(CLEVELAND, Texas) — Francisco Oropesa, the man accused of gunning down five people in an “execution-style” mass shooting in Cleveland, Texas, has been taken into custody after a multi-day manhunt, officials said.
Oropesa, 38, was taken into custody in Montgomery County, about 20 miles from where the shooting took place, uninjured and without incident Tuesday evening, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said.
The suspect was “caught hiding in a closet underneath some laundry,” Capers said Tuesday night during a press conference. The suspect will be taken from Montgomery County to the San Jacinto County Jail in Coldspring, Capers said, where he will face charges. He’s expected to be held on a $5 million bond.
The tip for the suspect’s location came in through the FBI tip line, FBI assistant special agent in charge Jimmy Paul said.
“We just want to thank the person who had the courage and bravery to call in the suspect’s location,” he said.
Reward money will be given to the person who called in the tip, officials said. It wasn’t immediately clear how much the person would receive. The total reward increased to $100,000 earlier Tuesday, after the U.S. Marshals announced a contribution of $20,000 on top of $25,000 from the FBI, $50,000 from the state and $5,000 from Multi-County Crime Stoppers.
Oropesa was apprehended by the U.S. Marshals, Texas Department of Public Safety and the U.S. Border Patrol.
A Border Patrol Tactical Unit, or BORTAC, apprehended the suspect, and air and marine operations assisted with surveillance, Troy Miller, the acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said in a statement.
“In small towns and communities like Cleveland, Texas, the men and women of U.S. Customs and Border Protection — in particular, the U.S. Border Patrol — provide integral law enforcement support to local authorities, protecting and serving the communities they live in,” he said. “Tonight’s actions clearly demonstrate that our agents and officers bring incredible capabilities to bear every day as they work to keep our communities safe.”
The massacre unfolded Friday night after neighbors asked Oropesa, 38, to stop shooting his AR-15 in his yard because a newborn was trying to sleep, authorities said.
Oropesa then allegedly stormed the neighbors’ home, killing five of the 10 people inside, including a young boy, authorities said. Two of the women killed were found in a bedroom lying on top of two surviving children, authorities said.
The San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office received a call around 11:31 p.m. Friday detailing harassment, Sheriff Greg Capers told reporters on Sunday. When deputies arrived at the home, they found five victims at the property, Capers said.
Three minors were found uninjured but covered in blood, authorities said. Two of the female victims were discovered in the bedroom lying on top of two surviving children, authorities told ABC News.
The victims were identified as Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; and Daniel Enrique Laso Guzman, 9. Five other people who were in the home were not harmed.
Oropesa is a Mexican national who was previously deported four times, a source familiar with the investigation told ABC News.
Oropesa was deported on March 17, 2009, after an immigration judge ordered his removal, the source said. He unlawfully returned to the U.S., and he was then apprehended and deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in September 2009, January 2012 and July 2016, the source said.
(SAN FRANCISCO) — A man was arrested and charged with battery following an alleged incident on a United Airlines flight Sunday, law enforcement officials told ABC News Tuesday.
San Francisco Police said 47-year-old Cody Benjamin Lovins of Montgomery, Texas, was arrested following an alleged “physical altercation” on a plane.
United Airlines said in a statement that a passenger became “disruptive” during boarding on the Houston bound flight. The airline said the passenger allegedly assaulted a crew member.
Naya Jimenez, another passenger on the flight, told ABC affiliate KTRK-TV that the traveler became disruptive after a crew member told him he and his wife were in the wrong seats.
“They had to bring in a gate attendant to try to talk to both of them,” Jimenez said in an interview with KTRK.
Police said Lovins was subsequently “cited and released for battery.”
Video posted to social media showed footage of the incident, during which the passenger allegedly began hitting a crew member.
United called the passenger’s behavior “unacceptable” and said they were banned from future flights with the airline. United said it is working with local law enforcement in their investigation.
So far this year there have been 586 reported unruly passenger incidents, according to data from the Federal Aviation Administration. During the same time period in 2022, there were 1,306 reported incidents.
