Here are some of the most compelling photographs from the last week of 2023 from around RFE/RL's region. For more photo galleries, see our archive.
Photos Of The Week (Dec. 25-31, 2023)
- By RFE/RL
1
Ukraine's Yevhen Marusiak is seen in action during practice for the Four Hills ski jumping tournament in Oberstdorf, Germany.
2
An icon is seen on a wall damaged by shrapnel in a school destroyed during a Russian missile strike in Lviv, Ukraine, on December 29.
3
Children slide down an ice-covered slope in Omsk, Russia.
4
An explosion of a missile is seen in the sky over Kyiv during a massive Russian missile and drone strike on December 29.
5
A man holds a megaphone in front of a mural depicting slain Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic with the writing "Look to the future" during a demonstration to protest alleged electoral fraud, in front of Belgrade's University Faculty of Philosophy on December 27.
6
A child rides his bike on a flooded quay by the Danube River in Budapest.
7
A girl warms herself in her mother's traditional jacket during Christmas celebrations in Ukraine.
8
Members of the Sipoteni bear pack, wearing bear costumes, perform outside Blagesti in northern Romania. The tradition originates from the pre-Christian era, when dancers wearing colored costumes or animal furs toured from house to house in villages, singing and dancing to ward off evil.
9
A memorial to the 13 victims of the mass shooting in Prague is seen outside Charles University.
10
Passengers wait to board their trains at the Lahore, Pakistan, railway station amid dense fog.
11
Taliban security personnel watch Afghan horsemen compete in a traditional buzkashi game at a field in Kabul.
12
A woman and her children head home after a Christmas church service in the village of Kryvorivnya in western Ukraine.
13
A woman lights a candle as she attends a Mass on Christmas Day at St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia on December 25.
14
Afghan children warm themselves around a fire in the Fayzabad district of Badakhshan Province.
15
Participants dressed as Ayaz Ata (Father Frost) -- the Kazakh equivalent of Santa Claus -- take part in a procession through city streets while marking the New Year and Christmas season in Almaty.
16
Afghan volunteers distribute flower bouquets to grooms during a mass wedding ceremony at a wedding hall in Kabul.
17
Children dressed in traditional Ukrainian costumes attend a Christmas celebration in Lviv.
18
Refugee children from the Nagorno-Karabakh region run to greet a paraglider wearing a Santa Claus costume who was delivering gifts, near the village of Akunk outside the Armenian capital, Yerevan.
