(WASHINGTON) — Dr. Anthony Fauci, a senior adviser to the president on the pandemic, has tested positive for COVID-19.
Fauci, 81, hasn’t had recent close contact with President Joe Biden or other senior officials, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Fauci, who has mild symptoms, tested positive via a rapid antigen test, according to the NIAID.
He’s fully vaccinated and received two boosters, the NIAID said in a statement.
“Dr. Fauci will isolate and continue to work from his home,” the statement said. “Dr. Fauci will follow the COVID-19 guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and medical advice from his physician and return to the NIH when he tests negative.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — More than 20 states are seeing dangerously hot temperatures this week, impacting nearly 100 million Americans, according to the National Weather Service.
The heat index will be over 100 degrees from the Plains to the Southeast with little relief at night.
An excessive heat warning has been issued from southern inland California to Arizona. Temperatures in this region could reach 110 degrees over the next few days.
Record temperatures also continue in the Midwest, South and the Carolinas.
In Nashville, the recorded high was 97 degrees on Tuesday. In Fayetteville, North Carolina, the mercury hit 100 degrees.
Chicago on Tuesday experienced its warmest weather since 2012, with temps reaching 98 degrees.
The temperature stayed at and above 80 degrees for 48 hours in Kansas City.
If the temperature in Detroit reaches 97 degrees on Wednesday, it will be the hottest recorded June temperature in the city since 2012.
Other cities seeing high temps are Charleston, Columbus and Pittsburgh as the heat wave continues to creep east.
A red flag warning continues in Nevada, where dry conditions and extreme heat perpetuates the opportunity for wildfires.
The National Weather Service said much of the Midwest will continue to remain above normal temperatures into the end of the week.
Such heat is dangerous and abnormal for even the hottest regions in the country.
As the heat wave continues, schools are shutting down to protect students and staff.
Five school districts in southeast Michigan are canceling classes or adjusting dismissal times as the Detroit area braces for Wednesday’s heat.
David Mustonen, director of communications and marketing for Dearborn Public Schools in Michigan, told ABC News the district will be closed for Wednesday. He said the decision to close was necessary.
“It really had to do with the heat index being so high,” Mustonen said. “It’s just not the best condition for learning.”
Mustonen said the district’s protocol is to close if the heat index reaches 105, which will likely happen on Wednesday.
“For the students and our staff, this was just the right decision,” Mustonen added.
Schools in other metropolitan areas are adjusting their schedules amid the heat.
Pittsburgh Public Schools will only be open for half days on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the district’s website. School lunches will still be provided at Pittsburgh Public Schools during the half days.
The American Heart Association has warned that temperatures over 100 degrees can be dangerous; high temperatures cause dehydration and increase stress on the heart.
The association recommends that individuals stay hydrated, avoid caffeinated or alcoholic beverages and avoid the outdoors during the peak sun hours of about 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
(WASHINGTON) — Parents with young kids are one step closer to getting them vaccinated following a grueling wait for the last remaining group to be authorized for a vaccine.
The process for authorization and recommendation from the regulatory agencies kicked off Wednesday with a meeting of the Food and Drug Administration’s committee of independent experts.
The committee is scheduled to review the data on both the Moderna vaccine for kids under 6, which is a two-dose vaccine, and the Pfizer vaccine for kids under 5, which is a three-dose vaccine.
Though kids have generally had less-severe cases of COVID-19 than older adults, there have still been nearly 500 deaths in kids under 5 and over 30,000 hospitalizations in the U.S.
“We are dealing with an issue where I think we have to be careful that we don’t become numb to the number of pediatric deaths because of the overwhelming number of older deaths here. Every life is important. And vaccine-preventable deaths are ones that we would like to try to do something about,” said Dr. Peter Marks, who runs the vaccine division at the FDA.
“Granted, it’s a population that has been much less affected than the older populations, particularly the oldest population, but one nonetheless that has also been affected. And I think for those who have lost children to COVID-19, our hearts go out to them, because these are — each child that’s lost essentially fractures a family,” Marks told the committee on Wednesday.
