community. An estimated 3 million Afghans, most of whom are undocumented refugees, live in Iran.

Afghan farmers were left in upheaval when the Taliban banned opium cultivation this month and experts say the cash-strapped Taliban pariah government is unlikely to provide alternative livelihoods for farmers . By Radio Azadi of RFE/RL

According to Iranian official statistics, there was a 32% increase in the number of girls getting married between the ages of 10 and 14 in Iran in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same quarter in 2020. Here, two women who got married while they were children speak of and the physical toll that marrying young took on them. By Radio Farda from RFE/RL

Kurdish traders known as Kulbars make the dangerous journey between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan, earning just enough money to survive. Some have fallen into death. Others were killed by Iranian border guards, with 52 killed in 2021, according to the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights. By Radio Farda from RFE/RL