San Francisco International Airport did not immediately respond to request for comment.
(SAN FRANCISCO) — Cash App founder Bob Lee was stabbed three times, twice in the chest and once in the hip, according to autopsy documents released Tuesday.
Lee, 43, an executive at cryptocurrency firm MobileCoin, was killed last month in the San Francisco neighborhood of Rincon Hill, the San Francisco Police Department said.
Doctors at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital performed surgeries on him for hours but could not keep him alive — his death wasn’t called until 6:49 a.m. in the operation room, four hours after the 911 call for help, the autopsy documents show.
His cause of death is listed as multiple stab wounds. One of the strikes, in his left chest, penetrated his heart, the documents show. The deepest wound, in his left upper chest, was approximately 5 inches, according to the records.
When he initially arrived at the hospital, Lee was identified through his driver’s license, though was officially listed as a John Doe until his identity was confirmed through fingerprint comparison, according to the documents.
In his body, the medical examiner found alcohol, cocaine, ketamine and allergy medications, according to the autopsy documents. The records do not specify what could have been from hospital intervention when he was undergoing surgery.
A fellow tech executive has been arrested and charged with murder in connection with Lee’s death. The suspect, 38-year-old Nima Momeni, is the owner of an Emeryville, California-based company called Expand IT.
Momeni’s arraignment, which had been rescheduled to Tuesday, has been again moved to May 18.
Prosecutors allege that Momeni drove Lee to a dark, secluded area on April 4 and stabbed him with a kitchen knife, according to a motion filed last month. Police later found a roughly 4-inch blade at the scene that appeared to have blood on it, the document said.
During the previous afternoon, Lee spent time with Momeni’s sister and a witness, who identified themself as a close friend of Lee, prosecutors said.
Lee reassured Momeni that nothing inappropriate had taken place, the witness said to police.
Early the following morning, at about 2 a.m., camera footage showed Lee and Momeni leaving Lee’s hotel and getting into Momeni’s car, a BMW Z4, prosecutors said.
Video shows the BMW drive to a secluded and dark area where the two men got out of the car. Momeni “moved toward” Lee, and the BMW drove away from the scene at high speed, according to the court document.
Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer believes California Sen. Dianne Feinstein may return to Capitol Hill as soon as next week after a monthslong absence while recovering from shingles.
Schumer spoke with Feinstein on Monday, according to prepared notes captured in a photograph taken by Politico during a Tuesday news conference.
“We’re both hopeful she can return next week,” the notes sheet reads.
Schumer didn’t comment on Feinstein during the news conference. A spokesperson confirmed the contents of what was pictured in the notes but didn’t comment further to ABC News.
The 89-year-old Feinstein — the oldest sitting senator — was hospitalized after being diagnosed in February with a case of shingles. She was released in early March and has been continuing her recovery at home.
“We don’t have a timeline yet for her return to Washington which is dependent on her medical team saying it is safe to travel,” a Feinstein spokesperson said in a statement.
Her absence has impacted Democrats’ ability to approve President Joe Biden’s judicial nominations because of the seat she holds on the Senate Judiciary Committee, prompting party leadership to seek to temporarily replace her.
Republicans blocked that in mid-April, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell calling Feinstein a “titanic figure” and stating he wouldn’t be part of sidelining her indefinitely.
Calls for Feinstein to step down have grown among some on the left as the party’s critical judicial nominees face continued limbo. Many Democrats, however, have rallied to her defense — suggesting she is being unfairly singled out.
Rep. Ro Khanna, a fellow California Democrat, was the first to publicly call on Feinstein to retire.
“It has become painfully obvious to many of us in California that she is no longer able to fulfill her duties as she doesn’t have a clear return date,” Khanna said on CNN. “We haven’t been able to confirm judges at a time where women’s rights and voting rights are under assault.”
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a leading progressive in the House, has now also said it is time for Feinstein to leave the Senate. “Her refusal to either retire or show up is causing great harm to the judiciary,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on social media.
But former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, another member of the California congressional delegation, said Feinstein deserves the respect to get well and be back on duty.