Officials from Pfizer and Moderna stressed Wednesday that their vaccines are safe and effective at protecting young children against COVID-19.
Both companies reported mild reactions to the shots. Among young children, fevers and pain at the injection site were the most common symptoms reported following the shot, with most post-vaccination symptoms resolving in a matter of days.
“These pediatric groups represent a more vulnerable population, so it is particularly important to minimize reactions, including fever, while achieving an immune response likely to provide protection against COVID-19,” said Dr. William Gruber, senior vice president of vaccine clinical research and development at Pfizer.
Neither Moderna or Pfizer reported any cases of myocarditis among the youngest children.
And the impact spans wider than the statistics. Parents with kids too young to be vaccinated have dealt with constant child care interruptions from COVID-19 scares and two years of mitigation strategies even after most people in the country dropped their masks.
Once the FDA committee votes on Wednesday, the process moves to FDA leadership to officially authorize the vaccines. If that happens, the administration can start shipping out vaccines to states.
Then, on Friday and Saturday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s advisers will meet to review the data on both vaccines.
The final step in the process is a recommendation from CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, after which shots can be administered in doctors’ offices, clinics, hospitals, pharmacies and other locations.
Vaccines are expected to be available as early as the week of June 21, if the review processes find the vaccines safe and effective.
The Biden administration estimates that 85% of children under the age of 5 live within 5 miles of a potential vaccination site, an administration official said.
But it will be an uphill battle to convince parents to vaccinate their young kids, if polling is any indication. A recent survey from KFF found that just 1 in 5 parents are eager to vaccinate their kids right away.
Federal officials said they plan to lean into existing networks to get vaccine information out to families, like the American Academy of Pediatrics, mom blogs and PTAs, as well as groups specific to communities of color, like the League of United Latin American Citizens.
“We have learned from our previous campaigns, and one of the most important lessons that we’ve learned is that we know who people listen to when making decisions, and there are trusted people in their lives,” a senior administration official said.
(WASHINGTON) — The federal government will be instructing states on ways to expand access to health care and suicide prevention resources for LGBTQ people and will be releasing school policy samples that work to better include such students, among other steps in support of the community including a campaign against conversion therapy, senior administration officials said Wednesday.
President Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Wednesday directing the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Education to take such measures as part of what his administration said was a broader push, during Pride Month, “to stand up to the bullies targeting” the LGBTQ community.
The White House singled out hundreds of new bills, nationwide, that would impose restrictions on LGBTQ people or issues, such as a law in Florida outlawing discussion of gender and sexuality in certain classrooms and various state bans — either proposed or already passed into law — on transgender children being able to receive certain medical treatments.
“President Biden is addressing these harmful, hateful, and discriminatory attacks head-on – not only by speaking up for America’s families, but taking action,” the White House said in a statement.
The new executive order will urge additional policy guidance, increase administrative protections and make the federal government available as a partner to states; it will also raise public awareness around what the administration said were ongoing challenges faced by LGBTQ people, like the prevalence of conversion therapy that seeks to change a person’s gender identity or sexual orientation.
“Children who are exposed to so-called ‘conversion therapy’ face higher rates of attempted suicide and trauma,” the White House said. “[M]any people in the United States and around the world are still subjected to this practice.”
A new HHS initiative will work to reduce youth exposure to conversion therapy by clarifying that programs receiving federal funds cannot engage in the practice, as directed by the president’s order.
Spotlighting the practice’s harms is another component of the initiative, and HHS will offer guidance to health care providers through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
The order also seeks to address some of the barriers before LGBTQ children and families.
The White House said that while LGBTQ parents are “7 times more likely to adopt a child,” the foster care system makes it challenging for them to adopt children.
“President Biden is charging HHS with strengthening non-discrimination protections,” according to the White House.
Another HHS initiative will work to ensure that children receive foster care placements in environments supportive of their sexual orientation, the administration said.
