Here are some of the most compelling photographs from the 50th week of 2023 from around RFE/RL's region. For more photo galleries, see our archive.
Photos Of The Week (December 11-17, 2023)
- By RFE/RL
1
Red Star Belgrade supporters cheer their team during the UEFA Champions league Group G soccer match between Red Star and Manchester City in Belgrade on December 13.
2
Georgians march to celebrate the country's European Union candidate status in Tbilisi on December 15.
3
Members of the pro-Ukrainian Russian Siberian Battalion rest at a military training area close to Kyiv. Ukraine's military has formed a battalion of soldiers made up entirely of Russian citizens who want to fight against the Russian invasion.
4
A view of a newly dug trench for Ukrainian soldiers near the Belarusian border in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
5
Ukrainian soldiers cry near the coffin of a comrade during his funeral service on Independence Square in Kyiv on December 15.
6
Delegates arrive and register for the second People's Kurultai in Bishkek on December 15. The Kurultai is a people's assembly of representatives from all regions of Kyrgyzstan. More than seven hundred delegates took part in the event.
7
A view of fog lingering above the landscape in the Matra Mountains near Matraszentimre, northern Hungary.
8
People take part in a rally demanding an increase in government defense spending in Kyiv.
9
Young women and men sing carols as they hold candles to celebrate St. Lucia's Day in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Catherine in St. Petersburg, Russia.
10
Light sculptures of polar bears are installed as part of a seasonal decoration for the New Year's and Christmas holidays in Moscow.
11
Members of Plast, the Ukraine national scout organization, distribute the Bethlehem flame as they take part in a ceremony transferring the Peace Light of Bethlehem, in Kyiv.
12
Resident Nadia Matviyenko cleans a broken window of her house, damaged by a Russian missile strike, in Kyiv.
13
Ukrainian mortars near Bakhmut
14
Protesters wave Palestinian flags during a rally in support of the Palestinian people in Sarajevo.
15
An Afghan tea vendor looks for customers alongside Qargha Lake on the outskirts of Kabul.
16
Craftsman Zahid Ali carves decorative wooden animals at a workshop in Peshawar, Pakistan.
17
An activist of the Hungarian civil society organization Ujratervezes (Redesigning) holds his hand next to a Russian uniform with an "Orban" name label on it, in front of the protocol entrance of the Hungarian government's lounge at the Budapest airport during the group's flash mob.
18
A man holds a banner reading "Get Russia out of Bulgaria" while workers prepare scaffolding around a Soviet Army monument prior to its dismantling in Sofia.
19
Snow blankets the city of Almaty, Kazakhstan, amid temperatures of minus 20 degrees Celsius.
20
A woman leaves her apartment building, which was damaged during a Russian missile strike in Kyiv.
21
U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy depart a news conference in Washington on December 12.
22
Afghans recovering from drug addiction work after attending a vocational training in Kabul.
23
A woman walks past a screen on the facade of a building showing an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a quote from his annual end-of-year press conference and the Direct Line question-and-answer session, in Moscow.
24
People light up their smart phones as they attend a rally of ProGlas, a Serbian pro-democracy movement that encourages people to vote, ahead of parliamentary elections, in Belgrade.
