The NYT's Moldova photo essay called an elected official "a teacher," styled a fashion designer and a film student to look like Soviet factory workers, and opened with "gray" to describe the sunniest month Chisinau had all year. open.substack.com/pub/moldovam...

🛑 Update on public opinion in Russia. We document a steady decline in approval of Vladimir Putin from roughly April through July -- consistent with polling data from other sources, including FOM and VTsIOM (meduza.io/en/news/2026...) 1/

A month after the anti-war party Yabloko was barred from running its party list in Russia’s State Duma elections, the pressure hasn’t stopped. meduza.io/en/feature/2...

A month ago, Russia’s anti-war Yabloko party was disqualified from the State Duma election. That was only the beginning. — Meduza

.

meduza.io

⚡️Moldovan President Sandu condemns Russian drone strike on border crossing point that killed two, injured three. The Moldovan President also called for more air defence for Ukraine.

Moldovan President Sandu condemns Russian drone strike on border crossing point that killed two, injured three

The Moldovan President called for more air defense for Ukraine.

kyivindependent.com

If you're still at APSA on Sunday morning, pls come to our panel at *10am in Sheraton, The Fens room*: "Communist Legacies and Post-Communist Realities in Central Eurasia and Beyond." I'll be presenting an abridged version of my job market paper!

Attending APSA this week in Boston? Want to learn from awesome cutting-edge research engaging East European politics? Here's your cheat-sheet-guide to all of the great panels featuring members of our network (including times, locations, and panel abstracts!) ➡️ docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

✨✨And, don't forget -- we'll be celebrating a great conference together on Saturday September 5 @ Nightshift Brewing Boston Esplanade at 6pm✨✨ Please join us as we toast our wonderful community! 🍻

⚡️Nearly 2,000 drones fired at Ukraine in one week as Russia draws out attacks. Russia launched nearly 2,000 attack drones, more than 1,600 glide bombs, and 31 missiles, including North Korean ballistic missiles, against Ukraine in just the last week, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Nearly 2,000 drones fired at Ukraine in one week as Russia draws out attacks

Russia launched nearly 2,000 attack drones, more than 1,600 glide bombs, and 31 missiles, including North Korean ballistic missiles, against Ukraine in just the last week, President Volodymyr Zelensky...

kyivindependent.com

💔 Three killed in Russian strike on runners competing in race in Kharkiv Oblast

Three killed in Russian strike on runners competing in race in Kharkiv Oblast

A Russian missile strike hit participants of a memorial running event in Kharkiv Oblast, killing three people, National Police say.

pravda.com.ua

⚡️2-year-old killed as Russia's near-continuous attacks stretch into third day across Ukraine. A two-year-old girl was killed in a Russian attack on Kyiv's Obolonskyi district in the morning, while eight other people were injured, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

2-year-old killed as Russia's near-continuous attacks stretch into third day across Ukraine

Near-continuous air raid alerts across large swaths of Ukraine stretched into a third consecutive day on Aug. 29, as Russia launched continued waves of attacks targeting the country.

kyivindependent.com

La mulți ani, Moldova! 🇲🇩

On Ukraine's Independence Day, Moldovan Pres. Maia Sandu said it's difficult to imagine a free MD without a free Ukraine. Igor Dodon, the most popular pro-Russian politician in MD, said instead that Western states are prolonging the war by giving Ukraine funding ...

Happy Independence Day, Ukraine! 🇺🇦 (Photo from last summer in Uzhhorod)

Our updated count of Russian losses in the war: nearly 240,000 verified names. We also updated the infographic, which now shows how our database is filling up with names over time. You can see how even now, soldiers who died in 2022 are still added: en.zona.media/article/2026...

! While some jurnos are reporting Zelensky in 4th place in KIIS’s trust ratings -this is not new or news- that’s where he was! Real story? - Zaluzhnyi’s trust rating seems to have fallen from 73-66% - Budanov’s 70-61% Has Fedorov’s campaign hurt establishment Military figures?

Has #research failed to take into account the varied #property #rights in #preindustrial #Europe and how they affected #economic #growth? Brendan McElroy #theorizes it has in his July article. doi.org/10.1353/wp.2... #serfdom #Latvia #Russia #Estonia #archives #archival #parliament #elites #reform

⚡️ 'Serious violation' — Moldova recalls ambassador from Moscow following drone crash. "This is a direct consequence of Russia's war, and it endangers us all," Moldovan President Maia Sandu said. kyivindependent.com/moldova-reca...