“I don’t know what political agendas are at work that are going after Sen. Feinstein in that way,” Pelosi said in April. “I’ve never seen them go after a man who was sick in the Senate in that way.”
And Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow told The New Yorker: “My antenna goes up when it appears that a woman is being treated differently, when it’s unfair. I’m not saying that Sen. Feinstein doesn’t have health challenges, as do male colleagues.”
Feinstein is the longest-serving female senator in U.S. history and has represented California in the chamber since 1992.
Questions about her age and cognitive faculties have mounted in recent years amid reports that claimed she could be forgetful and confused. She repeatedly pushed back against such assertions, telling The Los Angeles Times in 2020, “I don’t feel my cognitive abilities have diminished.”
She announced in February she would not be seeking reelection after her term is up in early 2025, stating she intends to “accomplish as much for California as I can through the end of next year.”
Elaborating more on her decision, she told reporters: “The time has come.”
“There are times for all things under the sun, and I think that will be the right time,” Feinstein said at the time.
Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Eight people and six companies have been charged in a series of indictments with pervasive fraud and corruption in the construction industry, motivated by “greed at all costs,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr. said Tuesday while announcing the indictments.
The defendants allegedly deceived government agencies that award projects to minority and women-owned businesses (MWBE).
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is charging the drywall and carpentry company JM3 Construction, its owner Lawrence “Larry” Wecker, project manager Michael Speier, and other co-conspirators for allegedly taking part “in multiple criminal schemes to increase their business and revenues to the detriment of their workers and fair competition within this industry,” Bragg said.
According to one indictment, JM3 Construction falsified business records to make it seem as though the company was working with minority and women-owned businesses, and awarded lucrative city and state contracts.
“These defendants, as charged, enriched themselves at the expense of a program intended to assist minority and women-owned businesses, by deceiving city and state government entities, part of a series of frauds that shortchanged workers and undermined fair competition,” New York City Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said.
Bragg alleges that JM3 obtained government-subsidized affordable housing contracts by listing minority and women-owned contractors on paper, while using non-MWBE contractors to do the work, a scheme that the district attorney said put actual MWBE companies at a disadvantage.
“We have zero tolerance for anyone seeking to defraud the city and harm minority and women-owned businesses,” New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Adolfo Carrión Jr. said in the statement announcing the charges. “We stand by our commitment to diversifying who the city does business with and we thank the Manhattan District Attorney’s office for bringing these bad actors to light.”
Bragg said the company and Wecker stole money from subcontractors and falsified business records, as well as fixed bids for construction projects to guarantee that the company was awarded projects with inflated costs that covered the alleged bribes.
The DA further alleges that JM3 and Wecker inflated the price of a nearly $10 million drywall contract by $400,000, so the company could pay $50,000 to Adrian Esparragoza, a general contractor who gave them the contract.
The district attorney’s office charged Esparragoza with providing insider information to Wecker and Speier to get the contract.
Bragg claims that JM3 Construction used subcontractors with multi-million-dollar payrolls to cash checks, under shell companies, that were allegedly for payments to legitimate subcontractor services.
“None of that cash was reported to the New York State Insurance Fund, meaning workers operating in this very dangerous industry were exposed and underinsured,” Bragg said on Tuesday.
Bragg said the defendants swindled NYSIF out of more than $2 million.
Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Eight people and six companies have been charged in a series of indictments with pervasive fraud and corruption in the construction industry, motivated by “greed at all costs,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr. said Tuesday while announcing the indictments.
The defendants allegedly deceived government agencies that award projects to minority and women-owned businesses (MWBE).
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is charging the drywall and carpentry company JM3 Construction, its owner Lawrence “Larry” Wecker, project manager Michael Speier, and other co-conspirators for allegedly taking part “in multiple criminal schemes to increase their business and revenues to the detriment of their workers and fair competition within this industry,” Bragg said.
According to one indictment, JM3 Construction falsified business records to make it seem as though the company was working with minority and women-owned businesses, and awarded lucrative city and state contracts.
