Children play football on March 10, 2022 on a concrete slab in Mukuru Kwa Njenga informal settlements, where structures have been demolished in November 2021 to pave the way for the construction of the Nairobi Expressway. (Photo by Simón Maina/AFP Photo)

Dancers walk on rice fields during the Rice Field Festival in Baginda Village. The Rice Field Festival, organized by the Baginda Village Youth Organization, was held to maintain the local culture and art of Sundanese culture on May 5, 2024. (Photo by Algi Febri Sugita/ZUMA Press Wire/Alamy Live News)

A diver dressed in a Santa Claus costume swims at the Lotte World Aquarium in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, December 23, 2024. (Photo by Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo)

A Femen activist, Sarah Constantin, is hanged from a noose-like rope from a Paris bridge to call attention to the large number of executions in Iran as she stages a protest against visiting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Paris, Thursday, January 28, 2016. A near-naked woman hanging from a noose-like rope from a Paris bridge has sent a message to visiting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. (Photo by Zacharie Scheurer/AP Photo)

An employee of a bakery talks on his mobile while balancing on his head a tray of freshly baked bread from a local bakery in a street in Cairo, Egypt, January 12, 2016. (Photo by Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)

“The Lun-class ekranoplan (NATO reporting name Duck) was a ground effect vehicle (GEV) designed by Rostislav Evgenievich Alexeev and used by the Soviet and Russian navies from 1987 until sometime in the late 1990s. It “flew” using the lift generated by the ground effect of its large wings when close to the surface of the water – about four metres or less. Although they might look similar and/or have related technical characteristics, ekranoplans like the Lun are not aircraft, seaplanes, hovercraft, or hydrofoils – ground effect is a separate technology altogether. The International Maritime Organization classifies these vehicles as maritime ships. The name Lun comes from the Russian for harrier”. – Wikipedia (Photo by Igor113)

Only the most intrepid urban explorers cross the tattered ruins of the old Iron Curtain to endure the excessive bureaucracy, military paranoia and freezing winds of the East to hunt for the ghosts of an empire. Rebecca Litchfield is one who couldn’t resist the haunting allure of the ruins of the Soviet Union.

Pakistani youths cool off in a stream during hot weather on the outskirts of Islamabad on April 29, 2016. Pakistan's Meteorological Department has forecast hot and dry weather in most parts of the country with the highest temperatures recorded at 41 celsius in the southern Sindh province. (Photo by Aamir Qureshi/AFP Photo)