'Serious violation' — Moldova recalls ambassador from Moscow following drone crash

"This is a direct consequence of Russia's war, and it endangers us all," Moldovan President Maia Sandu said.

kyivindependent.com

TV8, one of Moldova's independent TV stations, has updated its map of missiles and drones that have fallen in the country since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Most recently, a drone exploded in the Ștefan Vodă raion and caused a vegetation fire and damaged a few roofs...

Although Russia has tried to project strength in Transnistria to offset vulnerabilities exposed by Ukraine’s drone campaign, Transnistria will continue to gravitate toward Moscow as long as benefits of its relationship with Russia outweigh those it could obtain from West. ridl.io/status-quo-u...

Status Quo Under Pressure: Transnistria After 2022 – Riddle Russia

Denis Cenusa on how the war in Ukraine has changed relations between Russia and Transnistria

ridl.io

⚡️Voice of America to relaunch Ukrainian-language broadcasting. Voice of America will resume its Ukrainian-language broadcasts and return some employees of its Ukrainian Service to work, Ruslan Petrychka, head of the broadcaster's Ukrainian Service, announced on Aug. 5.

Voice of America to relaunch Ukrainian-language broadcasting

Voice of America will resume its Ukrainian-language broadcasts and return some employees of its Ukrainian Service to work, Ruslan Petrychka, head of the broadcaster's Ukrainian Service, announced on A...

kyivindependent.com

It was time for a SWEEP! 🧹 We are transforming our grad workshop, EEPGW, into a new online East European politics workshop for scholars *at all career stages*! Below is our Call for Papers📄 & an APSA happy hour🍸& a call to share your APSA panel so fellow East Europeanists can be in the loop📝!

Scholars Working on East European Politics@sweep-workshop.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We’re SWEEP-ing in a new era 🧹🧹🧹 EEPG is now Scholars Working on East European Politics. What does this mean? We’re now broadening the community to include scholars at all career stages. Lots of fun in store with our new-look on our website (sweep-workshop.github.io) & below⤵️⤵️

New paper w/ @hannohilbig.bsky.social: we examine how local exposure to the Great Recession affected politics over the long run. Counties where unemployment rose more in 2007–09 moved toward Democrats, not the populist right. The shift remained visible in 2022.

Not as good as ours. Ours is "special".

FactPost@factpostnews.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Trump on Iran: I guess you could call it war. I call it a military operation

⚡️ 'Almost nothing remained': Russian missile kills 6 members of family in Ukrainian village. Six members of the family have been confirmed killed, with rescuers still searching for any remains of the other five as of 6 p.m. local time.

'Almost nothing remained of the house': Russian missile kills 6 members of family in Ukrainian village

Six members of the family have been confirmed killed, with rescuers still searching for any remains of the other five as of 6 p.m. local time.

kyivindependent.com

The blitz expanded Russia's almost daily bombardment of Ukrainian cities as Moscow apparently looked to exploit Kyiv's critical shortage of Western-supplied anti-ballistic missile defenses. n.pr/3TjRP6b

Russian strikes across Ukraine kill at least 8 civilians and wound dozens

The blitz expanded Russia's almost daily bombardment of Ukrainian cities as Moscow apparently looked to exploit Kyiv's critical shortage of Western-supplied anti-ballistic missile defenses.

n.pr

NEW ISSUE from @nationalitiesp.bsky.social - Russia’s War Against Ukraine - Volume 54 - Special Issue 4 - https://cup.org/4yTkGhZ Where not #OpenAccess the articles in this issue are free to read for a limited period.

Six months into President Trump’s oil blockade, Cubans are losing sleep in the sweltering heat. Our reporter Jack Nicas visited Havana, where residents explained how they struggle to sleep with no electricity for fans or air conditioning.

10. Whatever one thinks of the film as a work of art, it's doing some good in the world, by generating big conversations, bringing new audiences to the cinema, and new readers to ancient literature. I hope it helps save the humanities.

🚨 New GERDA update: - Large update of mayoral elections (6 new states) - Landrat elections - Wahlkreis (district)-level results (BW & LW) - Local council seats (Gemeinde/Stadt & Kreis) - 2026 elections: BW state, BY & HE local More info below and here: www.german-elections.com

GERDA: German Election Database

Comprehensive dataset of local, state, federal, European, mayoral, Landrat, and county election results in Germany at the municipality and constituency (Wahlkreis) level, plus subnational public opini...

german-elections.com