Here are some of the most compelling photographs from the 21st week of 2025 from around RFE/RL's coverage region. For more photo galleries, see our archive.
Top Shots: Compelling Images From Our Region
- By RFE/RL
1
An Afghan farmer harvests wheat in the Arghandab district in Kandahar Province.
2
A son says goodbye and kisses his mother as Ukrainian police officers evacuate her from the frontline town of Pokrovsk in the war-torn Donetsk region.
3
Spanish police officers work near the body of Andriy Portnov, a lawyer and former Ukrainian presidential adviser who was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen outside a school in Madrid on May 21.
4
IndianArmy soldiers stand guard near the Line of Control between Pakistan and India in Indian-administered Kashmir.
5
Livestock vendors display their bulls to customers at a cattle market in Hyderabad in Pakistan's Sindh Province ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.
6
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrives for a vote in the parliament in Budapest on withdrawing Hungary from the International Criminal Court.
7
A cat sits outside a residence observing other felines in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
8
Pakistani Rangers (left) and Indian Border Security Force personnel perform the Attar-Wagah border ceremony at the frontier between the two countries on the outskirts of Amritsar.
9
Metropolitan Epifaniy I, the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, sprays holy water on military chaplains during a joint prayer for victory and for fair peace for Ukraine, in St. Michael's Cathedral in Kyiv.
10
A man awakens during a heatwave that forced residents to seek shelter outdoors in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
11
A Ukrainian prisoner of war embraces his wife as he returns home following the first stage of a prisoner swap with Russia, which began on May 23.
12
An Afghan vendor holds a parrot for sale at a bird market in Kabul
13
The sun shines through the damaged roof of a church hit by Russian military strikes in the frontline Ukrainian town of Kostyantynivka.
14
A woman reacts as she visits the grave of her relative at a cemetery in Lviv as Ukrainians mark their country's Day of Heroes on May 23, a day which commemorates those who died for Ukraine's independence.
15
People gather outside the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow during a memorial ceremony for Russian ballet choreographer Yury Grigorovich, who recently died aged 98.
16
Iranian filmmaker Saeed Roustayi poses during a photocall for his movie Woman And Child, which is screening in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in France.