The president will announce his executive order at a White House Pride Month celebration in the East Room on Wednesday afternoon. He will be joined by Vice President Kamala Harris and their spouses, Jill Biden and Doug Emhoff, as well as Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
The White House’s focus on LGBTQ issues — specifically those affecting children — comes weeks after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a controversial ban on discussion of “sexual orientation or gender identity” in kindergarten through third-grade classrooms or in older grades if it is not “age appropriate or developmentally appropriate.”
Critics denounced the law as an overly broad “Don’t Say Gay” ban; DeSantis and its supporters said it prevented children from being exposed to what they called inappropriate content.
ABC News reports similar legislation is working its way through legislatures or already enacted into law in Alabama and Ohio.
ABC News’ Armando Garcia contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The Federal Reserve raised interest rates significantly on Wednesday, hiking it 0.75%, escalating a strategy of increased borrowing costs that aims to dial back historic inflation.
The rate hike of 0.75% marks the largest increase since 1994. The dramatic rate increase follows new inflation data that showed a reacceleration of price increases to levels not seen for more than four decades, dashing hopes that inflation had reached its peak.
A rate hike of 0.75% brings the interest rate to a range of 1.5% to 1.75%
The Fed also indicated that more rate hikes will follow in the coming months.
An increase to the benchmark interest rate raises borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, which in theory should slash inflation by slowing the economy and eating away at demand. But the strategy also risks tipping the economy into a recession. The rate hike will likely increase everything from credit card fees to mortgage rates.
The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by 0.5% last month, and central bankers had signaled the same increase for June. But a persistent surge in costs appears to have prompted a reevaluation. The consumer price index, or CPI, stood at 8.6% year-over-year in May, a significant increase from 8.3% the month prior, according to data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.
President Joe Biden has touted the economic recovery from a coronavirus-induced downturn, but acknowledged that many American households are struggling with high costs.
“Jobs are back, but prices are still too high,” he said during a speech in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
Republican members of Congress have criticized Biden for the price hikes, suggesting they stem from his mismanagement of the economy. Biden has attributed high prices to the disruption of food and gas markets that has resulted from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling the sky-high inflation “Putin’s price hike” — a term the administration has used repeatedly.
William J. Ryan is seen in this undated photo. – City of Newburgh Police Department via Facebook
(NEWBURGH, N.Y.) — A man was arrested Tuesday following an alleged racist road rage incident against a father and son in Newburgh, New York.
Robert Mclymore, who is Black, told New York ABC station that he slowed to let a car pass in front of him on June 11. William Ryan, 60, a white man, was driving behind him and began shouting racist slurs at Mclymore, who was driving with his son.
Ryan began waving a box cutter at the two of them and tried to rear-end the car, according to Mclymore.
The driver allegedly followed Mclymore into a restaurant parking lot and claimed to be an off-duty trooper while giving Mclymore the middle finger, he said. Mclymore caught the incident on his cellphone.
Mclymore told WABC that he is actually a police lieutenant and pastor in the neighboring town of Wallkill.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” Mclymore told WABC about the incident. “I couldn’t believe the racial epithets, him saying that he was a cop or a trooper, most of all him doing what he did and he’s an older gentleman.”
Ryan has been charged with second-degree menacing as a hate crime, a Class E felony, according to the Newburgh Police Department. He is being held in police custody until his arraignment on Wednesday evening.
“There is no place for hate in our community,” Newburgh Police Chief Anthony Geraci wrote in a statement. “Mr. Ryan will be held accountable for his criminal actions and deplorable speech. His racists (sic) threats were not only harmful to the victim in this case but echoes deep within our City.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates significantly on Wednesday, escalating a strategy of increased borrowing costs that aims to dial back historic inflation.
Central bankers are expected to consider a rate hike of 0.75%, which would mark the largest increase since 1994. The potentially dramatic rate increase follows new inflation data that showed a reacceleration of price increases to levels not seen for more than four decades, dashing hopes that inflation had reached its peak.
