State of the World from NPR

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the U.S. wants to see the Russian military weakened on the battlefield. Meanwhile, Russian missiles struck railway infrastructure in central and western Ukraine.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Ukrainian forces are struggling to neutralize cluster munitions, which are bombs that scatter over a wide area and are internationally banned.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

In Odesa, a port city in southern Ukraine, one jazz club has continued to host performances despite the Russian invasion, providing a haven for joy and creativity. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

This weekend is Orthodox Easter, a holiday celebrated in Ukraine. Millions are fleeing the Russian invasion right now, but those seeking refuge in Bulgaria are marking the holiday.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

As a Russian general reveals Kremlin plans to take Ukraine's Donbas region to the east as well as all of the country's south, we look at the situation out a village near the frontlines of the war.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Steve Inskeep speaks with Sergey Radchenko, a Russian history professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, about Vladimir Putin's shift in war and the focus on southern and eastern front in Ukraine. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

More than 5 million Ukrainians have fled their country since Russia invaded. Tens of thousands are in Estonia, where people remember what it was like to be occupied by the former Soviet Union.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Russian forces pulling out of the area surrounding Kyiv left behind evidence of atrocities committed against civilians. The effort is now to try to build a war crimes case against the perpetrators.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Odesa's port was a lifeline for Ukraine and a key player in global supply chains. Now, Russia's invasion and a blockade in the Black Sea have the city in a stranglehold.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

NPR's A Martínez speaks with Peter Zwack, a retired brigadier general and former defense attaché who served in Russia, about the strategic consequences if the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol falls. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Spooked over reports that traffickers are waiting at the Ukrainian border, a Polish woman started an all-female carpooling service to drive displaced Ukrainians, many of whom are women and children.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Russia has begun military operations that are expected to lead to a massive offensive. Ukraine has had weeks to prepare.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Anastasia, a woman who lives and works in Moscow, about what life in Russia looks like since the country invaded Ukraine.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

NPR's Leila Fadel talks to retired General Ben Hodges about how the Russian assault in eastern Ukraine will be different from President Putin's initial plan to take Kyiv at the end of February.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

The messages from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol are getting more desperate. A local commander Serhiy Volynsky said in a video plea posted to Facebook, "This could be the last appeal of our lives. We are probably facing our last days if not hours. The enemy is outnumbering us 10 to 1." To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Anastasia, a woman who lives and works in Moscow, about what life in Russia looks like since the country invaded Ukraine.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Russian officials say they've begun a new phase of their invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian officials report fierce clashes across a wide front in the east and south.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Ukrainian refugees arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border are enjoying expedited admission to the U.S. But children who arrive with family other than their parents are still being separated and detained. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Alex Finley, a former CIA officer who's tracking super-yachts used by oligarchs, explains what sanctions against Russia mean for the country's super-rich. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are still living close to the front lines as Russia readies another offensive. Here's how people are surviving in the city of Mykoliav.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Missiles struck cities all across Ukraine overnight, including in the western city of Lviv, where at least 7 people were killed. The town had been relatively peaceful for weeks.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Russia has long planned on expanding its oil drilling in the Arctic. But that relies on help from companies that are now pulling back because of the war in Ukraine. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Why doesn't the U.S. recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court? NPR's Michel Martin speaks with John Bellinger III, a former legal adviser for the National Security Council. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

How a pollster in Russia is gauging public opinion about the war in Ukraine. And the Passover story is about displacement and the search for a promised land. It has special resonance for Jews who escaped the fighting in Ukraine and are now scattered across the world. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

President Vladimir Putin said in a speech that the "blitzkrieg" of sanctions has failed. He said sanctions are disruptive — but they present Russia with opportunities to become more self-reliant. So how are ordinary Russians feeling? Russia has just tapped Gen. Aleksandr Dvornikov to leading its forces. He's known for leading Russia's brutal campaign in Syria's civil war in 2015. But the conflict in Ukraine is vastly different. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Ukraine says a Russian warship in the Black Sea has been "seriously damaged" by a Ukrainian missile attack. Russia's Ministry of Defense says something very different happened onboard. What do we know so far? And More than four and half million Ukrainians are now refugees. A few hundred have made it to the United States. We meet a Ukrainian refugee and her two children who made that journey. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

The U.S. and European allies have accused Russia of war crimes in Ukraine. The Biden administration says it's helping Ukraine investigate. How? And Russia left death and destruction in towns north of Kyiv. What is life like now in one of those towns? Our team travels to Borodyanka. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Relations between Russia and Europe seem to be changed for good. That's having ripple effects along the thousand miles of Russia's border with the EU, including a Norwegian border town that had prided itself on good relations with Russia. And Russia's invasion of Ukraine makes it hard to remember that decades ago, Vladimir Putin was on a charm offensive with the West. One stop was Crawford, Texas, with then-President George W. Bush. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Events over the past week have brought Russia tantalizingly close to its first default on foreign debt since the Bolshevik Revolution more than a century ago. And why Poland's ambassador to the U.S. thinks there's no diplomatic path to end Russia's assault on Ukraine. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says what Russia is doing in his country is genocide. A war crimes expert says that might be difficult to prove before the International Criminal Court. And last month, 96-year-old Boris Romanchenko was killed during Russian shelling in Kharkiv. In his youth, he survived four Nazi concentration camps. Now, a major evacuation effort is underway to bring other Holocaust survivors to safety. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Some civilians in Ukraine's capital couldn't or wouldn't leave. An old, Soviet-style apartment building reveals who stayed and why. And President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russian troops are readying for a major assault on southeastern Ukraine.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Residents of Chernihiv describe the brutal siege they endured for about a month before Russian forces withdrew. And scientists doing climate change research in the Arctic worry that the rift with Russia will hamper communication with their Russian colleagues. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