“These defendants, as charged, enriched themselves at the expense of a program intended to assist minority and women-owned businesses, by deceiving city and state government entities, part of a series of frauds that shortchanged workers and undermined fair competition,” New York City Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said.
Bragg alleges that JM3 obtained government-subsidized affordable housing contracts by listing minority and women-owned contractors on paper, while using non-MWBE contractors to do the work, a scheme that the district attorney said put actual MWBE companies at a disadvantage.
“We have zero tolerance for anyone seeking to defraud the city and harm minority and women-owned businesses,” New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Adolfo Carrión Jr. said in the statement announcing the charges. “We stand by our commitment to diversifying who the city does business with and we thank the Manhattan District Attorney’s office for bringing these bad actors to light.”
Bragg said the company and Wecker stole money from subcontractors and falsified business records, as well as fixed bids for construction projects to guarantee that the company was awarded projects with inflated costs that covered the alleged bribes.
The DA further alleges that JM3 and Wecker inflated the price of a nearly $10 million drywall contract by $400,000, so the company could pay $50,000 to Adrian Esparragoza, a general contractor who gave them the contract.
The district attorney’s office charged Esparragoza with providing insider information to Wecker and Speier to get the contract.
Bragg claims that JM3 Construction used subcontractors with multi-million-dollar payrolls to cash checks, under shell companies, that were allegedly for payments to legitimate subcontractor services.
“None of that cash was reported to the New York State Insurance Fund, meaning workers operating in this very dangerous industry were exposed and underinsured,” Bragg said on Tuesday.
Bragg said the defendants swindled NYSIF out of more than $2 million.
(NEW ORLEANS) — A third detainee who escaped from a Mississippi jail more than a week ago was found dead inside a vehicle at a New Orleans truck stop on Sunday, authorities said.
Casey Grayson, 34, was one of four men who broke out of the Raymond Detention Center in Hinds County last month, local authorities said.
His cause of death is pending an autopsy, Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones said Tuesday.
“There was drug paraphernalia and suspected narcotics recovered in close proximity to where he was discovered in the vehicle,” Jones told reporters during a press briefing Tuesday, noting that there was no foul play suspected.
Authorities believe a family member may have provided the white pickup truck that Grayson was discovered in following his escape, but “that is still under investigation,” Jones said. A security guard found him unresponsive in the truck and alerted authorities, Jones said.
Since the breach, one of the detainees was killed in a shootout with law enforcement and another was taken into custody in Texas, while a fourth remains at large.
The four detainees escaped through the roof of the Hinds County jail on April 21, according to the Hinds County Sheriff’s Office. The men were discovered missing from the jail early the following day after a headcount, according to Jones. The men were pretrial detainees, meaning they were being held in prison while awaiting trial.
Grayson had been detained since mid-February and was charged with the sale of a controlled substance and grand larceny, according to Jones. The sheriff’s office received information last week that Grayson may have been in the New Orleans area, he said.
The discovery comes after one of the escaped detainees, 51-year-old Jerry Raynes, was captured in Spring Valley, Texas, in the Houston area, last week. He is in the process of being extradited to Mississippi, Jones said Tuesday.
Raynes had been in the Raymond Detention Center since January 2022 after being charged with auto theft and business burglary and has a history of escaping pretrial detention facilities, according to Jones. He faces additional charges of escape and auto theft, the sheriff said.
Another one of the escaped detainees — 22-year-old Dylan Arrington — was killed in a shootout with deputies at a residence in Leake County on April 26, according to Jones. Arrington had barricaded himself inside the home, which somehow became engulfed in flames during the standoff, Jones said.
While on the loose, Arrington was believed to be involved in a fatal carjacking in Jackson on April 24. The victim — identified as the Rev. Anthony Watts — was believed to have pulled over to help after someone crashed a motorcycle before he was fatally shot, authorities said.
Arrington had been in the detention center since April 13 after being charged with auto theft and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, according to the Hinds County Sheriff’s Office.
The fourth detainee was identified by the sheriff’s office as Corey Harrison, 22, who was charged with receiving stolen property and had been detained since April 7.
