A Russian officer who goes by Yevgeny speaks during an interview at his apartment in Astana, Kazakhstan, in late 2023. He had a friend shoot him in the leg so he could get out off the frontline in Ukraine. "Many of my friends have died. And these were really good guys who didn't want to fight," he said. "But there was no way out for them." This late 2023 photo shows downtown Astana, Kazakhstan, where some Russian soldiers who deserted the war in Ukraine live in hiding while they apply...

The Israel-Gaza war has gone on for six months, and tensions have spilled into the surrounding region. The war: On Oct. 7, Hamas militants launched an unprecedented cross-border attack on Israel that included the taking of civilian hostages at a music festival. (See photos and videos of how the deadly assault unfolded). Israel declared war on Hamas in response, launching a ground invasion that fueled the biggest displacement in the region since Israel’s creation in 1948. Gaza crisis: In the Gaza Strip, Israel has waged one of this century’s most...

Welcome to the Brussels Edition, Bloomberg’s daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union. Western officials worry that Ukraine is nearing a breaking point after the latest Russian missile strikes knocked out the largest power plant in the Kyiv region. While the US doesn’t see signs of an imminent breakthrough by Vladimir Putin’s forces, a dire and mounting shortage of ammunition and manpower along the 1,500-kilometer front and gaps in air defense have officials warning that Ukraine is at its most fragile in more than...

WASHINGTON — The United States expects an attack by Iran against Israel but one that would not be big enough to draw Washington into war, US official says. The White House said earlier Washington did not want conflict to spread in the Middle East and the US had told Iran it was not involved in an airstrike against a top Iranian military commander in Damascus. The White House added it warned Iran to not use that attack as a pretext to escalate further in the region.

TEL AVIV—Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks with senior Israeli leaders aimed at preventing the war in Gaza from escalating into a regional conflict and at charting a path for the future of the Palestinian territories. Blinken’s visit on Tuesday, part of a broader tour of the Middle East, comes as tensions between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group are growing, with the killing of a senior commander of the militant group on Monday. The U.S. is urging Israel to shift to lower-intensity fighting in Gaza to contain civilian casualties...

Renewed fighting in Gaza stretched into a second day on Saturday after talks to extend a week-old truce with Hamas collapsed and mediators said Israeli bombardments were complicating attempts to again pause hostilities.

Eastern areas of Khan Younis in southern Gaza came under intense bombardment as the truce deadline lapsed shortly after dawn on Friday, with columns of smoke rising into the sky, Reuters journalists in the city said.