The Fed is also expected to indicate that more rate hikes will follow in the coming months.
An increase to the benchmark interest rate raises borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, which in theory should slash inflation by slowing the economy and eating away at demand. But the strategy also risks tipping the economy into a recession. The rate hike will likely increase everything from credit card fees to mortgage rates.
The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by 0.5% last month, and central bankers had signaled the same increase for June. But a persistent surge in costs appears to have prompted a reevaluation. The consumer price index, or CPI, stood at 8.6% year-over-year in May, a significant increase from 8.3% the month prior, according to data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.
A rate hike of 0.75% would bring the interest rate to a range of 1.5% to 1.75%.
President Joe Biden has touted the economic recovery from a coronavirus-induced downturn, but acknowledged that many American households are struggling with high costs.
“Jobs are back, but prices are still too high,” he said during a speech in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
Republican members of Congress have criticized Biden for the price hikes, suggesting they stem from his mismanagement of the economy. Biden has attributed high prices to the disruption of food and gas markets that has resulted from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling the sky-high inflation “Putin’s price hike” — a term the administration has used repeatedly.
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — Federal hate crime charges were announced against the Buffalo mass shooting suspect as Attorney General Merrick Garland arrived in the city Wednesday to meet with survivors and the families of the 10 victims.
Payton Gendron, 18, is accused of storming aTops grocery store on May 14 and gunning down 10 people, all of whom were Black, in an alleged hate crime.
At one point Gendron aimed his Bushmaster XM rifle at a white Tops employee, who was shot in the leg and injured. Gendron allegedly apologized to him before continuing the attack, Garland said at a news conference.
Gendron allegedly planned the massacre for months, including driving to the store to sketch the layout and count the number of Black people present, Garland said.
Federal prosecutors charged Gendron with a total of 26 counts of committing a hate crime resulting in death and a hate crime involving bodily injury. He’s also charged with using a firearm to commit murder during a crime of violence.
Gendron was allegedly motivated by the racist, far-right conspiracy theory known as the replacement theory and he wanted to “inspire others to commit similar attacks,” the complaint said. Markings on the rifle used in the shooting including the phrases “here’s your reparations” and “the great replacement,” the complaint said.
Garland said the Justice Department agrees with President Joe Biden that “18-year-olds should not be able to purchase a gun like this,” referring to the semi-automatic rifle used in the massacre.
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke, who appeared at the news conference with Garland, added, “The Civil Rights division and the entire Justice Department will not stand by idly in the fight against white suprematist violence.” She promised, “We will pursue the perpetrators of hate crimes and hold them accountable.”
The Justice Department is also “hard at work addressing non-criminal acts of bias that rear their ugly head inside our schools, workplaces and our neighborhoods,” Clarke said, as well as addressing how to prevent hate crimes through education and awareness.
The Buffalo massacre could inspire more racially motivated attacks in the coming months, the Department of Homeland Security warned in a new report released this week.
Other charges against Gendron include 10 counts of first-degree murder and 10 counts of second-degree murder as a hate crime. The teen is the first person in state history to be charged with domestic terrorism motivated by hate. Gendron’s lawyers entered a plea of not guilty to the state charges on his behalf.
ABC News’ Alex Mallin and Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jun 15, 1:08 pm
Biden announces additional $1B in military, $225M in humanitarian assistance
President Joe Biden has announced $1 billion more in U.S. military aid for Ukraine.
Biden said he spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Wednesday morning and that the aid will include “additional artillery and coastal defense weapons, as well as ammunition for the artillery and advanced rocket systems.”
Biden also announced $225 million in humanitarian assistance “to help people inside Ukraine, including by supplying safe drinking water, critical medical supplies and health care, food, shelter, and cash for families to purchase essential items,” according to a statement.
-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez
Jun 15, 6:49 am
Biden promises to free blocked Ukrainian grain
President Joe Biden said on Tuesday the United States is working with European allies to remove blocked Ukrainian grain by rail.
