Pedestrians and vehicles queue to pass the Armyansk checkpoint between the Kherson Region and Crimea in Kherson Region, Russia on June 23, 2023. Early on June 22, acting Kherson Region Governor Saldo said Ukraine's Storm Shadow cruise missiles had hit bridges near the border village of Chongar. Vehicle traffic has been diverted to the alternative Armyansk and Perekop checkpoints. (Photo by Alexei Konovalov/TASS)





Muslims pray outside the Moscow Cathedral Mosque during celebrations in Moscow, Russia, on Wednesday, June 28, 2023. Around the world, Muslims will mark the end of the pilgrimage with Eid al-Adha. The holiday commemorates the prophet Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail at God's request. Muslims traditionally slaughter sheep and cattle, dividing the meat among the needy, friends and relatives. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)





Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations Academy female graduates throw coins rejoicing at the end of the Academy during a parade marking 220th anniversary of the establishment of the fire department in St. Petersburg at the Palace Square in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, June 30, 2023. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)





Putin's “baby troops” appeared in a Kursk kindergarten in Russia on July 2, 2023. (Photo by East2west News)





Participants enjoy the clouds of colorful powder thrown by volunteers after the 'Colorful Run' race at the Luzhniki Olympic Sports Complex in Moscow, Russia on July 2, 2023. (Photo by Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)





A worker removes the logo of the private military company (PMC) Wagner Group from the windows of the Sea Capital (Morskaya Stolitsa) business center, where Yevgeny Prigozhin's company rented several floors in St. Petersburg, Russia, 02 July 2023. On 23 June 2023, Wagner Group forces led by Prigozhin left the frontline in Ukraine and staged an 'armed mutiny' against Russia's military leadership. Prigozhin claimed on 24 June 2023 that his troops had occupied the headquarters of the Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, a key city near the Ukrainian border. A deal negotiated by the Belarusian president with Prigozhin stopped the Wagner forces' movement toward Moscow and ended the standoff, with Prigozhin and his fighters leaving the country. (Photo by Anatoly Maltsev/EPA)





A local woman sits in front of the damaged residential building in Shebekino, Belgorod region, Russia, 02 July 2023. According to local authorities, an average of 500 ammunition per day has fallen on the Belgorod region in recent weeks, prompting Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov to evacuate the inhabitants of Shebekino, as well as nearby villages. However, the number of shells decreased in the last three days recording no more than 30. More than 50 percent of large and medium-sized enterprises in the Shebekinsky urban district of the Belgorod region returned to work after attacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Gladkov said on his VKontakte page. He also said that the Shebekino municipal services restored 65 apartment buildings and 62 private households after shelling. (Photo by EPA/EFE/Stringer)





Toys hang on a tree in front of a damaged residential building in Shebekino, Belgorod region, Russia, 02 July 2023. (Photo by EPA/EFE/Stringer)





A super moon rises behind a Soviet-era monument for defenders of Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, in World War II, in St. Petersburg, Russia, early Tuesday, July 4, 2023. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)





Noctilucent clouds are seen over the tower of Moscow's Kremlin in Russia on July 4, 2023. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)





Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina's shows her bruised back after receiving medical treatment in Moscow, Wednesday, July 5, 2023. Milashina, prominent Russian investigative reporter has received a brain injury and multiple fractures when she and a lawyer accompanying her were brutally beaten by unidentified assailants in the Russian province of Chechnya. (Photo by Anna Artemyeva/Nonaya Gazeta via AP Photo)





Russian conscripts called up for military service line up before their departure for garrisons as they gather at a recruitment centre in Sevastopol, Crimea on July 6, 2023. (Photo by Alexey Pavlishak/Reuters)





A baby takes part in a baby crawling race in Vladivostok, Russia, July 8, 2023. July 8 marks the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity in Russia. A baby crawling race was held in Russia's Far East city of Vladivostok to celebrate the occasion. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency/Rex Features/Shutterstock)





Principal dancers of the Bolshoi Theatre Elizaveta Kokoreva and Dmitry Smilevsky take part in a rehearsal in Moscow, Russia on July 12, 2023. (Photo by Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters)





A girl plays with water in a ground fountain at Moscow's North River Terminal in Russia, Moscow on July 16, 2023. (Photo by Sergei Savostyanov/TASS)





This image provided by Maxar Technologies, shows damaged parts of an automobile link of the Crimean Bridge connecting Russian mainland and Crimean peninsula over the Kerch Strait not far from Kerch, Crimea on Monday, July 17, 2023. (Photo by Satellite image 2023 Maxar Technologies via AP Photo)





Girls in ballet dresses pose near St. Basil's Cathedral and the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia on July 19, 2023. (Photo by Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters)





A man rides a horse past a dried out forest in Omsk region, Russia on July 19, 2023. (Photo by Alexey Malgavko/Reuters)





A plume of smoke rises over an ammunition depot where explosions occurred at the facility in Kirovsky district in Crimea, Wednesday, July 19, 2023. Russian emergency officials in Crimea said more than 2,200 people were evacuated from four villages because of a fire at a military facility. The blaze forced the closure of an important highway, according to Sergey Aksyonov, the Moscow-appointed head of the peninsula. He didn't specify a cause for the fire at the facility in Kirovsky district. (Photo by Viktor Korotayev/Kommersant Publishing House via AP Photo)





Igor Girkin (Strelkov), the former top military commander of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People's Republic” and nationalist blogger, detained earlier Friday and accused of extremism, sits inside a glass defendants' cage during a hearing to consider a request on his pre-trial arrest in Moscow on July 21, 2023. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool via AFP Photo)