Tens of thousands of students on Feb. 15 protested in the Serbian city of Kragujevac, demanding justice for the victims of the November 2024 railway disaster. The protest and street occupation, which lasted 15 hours and marked the culmination of a four-day student march on the city, was symbolically named "Let's Meet on Sretenje." Kragujevac was the first capital of the modern Serbian state, where the Sretenje (Candlemas) Constitution was adopted on Feb. 15, 1835. The date, which also marks the first Serbian pro-independence uprising in 1804, is still commemorated in Serbia as Statehood Day.

Speaking at the NATO summit in Brussels Feb. 12, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth not only ruled out Ukrainian membership in the alliance, but said that Kyiv's goal of recovering all territory lost since Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea was an "unrealistic objective." Trump quickly followed up by boasting on social media: "I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia... We have...agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation..." (Politico)

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reported Feb. 2 that captured Ukrainian soldiers are being executed by Russian forces at an alarming rate. The mission has recorded 79 executions in 24 separate incidents since August 2024. For all incidents, the mission obtained video and photo material showing executions or dead bodies. The spike in executions is part of a pattern of abuse against Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs). The mission recorded at least three phone calls in 2024 in which Russian officials called for executions. The head of the mission, Danielle Bell, stated: "Combined with broad amnesty laws, such statements have the potential to incite or encourage unlawful behavior."

Ukraine became the 125th state party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Jan. 1. With the ratification of the Rome Statute, Ukraine gains full participation rights within the ICC framework, which includes the power to refer cases to the Court. Moreover, ratification strengthens Ukraine's ability to prosecute international crimes domestically, aligning its legal system with international standards. Ukraine, however, invoked a transitional provision that limits ICC jurisdiction over war crimes committed by its nationals for seven years, raising concerns about potential selective justice and access to accountability for victims.

Thousands of exiled Russian dissidents and opposition figures held a multi-city mobilization against Putin's regime in several European capitals Nov. 17. The largest march was in Berlin, where speakers included Yulia Navalnaya, widow of martyred leader Alexei Navalny; Oleg Orlov, former director of the "liquidated" human rights organization Memorial; and Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin, recently freed from detention in a prisoner swap with the West. Participants carried the blue-and-white flag of the Russian opposition, as well as Ukrainian flags, while chanting "No to war" and "Putin is a killer" in Russian. (BBC News, RFE/RL)

President Joe Biden is reported to have authorized Ukraine to use US-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) for strikes deep inside Russia. In interviews with both the UK's Times Radio and the BBC news program The World At One on Nov. 18, former Putin advisor and semi-official mouthpiece Sergei Markov responded to the move by warning of an imminent Russian nuclear strike—not just on Ukraine but on the United States and Britain. "In the worst scenario, the nuclear war happens before Christmas of this year," he told the BBC. "Probably you will not be able to say 'Merry Christmas' because you will stay in the hole trying to hide away [your] family from the nuclear catastrophe. It can develop very, very quickly."

South Korea and the EU condemned North Korea's contribution of military arms and personnel to Russia as illegal under international law in a joint statement on Nov. 5. The statement follows recent reports that Russia has deployed North Korean troops in its war against Ukraine. According to a White House press briefing, over 3,000 North Korean soldiers were moved to Vladivostok in October, and underwent training at sites in eastern Russia. This was the first dispatchment of an estimated 12,000 North Korean troops said to be readied for deployment to fight Ukraine. South Korea and the EU maintain that the deployment violates multiple UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions as well as Russian obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine concluded Nov. 5 that Russian authorities have committed torture in Ukraine, constituting a crime against humanity. The commission's report confirmed that torture practices were widespread in all Ukrainian provinces under Russian control, and in Russia's detention facilities. The commission collected testimonies from civilians who had been detained in Russian-occupied Ukraine and prisoners of war who had been held in Russia. These testimonies described a "brutal admission procedure" to promote a climate of fear in the detention facilities. The report documented the use of sexual violence during detention, as well as the practice of torture during interrogation, including severe beatings, electric shocks, and burns to body parts.