A U.N.-backed investigation has found that Russian attacks against civilians in Ukraine, including systematic torture and killing in occupied regions, amount to war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity. A report from inquiry released on Thursday represented a highly unusual condemnation of a member of the U.N. Security Council. The sweeping human rights report was released a year to the day after a Russian airstrike on a theater in Mariupol killed hundreds sheltering inside. Among potential crimes against humanity, the report cited attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure that left hundreds of thousands without heat and electricity during the coldest months. It also cited the “systematic and widespread” use of torture across multiple regions under Russian occupation.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a number of improvements in access to mental health care to try to reduce suicides in the military. But he is holding off on endorsing more controversial recommendations to restrict gun and ammunition purchases by young troops, sending them to another panel for study. The orders issued Thursday reflect increasing concerns about suicides in the military, despite more than a decade of programs and other efforts to prevent them and spur greater intervention by commanders, friends and family members. But Austin's omission of any gun safety and control measures underscore the likelihood that they would face staunch resistance, particularly in Congress, where such legislation has struggled in recent years.

The Biden administration has released video of a Russian fighter jet dumping fuel on a U.S. Air Force surveillance drone, as the U.S. sought to hold Russia responsible for the collision that led to the drone’s crash into the Black Sea without escalating already fraught tensions with the Kremlin.  The Pentagon says the declassified 42-second color footage shows a Russian Su-27 approaching the back of the MQ-9 Reaper drone and releasing fuel as it passes. The U.S. military says the same jet or another Russian Su-27 that had been shadowing the MQ-9 then struck the drone’s propeller, damaging a blade. The video excerpt does not show the collision, although it does show the damage to the propeller.

Reported sexual assaults at the U.S. military academies shot up during the 2021-22 school year. The Associated Press has learned one in five female students surveyed said they experienced unwanted sexual contact. A Pentagon report on assaults at the Army, Navy and Air Force academies shows an 18% jump in reported assaults over the previous school year. The increase was driven largely by the Navy, which had nearly double the number of reported assaults compared with a year earlier. U.S. officials provided details about the findings on the condition of anonymity because the report has not yet been released. The report is expected to be released Friday.

Active-service members and veterans have provided first-hand testimony in the House of Representatives about the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, describing in harrowing detail the carnage and death they witnessed on the ground. The initial hearing Wednesday of a long-promised investigation by House Republicans displayed the open wounds from the end of America’s longest war in August 2021, with witnesses recalling how they saw mothers carrying dead babies and the Taliban shooting and brutally beating people. Testimony focused not on the decision to withdraw, but on what witnesses depicted as a desperate attempt to rescue American citizens and Afghan allies with little U.S. planning and inadequate U.S. support. They implored Congress to help the allies left behind.

From demands for constitutional rights in Islamabad to calls for economic parity in Manila, Paris and Madrid, International Women’s Day demonstrations in cities around the world are highlighting the unfinished work of providing equity for half of the planet’s population. While activists in some places celebrated political and legal advances on Wednesday, observances also pointed to repression in countries such as Afghanistan and Iran, as well as the large numbers of women and girls who experience sexual assaults and domestic violence globally. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said this week that progress won over decades is vanishing because “the patriarchy is fighting back."

For the first time in 25 years, Colombia has opened military service to women. The first cohort of 1,296 female recruits enlisted in February and is now undergoing training. Colombia has long had compulsory military service for men ages 18 to 24. The army relies heavily on those young recruits who serve 12 months to staff bases, protect infrastructure and carry out administrative tasks, while its professional soldiers confront drug gangs and rebel groups. Some of the women in the new program hope it helps them build a career in the armed forces. They see it as a chance for a stable job and educational opportunities. One of the women says: “Being women doesn’t make us less capable. In fact, there are many skills and strengths we have that men may not have.”

The first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine is both grim and vexing as milestones go. It marks a full year of killing, destruction, loss and pain felt even beyond the borders of Russia and Ukraine. But it also raises a question that’s unsatisfying because it can’t be answered at this partway point. How much longer until this stops? “Not soon enough” might be one response. But any peace deal looks far off as Russia’s invasion force grinds into Year Two. Neither side is close to reaching hoped-for objectives. But Ukraine is still here. That in itself is a stinging defeat for the Kremlin.

A delegation of U.S. lawmakers has met with Taiwan’s president, who promised to deepen military cooperation between the two sides despite objections from China, which claims the island as its own territory. The group is one of many U.S. delegations President Tsai Ing-wen has welcomed in recent years even as Beijing has stepped up diplomatic and military harassment of Taiwan. China responded to foreign visits by holding large-scale military exercises seen by some as a rehearsal for a blockade or invasion. Tsai said Taiwan and the U.S. will continue to bolster military exchanges and Taiwan will cooperate even more actively with the U.S. to confront what she said was “authoritarian expansionism” and other challenges such as climate change.