Speaking at the 29th AFL-CIO Quadrennial Constitutional Convention, Biden said 20 million tons of grain are stuck in Ukraine and need to be exported to reduce global food prices.
As the grain cannot be exported via the Black Sea due to the constant threat of Russian attacks and explosions, the U.S. and its partners are planning to build granaries on the Ukrainian border, Biden said.
The railways present an alternative to Ukrainian coastal waters of the Azov and Black seas that are in need of demining. The area of their contamination with explosives can be up to 19,000 square kilometers, Ministry of Internal Affairs spokesperson Alyona Matveeva said on Tuesday.
The full demining of Ukraine can take from five to 10 years with the help of international experts, Matveeva added. To date, about 80% of explosive devices have been removed and neutralized in the Kyiv region, she said.
Jun 15, 6:31 am
Russia turns to outdated missiles
As Russia’s stock of modern high-precision missiles depletes, its invading forces are turning to obsolete Soviet models to strike targets in Ukraine, Yuriy Ignat, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force, said at a press briefing on Tuesday.
“Recently, there has been a tendency for Russia to save high-precision, expensive missiles. And now the enemy is increasingly using Soviet types of missiles,” Ignat said.
Some of these missiles are extremely powerful, the spokesman added, and their destructive parts can weigh up to 900 kilograms.
“Their main drawback is that they do not always fly at their intended target and very often destroy civilian objects with human casualties,” Ignat said.
According to Ignat, Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile forces have shot down more than 500 enemy air targets since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion. These include Russian cruise missiles, UAVs, planes and helicopters.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former governor of California, weighed in on the question of Russian missiles on Tuesday when he said that Europe is partly to blame for financing Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Addressing a climate conference in Vienna via a livestream, Schwarzenegger said the about 1,300 missiles Russia fired into Ukrainian cities during the first two months of the war cost 7.7 billion euros.
“Now that’s a lot. But during the same time, Europe sent to Russia 44 billion euros for fuel,” the former governor told attendees of the Austrian World Summit. “We have blood on our hands, because we are financing the war. We have to stop lying to ourselves.”
On the other end of the frontline, Ukraine is also grappling with a pressing lack of weapons. The Ukrainian forces received only 10% of the weapons “we said we needed,” Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar told local media on Tuesday.
“Now matter how much effort Ukraine makes, we will not be able to win the war without the help of the West,” Malyar added.
The deputy minister said Ukrainian fighters can afford to spend only about 6,000 shells a day, while the Russians use about 10 times more. The limited number of available weapons and ammunition is crippling Ukraine’s ability to launch a counteroffensive at the front, military expert Oleh Zhdanov said, according to local outlets.
Speaking at an online press conference for Danish media on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeated his plea for Western weapons that he said are vital for the liberation of occupied territories.
The speed of de-occupation “depends on the supply of weapons to Ukraine, and any delays in this matter threaten stagnation on the front,” Zelenskyy said.
Jun 14, 1:20 pm
Russian, Belarusian tennis players can compete at US Open under neutral flag
Russian and Belarusian tennis players, who are banned from Wimbledon, will be allowed to compete in this year’s U.S. Open, but only under a neutral flag, the U.S. Tennis Association said.
The USTA said it “previously condemned, and continues to condemn, the unprovoked and unjust invasion of Ukraine by Russia.”
Russian player Daniil Medvedev, the current No. 1 player in the world, won last year’s U.S. Open.
Jun 14, 6:37 am
Ukraine pleads for heavy weapons ahead of NATO meeting
The only way to end the war in Ukraine, either on the battlefield or behind the negotiation table, is a parity of weapons, Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, said on Monday.
“Being straightforward — to end the war we need heavy weapons parity,” Podoliak said on Twitter.
According to the presidential adviser, Ukraine’s military wish list includes 1,000 howitzers, 300 multiple launch rocket systems, 500 tanks, 2,000 armored vehicles and 1,000 drones.
“Negotiations are possible from a strong position, which requires parity of weapons,” Podoliak said. “There is simply no other way.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba echoed Podoliak’s plea for weapons on Monday in a tweet that recounted Ukraine’s recent military triumphs achieved with limited resources.
“Ukraine has proven it can punch well above its weight and win important battles against all odds,” Kuleba said, pointing at victories in the battles of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Kharkiv. “Imagine what Ukraine can do with sufficient tools,” the Foreign Minister added. Kuleba urged Ukraine’s partners “to set a clear goal of Ukrainian victory and speed up deliveries of heavy weapons.”
Podoliak said a meeting of NATO defense ministers will be held in Brussels on June 15.
“We are waiting for a decision” on the weapons, Podoliak said.
The group, known as the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, will convene a meeting for the third time in a bid “to ensure that we’re providing Ukraine what Ukraine needs right now,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said at a press briefing in Bangkok, Thailand, on Monday.
Austin, who will be in attendance in Brussels, said that Ukraine needs support “in order to defend against Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked assault.” The secretary of Defense noted that looking ahead, Ukraine will require help “to build and sustain robust defenses so that it will be able to defend itself in the coming months and years.”
In his Monday evening address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Ukrainians to tell people in the occupied territories “that the Ukrainian army will definitely come.”
“Tell them about Ukraine. Tell them the truth. Say that there will be liberation,” the president said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials played down threats of possible food shortages in the country due to the ongoing conflict. While Ukraine lost 25% of its sown area as a result of Russia’ full-scale invasion, the country’s food security was “in no way” threatened, Taras Vysotsky, the first deputy minister of Agrarian Policy, said at a press briefing for Ukrainian media on Monday.
“Despite the loss of 25% of sown areas, the structure of crops this year as a whole is more than sufficient to ensure consumption, which in turn also decreased due to mass displacement and external migration,” Vysotsky said.
The deputy minister added that Ukraine has “already imported about 70% of essential fertilizers, 60% of plant protection products and about a third of the required amount of fuel” before the war erupted in late February. According to Vysotsky, current sowing volumes are enough to ensure domestic consumption and even exports.
Jun 13, 9:26 am
Bodies of tortured men exhumed in Bucha
Another mass grave has been dug up in Bucha, uncovering the bodies of seven men who authorities believe were tortured and killed during the bloody occupation of the city in March.
Police told ABC News their hands were tied with ropes behind their backs and they were shot in the knees and head.
“They were killed in a cruel way,” police spokesperson Iryna Pryanyshnykova said. “These were civilian victims. The people here were killed by Russian soldiers and later they were just put into a grave to try to hide this war crime.”
It’s not clear why the men were killed, Pryanyshnykova said.
She said experts will analyze DNA to identify the victims.
-ABC News’ Britt Clennett
Jun 13, 6:24 am
Zelenskyy: Ukraine fighting for ‘every meter’ of Severodonetsk
Russian forces have pushed the Armed Forces of Ukraine out of the center of Severodonetsk, Ukrainian officials said.
“They are pressing in Severodonetsk, where very fierce fighting is going on — literally for every meter,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an address on Sunday evening.
Russian forces now control about 70% of the city, as intense shelling makes mass evacuation and the transportation of goods impossible, Sergiy Haidai, another Ukrainian official, said.
Around 500 people, including 40 children, are sheltering in the city’s Azot chemical plant, Haidai said.
While the Ukrainians try to organize their evacuation, authorities of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic have given an ultimatum to Ukrainian troops in the city.
“They have two options: either follow the example of their colleagues and give up, or die. They have no other option,” said Eduard Basurin, deputy head of the People’s Militia Department of the DPR.
-ABC News’ Yulia Drozd and Tanya Stukalova
Jun 12, 5:33 pm
Zelenskyy sends virtual message to Sean Penn’s CORE benefit
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the annual Hollywood fundraiser for actor Sean Penn’s nonprofit Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE) Saturday night with a powerful video message urging people to continue to support Ukraine in its war against Russia.