The U.S. wants India to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but so far the world's biggest democracy has not. India has deep ties with Moscow. The war has displaced millions of Ukrainians, and neighboring Romania is adapting to an influx of refugees. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Ukraine is bracing for more Russian attacks, especially in the eastern part of the country. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks with NPR's Leila Fadel about Russia's newest calculations and how its relationship with NATO is forever changed. Plus, several countries, including the U.S., say they'll help examine potential war crimes in Ukraine. NPR's Julie McCarthy looks into what constitutes crimes in war.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

In the eastern region of Ukraine, authorities say dozens were injured after a missile hit a train station in the city of Kramatorsk. And when Russian forces took over neighborhoods in Ukraine, it was difficult to evacuate people. Project Dynamo helps get people out. Leila Fadel speaks with the Army and Navy combat veteran who runs it.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

The United Nations General Assembly suspended Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council, while in Washington, Congress approved two bills suspending normal trade relations with Russia and banning its oil. Those votes came after NATO foreign ministers and officials from the G7 met in Brussels and Ukraine asked for more weapons. NPR's Michele Kelemen was there. And more than 15,000 babies have been born in Ukraine since the start of the war. At a maternity hospital in Kyiv, new parents shared their experiences with NPR's Elissa Nadworny.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

A look at the fallout from Russian attacks in Borodyanka, a suburb of the Ukrainian capitol of Kyiv. As Becky Sullivan reports, Ukrainian officials accuse Russian forces of indiscriminately attacking civilians there. Since 2019, a lawyer named Andrew Mac has served as an adviser to Ukraine's president. He discusses the U.S. response and the assistance it's providing.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

The U.S. says it has indicted Russian media tycoon Konstantin Malofeyev as the White House announces further sanctions, including on Russian leader Vladimir Putin's two adult daughters. Plus, Planet Money breaks down the logistics of getting weapons from the U.S. into Ukraine. It looks a lot like the supply chains we're already familiar with.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Brussels for NATO meetings today. State Department spokesman Ned Price talks to Leila Fadel about objectives that could include tougher sanctions on Russia. And in Ivano-Frankivsk, in the western part of Ukraine, a bakery that shuttered for two weeks during the war has resumed business. As Scott Detrow reports, it even employs Ukrainians displaced from other parts of the country. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Ukrainian officials say video and photo evidence shows Russia committed atrocities in the town of Bucha, near Kyiv. But Russia has a different story. NPR's Nathan Rott went to Bucha to for a firsthand look. How can Russia be held accountable? U.S. deputy national security adviser Jon Finer talks about the White House's options.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Young military medics in Ukraine talk about their experience and life under the Russian siege. Plus, once war began in Ukraine, COVID-19 ceased being the top-level medical concern. A doctor is doing everything he can to help with a whole new overwhelming crisis.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

As the world sees images of bodies in the streets of a Kyiv suburb, the United Nations considers whether to kick Russia out of the Human Rights Council. Plus, Russia's last independent media sources have closed. So many Russians are turning to virtual private networks, or VPNs, to find out what's really happening next door in Ukraine.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

In the Ukrainian town of Bucha, dead bodies have been found along with mass graves after Russian forces withdrew from the area. This has drawn new allegations of war crimes committed by Russian forces. Former Ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper was a war crimes prosecutor and lays out the investigation process. Plus Russia's invasion of Ukraine has affected U.S. relations in the Middle East. Giorgio Cafiero, CEO of Gulf State Analytics, a geopolitical risk consultancy firm, explains.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland about the intensive conversations the U.S. is having with India over sanctions imposed on Russia. Scott Detrow reports on how a pop radio station in Lviv is broadcasting music and air raid sirens during a time of war.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Both peace talks and fierce fighting continue between Russia and Ukraine. And in Ukraine, volunteers are working to provide any help they can near the frontlines of the southern border. Plus, a CEO based in the United States is working to get her colleagues out of Russia.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Some Russian forces have been repositioned away from Ukraine's capital, but as Elissa Nadworny reports, the strikes have continued. Frank Langfitt reports that Moldova, a former Soviet state not in NATO, worries that Putin could turn his attention its way. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Mixed signals surround the negotiations that happened earlier this week in Turkey. Bill Taylor, a former ambassador to Ukraine, discusses the Russia-Ukraine peace talks. Germany relies on Russia for around half its natural gas and its companies do extensive business with both Russia and Ukraine. The effects of those ties fraying is being felt on the ground in Germany. And Sofia Bretl lives in New York City but was born and raised in Kharkiv, Ukraine - about 25 miles from the Russian border. As conditions in Kharkiv worsened, Bretl's family faced a difficult decision.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

U.S. defense officials suspect Russian President Vladimir Putin is receiving incomplete information on the status of the war. In the weeks before Russia's invasion, experts said cyberwar could be imminent. It turns out that cyberattacks and information campaigns have played a subtle, nuanced role in the conflict. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Thousands of people continue to risk their lives by fleeing the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol. And Russia says it put its nuclear forces on a higher state of alert. This happened as Western officials had already raised the prospect of chemical weapons attacks.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators met in Turkey and came away saying some new things, NPR's Nate Rott reports. And NPR's A Martinez talks with Vladmir Ash'urkov, director of The Anti-Corruption Foundation, which was founded by Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, about how the war looks from his point of view and whether economic sanctions alone are enough to put pressure on Vladimir Putin.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy