[COPY] - 2025: The Year In Photos
Images captured by photographers and RFE/RL journalists highlight the biggest news stories and most captivating moments from across our regions over the past year.
1
Ukrainian soldier Artem dances with partner Polina at the Brave Hearts charity ball in Kyiv on May 31. "On the one hand, it's very simple," the serviceman said, describing dancing as a double amputee, "on the other hand it's physically very difficult. You have to dream, set goals, move forward and prove by example that nothing is impossible."
Photo by Serhiy Nuzhnenko/RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.
Photo by Serhiy Nuzhnenko/RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.
2
Lawyer Arianit Koci leads a donkey in front of the Kosovo national assembly building in Pristina on July 3. Koci brought four of the animals to protest a long-running political deadlock in Kosovo's government. "I chose donkeys because they symbolize the obstinacy and hard-headedness of our deputies, they behave just like donkeys,” he told reporters.
Photo by Ibrahim Berisha/RFE/RL's Kosovo Service.
Photo by Ibrahim Berisha/RFE/RL's Kosovo Service.
3
Ihar Losik (right), a Belarusian journalist with RFE/RL, embraces his brother Mikita in Vilnius, Lithuania, on September 11 after Ihar's release from Belarusian captivity. Ihar served more than five years of a 15 year sentence on politically-motivated charges. Losik arrived in Lithuania with 50 others following a thaw in US-Belarus relations aided by diplomatic efforts from the US and Lithuania.
Photo by Viyaleta Sauchyts/RFE/RL's Belarusian Service.
Photo by Viyaleta Sauchyts/RFE/RL's Belarusian Service.
4
The Rohat teahouse in Dushanbe during its demolition in early March. The building was a beloved landmark of the Tajik capital and had been named one of the world's best teahouses. A petition from locals to save the structure was unsuccessful amid a government-led building boom that is reshaping the Central Asian capital.
Photo by Shahlo Abdulloeva/RFE/RL's Tajik Service.
Photo by Shahlo Abdulloeva/RFE/RL's Tajik Service.