Jones said Tuesday that Harrison is believed to be affiliated with the Hinds County area but “I do not have an exact location on where he may be at this particular time.”
ABC News’ Will McDuffie contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Six people are dead and dozens more injured after a massive pileup Monday in Illinois caused by a sudden dust storm, officials said.
More than 30 people were injured and transported to the hospital, including multiple people with life-threatening injuries, Illinois State Police Maj. Ryan Starrick said during an afternoon press conference. Victims range in age from 2 to 80 years old, Starrick said.
The crash took place at about 11 a.m. local time on Interstate 55 in Montgomery County, officials said. Car accidents were reported on both north and southbound lanes of I-55 for a 2-mile stretch.
Forty to 60 passenger vehicles and at least 30 commercial vehicles were involved in the crash, including two semi-trucks that caught fire, police said.
The cause of the crash was excessive winds blowing dirt from farm fields across the highway, Starrick said. The crash prompted a response from a flurry of emergency vehicles and multiple helicopters.
The Montgomery County Coroner’s Officer confirmed to ABC News the identity of one of the victims as Shirley Harper, 88, of Franklin, Wisconsin, who was a passenger in a vehicle that was being driven by her daughter. Her daughter survived and is currently hospitalized, authorities said.
Leach, who was driving an RV from Illinois to Texas, told ABC News that she had been stuck in traffic behind the massive crash for five hours.
“It actually looks like snow almost when I was sending [my kids] videos,” said Karen Leach, who was caught up in the storm. “And it just it feels like, like the end of the world.”
The stretch of I-55 where the accident took place is expected to be closed at least through the evening, Starrick said.
“My team and I are closely following the devastating crash on I-55 as authorities learn more,” Rep. Nikki Budzinski wrote on Twitter. “Please be safe as this situation continues to unfold.”
The same stretch of interstate was closed again Tuesday “due to high winds and low visibility,” Illinois State Police tweeted, noting that it was ” out of an abundance of caution” and there were no crashes.
ABC News’ Darren Reynolds contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — More than a year after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine, the countries are fighting for control of areas in eastern and southern Ukraine.
Ukrainian troops have liberated nearly 30,000 square miles of their territory from Russian forces since the invasion began on Feb. 24, 2022, but Putin appeared to be preparing for a long and bloody war.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
May 02, 6:12 PM EDT
Explosions reported in Kyiv
Explosions were reported in Kyiv around 1:00 a.m. Wednesday local time, according to Suspilne, the Ukrainian public broadcaster.
The Ukrainian Air Defense Forces were activated in response, the Kyiv City Military Administration reported.
Reports of damage, and number of people injured or killed were not immediately available.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman and Max Uzol
May 02, 12:38 PM EDT
Marine veteran killed while evacuating civilians in Ukraine
A 26-year-old U.S. Marine Corps veteran was killed in a mortar strike last month in Ukraine while working to evacuate civilians, his family confirmed to ABC News this week.
Cooper Andrews died on April 19 in the Bakhmut area, his cousin Willow Pastard, who is speaking on his family’s behalf, told ABC News.
The State Department announced Monday that an American citizen died in Ukraine, though did not provide more details or an identity “out of respect for the family’s privacy during this difficult time.”
“We are in touch with the family and providing all possible consular assistance,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement.
At least nine deaths of U.S. citizens who have volunteered to fight in Ukraine have been officially reported since the war began last year, according to the State Department.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
May 01, 3:54 PM EDT
2 dead, 40 wounded in latest Russian strikes
Two men were killed and at least 40 people, including children, were injured after Russian missiles struck Pavlograd, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other officials said.
Serhii Lysak, the head of the military administration of the Dnipropetrovsk, said 19 high-rise buildings, 25 private houses, six schools and preschool education institutions and five shops were hit by the missiles.
Five children were among the wounded officials said. The youngest victim is 8 years old, according to officials.
-ABC News’ Wil Gretsky
May 01, 3:07 PM EDT
Russia suffered 100K casualties in Bakhmut since December: White House
The U.S. estimates that Russia has suffered over 100,000 casualties, including over 20,000 killed in action, from the battles in Bakhmut since December, White House spokesman John Kirby said Monday
Half of the 20,000 killed in action were members of the Russian-backed private military Wagner Group, according to Kirby. The majority of Wagner fighters killed were allegedly ex-convicts, according to Kirby.
Kirby said that the data came from “some downgraded intelligence,” that the U.S. has been able to collect. He was unable to provide data on deaths of Ukrainian fighters.
Kirby emphasized that the U.S. thinks Bakhmut holds “very little strategic value for Russia” and if captured by Russia it “would absolutely not alter the course of the war in Russia’s favor.”
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson
May 01, 1:41 PM EDT
State Department confirms US citizen dies in Ukraine
The State Department announced Monday that an American citizen died in Ukraine.
“We are in touch with the family and providing all possible consular assistance,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement.
The State Department declined to provide more details or an identity “out of respect for the family’s privacy during this difficult time.” It is not immediately clear when the death took place.
At least 10 U.S. citizen deaths in Ukraine have been officially confirmed by the State Department since the war began last year. The majority of those deaths were of Americans who volunteered to fight alongside Ukrainians, according to officials.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Apr 30, 5:48 PM EDT
Russian missile attack in Dnipropetrovsk region hits Ukrainian cities: Reports
A Russian missile airstrike was reported in different areas of Ukraine Sunday evening.
Sixteen Russian Tu-95 bombers were reported in the air from various airfields and explosions were reported in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine at 10:51 p.m. local time.
“Presumably, Kh-101 cruise missiles are actively flying at the Pavlograd-1 and Pavlograd-2 railway stations, where trains with APU (Ukrainian Armed Forces) equipment and people were located,” a Russian Telegram channel, Military Chronicle, said.
Several explosions were heard in the city of Pavlograd, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, local Ukrainian media reported.
An air alert was announced for the region at 9:30 p.m. local time and about 10:00 p.m., social networks began to report explosions in Pavlograd.
According to local media, repeated explosions were heard in the city at 10:20 p.m.
The strikes destroyed Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles for the S-300 complex on Pavlograd, Russian Telegram channel Intel Slava reported.
S-300s are long-range surface-to-air missiles.
Supply vehicles with reserve ammunition that belong to the Ukrainian Armed Forces were also hit, the channel said, citing eyewitness accounts.
Intel Slava is funded by the Russian government.
“The detonation of rockets has been going on for almost an hour,” the Intel Slava post said.
It’s unclear how many people were injured or killed.
-ABC News’ Fidel Pavlenko and Anastasia Bagaeva
Apr 30, 2:00 PM EDT
Leader of Russian mercenary group threatens mutiny
The Russian oligarch behind the Wagner private paramilitary group fighting for the Kremlin in Ukraine is threatening a mutiny if his forces are not resupplied with ammunition soon.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, owner and curator of the Wagner group, penned a letter to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigue, demanding ammunition be provided to his forces on the battlefield.
In the letter, Prigozhin wrote that if supply problems are not fixed fast, he will complain to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his mercenaries would abandon their positions in Bakhmut, Ukraine, where heavy fighting has been going on for weeks, The Moscow Times reported.
“I appeal to Shoigu with a request to immediately issue ammunition. In case of refusal, I consider it necessary to convey to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief information about the existing problem in order to make a decision and about the advisability of further presence of Wagner PMC in Bakhmut in the conditions of a shortage of ammunition,” Prigozhin wrote.
He added, “If the deficit is not replenished … we will be forced to withdraw part of the units from this territory, and then everything else will crumble. Therefore, the bell is already ringing — it is called an alarm.”
Emphasizing the urgency, Prigozhin noted that Ukraine is planning to launch a counteroffensive soon.
There was no immediate public response from Shoigu or the Kremlin.
“We need to stop deceiving the population and telling that everything is fine with us,” Prigozhin wrote. “I must honestly say: Russia is on the brink of disaster. If these screws are not adjusted today, the ‘aircraft’ will crumble in the air.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday wished Ukrainian military forces success in what he described as the “main battles” that are “coming soon.”
Zelenskyy’s statement came a day after he said at a news conference in Kyiv that Ukrainian forces will soon launch a counteroffensive, likely before F-16 fighter jets promised by Western allies arrive.
“Dear warriors, the main battles are coming soon. We must free our land and our people from Russian slavery,” Zelenskyy said at an event where he bestowed medals to members of the county’s Border Guard forces.
Apr 30, 5:52 AM EDT
Counteroffensive expected ahead of Western jet deliveries
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Ukrainian counteroffensive will start before Ukraine receives F-16 fighter jets promised by Western countries.
“Frankly speaking, it would help us a lot. But we also understand that we can’t drag it [the counteroffensive] out, which is why we’ll start before we receive F-16 [aircrafts] or other models,” Zelenskyy said at a news conference for Scandinavian media held in Kyiv on Saturday, according to a script provided by Reuters.
He added, “But to calm Russia down with the fact that we’d still need a couple of months to train on the aircrafts and only then we’d start; No, this won’t happen. We’ll start and go forward, while at the same time, simultaneously, I think this is very important [to receive western fighter aircrafts.]”
He said Ukraine is “capable of putting an end to this war.”
Also on Saturday, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Ukraine received a signal from some countries about the readiness to start training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets.
According to Kuleba, the F-16 fighter jet is the ideal aircraft due to its technical characteristics, although Kyiv does not overlook other aircraft, either. The minister added that the decisive word on issuing F-16s will be with the United States, because these are American fighters.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres and Max Uzol
Apr 29, 1:49 PM EDT
23 dead in Russian attack on high-rise building, 17 saved from rubble
A Russian attack on a high-rise building in Uman has left 23 people dead. Among the dead were six children between the ages of one and 17 years old, according to the Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs, Ihor Volodymyrovych Klymenko.
Rescuers, policemen and volunteers managed to save 17 people from the rubble. Heavy machinery and special equipment were involved, according to officials.
Two more women are considered missing, officials said. But the search and rescue operation has concluded, officials said.
“My sincere condolences to the relatives of the deceased. We will punish this evil. We will not allow it to grow. We will definitely stand up and win,” Klymenko said.
-ABC News’ Tatyana Rymarenko
Apr 28, 12:18 PM EDT
Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities kill 24, including children
Russian airstrikes targeted several cities across Ukraine early Friday, killing at least 24 people, Ukrainian officials said.
The city of Uman in central Ukraine’s Cherkasy Oblast was the worst affected. Several buildings were damaged or destroyed. One of the strikes hit an apartment building, killing at least 22 people, including three children, and injuring another 18 people, according to Cherkasy Oblast Gov. Ihor Taburets. The attack happened at around 4:30 a.m. local time, when most people would have been asleep. An entire section of the nine-story building collapsed, with 27 apartments completely destroyed. There were 109 people who lived in that part of the building, according to Ukrainian police. Rescue teams were expected to spend all day and night searching for survivors in the rubble.
Dnipro, Ukraine’s fourth-largest city and a major industrial hub located in southeastern Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, was hit by “high-precision” strikes in the early morning hours, leaving a woman and a 3-year-old child dead, according to Dnipro Mayor Boris Filatov.
Russian strikes also targeted Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital and largest city, but there were no reports of any casualties or damages. It was the first such attack on the capital in 51 days, according to the Kyiv City Military Administration. Preliminary data shows 11 cruise missiles and two drones were destroyed in Kyiv’s airspace, the city military administration said.
Apr 28, 11:54 AM EDT
Ukraine says it’s ‘ready’ for counteroffensive
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Friday the military is “ready” to launch a counteroffensive against Russian forces.
“It’s up to the general staff and the command,” Reznikov said during a press briefing in Kyiv. “We will do it as soon as there is God’s will, the weather and the commanders’ decision.”
Ukraine has received Patriot missile defense systems from the United States as well as Germany and the Netherlands. The Ukrainian military has been trained on how to use the systems and “mastered” them within weeks, according to Reznikov.
“The exact number of batteries, I’m sorry, I won’t say,” he added. “Let the enemy guess.”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the world not to consider or call the anticipated counteroffensive “a decisive battle.” Speaking at a press conference in Odesa on Friday, Kuleba said the decisive battle is the one that will lead to the liberation of all occupied Ukrainian territories.
One person was killed and 23 people, including a child, were wounded in a Russian missile strike in Mykolaiv early Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The missile struck a block that had apartments, houses and a historic building, according to Zelenskyy.
“The terrorists will not get away with this yet another crime against humanity,” the president said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Apr 26, 12:50 PM EDT
Zelenskyy has 1st call with China’s Xi Jinping since war began
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping in what was the two leaders’ first official contact since January 2022, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Xi announced that he will send a special envoy to visit Ukraine and “other countries” to work on a political solution.
“I believe that this call, as well as the appointment of Ukraine’s ambassador to China, will give a powerful impetus to the development of our bilateral relations,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on Twitter.
The Chinese government’s official position still refuses to call the war an “invasion.”
The call between the two leaders is said to have lasted an hour, according to Zelenskyy’s office.
“Before the full-scale Russian invasion, China was Ukraine’s number one trading partner. I believe that our conversation today will give a powerful impetus to the return, preservation and development of this dynamic at all levels,” Zelenskyy said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Karson Yiu, Cindy Smith and Will Gretsky
Apr 25, 1:03 PM EDT
At least 2 dead, 10 injured in strike that hit Ukrainian museum
At least two people were killed and 10 injured after a Russian missile hit a Ukrainian museum Tuesday, officials said.
The local history museum is located in the city center of Kupiansk, in the Kharkiv region.
“The terrorist country is doing everything to destroy us completely. Our history, our culture, our people,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media while sharing a video that showed the damaged building. “Killing Ukrainians with absolutely barbaric methods.”
Apr 24, 5:48 AM EDT
Russian passports pushed on occupied Ukraine
Russian officials have warned Ukrainians in occupied Kherson that they may be “deported” if they don’t accept Russian passports, the U.K. Ministry of Defence said Monday.
“Russia is using passports as a tool in the ‘Russification’ of the occupied areas, as it did in Donetsk and Luhansk before the February 2022 invasion,” the ministry on Twitter.
Residents of Kherson have been warned of penalties for those who don’t accept Russian passports by June 1. Some may be removed from the territory or may have their property seized, according to the U.K.
(MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla.) — A Florida woman was arrested and charged with battery on an elected official after she allegedly threw a glass of wine at Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., according to the Walton County Sheriff’s Office.
The incident occurred on Saturday in Miramar Beach, Florida.
Gaetz was at the South Walton Beaches Wine and Food Festival, according to a police report obtained by ABC News.
The woman, identified by police as Selena Jo Chambers, told investigators she tripped and accidentally spilled a drink on Gaetz, but others say it went down differently.
“Representative Gaetz said Chambers and another female had been walking past him and his family cursing at them,” according to the police report. “He believed both females had recognized him as a United States Representative.”
Gaetz told police he was speaking to someone when Chambers allegedly began loudly swearing at him.
“Blaine Odom said he was speaking with Representative Gaetz and saw Selena Chambers swearing loudly at them. Chambers was carrying a drink in her right hand. Chambers thrust the container into the air and the beverage from the drink landed on Representative Gaetz and on Odom’s right shoulder,” according to the police report.
It continued, “Chambers then walked away yelling and flipping him off. Odom said he observed the drink land on Representative Gaetz and also on him. Odom said his clothing was soaked from the drink Chambers threw on him. Odom said he wanted to press charges against Chambers.”
Chambers told investigators she had been drinking. Her friend was not arrested.
Battery on an elected official is a felony and simple battery is a misdemeanor. Chambers was released on $1,000 bond.
She couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Gaetz thanked the sheriff in a statement for taking “swift” action and charging the woman.
It isn’t the first time Gaetz has been the target of an object thrown as him. In 2019, a woman threw a drink at Gaetz during a town hall meeting. That woman was sentenced to 15 days in jail for the incident.