“All of you have heard about the horrors that Ukraine is going through. Tens of thousands of explosions and shots, hundreds of thousands wounded and killed, millions who have lost their homes,” Zelenskyy said in his virtual speech. “All of this is not a logline for a horror film. All of this is our reality.”
Zelenskyy’s video message included footage showing missiles striking homes and apartment complexes in Ukraine, civilians dead in the streets of Ukrainian cities and children playing in parks amid the backdrop of bombed buildings.
Among those attending the CORE fundraiser, held at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angles, were Penn and CORE co-founder Ann Lee, former President Bill Clinton, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, singer John Legend, and actors Patrick Stewart and Sharon Stone.
The group said the event raised more than $2.5 million for CORE’s disaster relief and preparedness work, including its urgent humanitarian response in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy noted that Penn traveled to Ukraine at the start of the Russian invasion and witnessed the atrocities firsthand. He thanked Penn and his group for the continued support for Ukraine.
“We have been resisting it for 107 days in a row,” Zelenskyy said of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. “We can stop it together. Support Ukraine, because Ukraine is fighting for the whole world, for democracy, for freedom, for life.”
Jun 12, 4:17 pm
Russia’s firepower superiority 10 times that of Ukraine’s in Luhansk: Military chief
Ukraine’s Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valeriy Zaluzhny said Sunday that he told his American counterpart, Gen. Mark Milley, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that Russian firepower superiority in the Luhansk region is far greater than that of Ukrainian forces.
Zaluzhny said that during a briefing he told Milley that Russian forces are concentrating their efforts in the north of the Luhansk region, where they are using artillery “en masse” and their firepower superiority is 10 times that of Ukraine’s.
“Despite everything, we keep holding our positions,” Zaluzhny said.
Zaluzhny also said Russia has deployed up to seven battalion tactical groups in Severdonetsk, a city in the Luhansk region. He said Russian shelling of residential areas in Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine has resumed.
Russian forces destroyed a second bridge leading into Severodonetsk and are now targeting a third bridge in an effort to completely cut off the city, Luhansk region Gov. Sergiy Haidai said Sunday. Ukraine’s army still controls around one third of the city, he said.
Haidai said that Ukrainian forces are still holding onto the Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk, where around 500 civilians are taking shelter.
If Severodonetsk falls, Lysychansk will be the only city in the Luhansk region that remains under Ukraine’s control.
Zaluzhny said that as of Sunday, the front line of the war stretched 1,522 miles and that active combat was taking place on at least 686 miles of the front line.
Zaluzhny said that during his briefing with Milley, he reiterated Ukraine’s urgent request for more 155 mm caliber artillery systems.
Jun 12, 12:48 pm
Russian cruise missile attack confirmed in western Ukraine
Russia claims a cruise missile strike destroyed a large warehouse in western Ukraine storing weapons supplied to the Ukrainians by the United States and European allies.
While police in the Ternopil region of Ukraine, where at least one cruise missile hit, told ABC News that no weapons were destroyed, the region’s governor said part of a military facility was damaged.
Ternopil’s governor Volodymyr Trush posted a video showing widespread damage from what he said were four Russian missiles launched Saturday from the Black Sea. Trush said 22 people were wounded, including a 12-year-old child, in the missile strikes.
In addition to the military facility, Trush said four five-story residential apartment buildings were damaged. One of the missiles hit a gas pipeline, he said.
Russia’s defense ministry said Kalibr high presicion sea-based, long-range missiles struck near Chortkiv in the Ternopil province and destroyed a large warehouse full of anti-tank missile systems, portable anti-aircraft missile systems and artillery shells supplied by the United States and European countries.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday sent a letter to seven major oil refiners blasting them for record profits amid the war in Ukraine as Americans pay record prices at the gas pump.
In the letter, he informs them he has ordered Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm to convene an emergency meeting with company executives to provide an explanation of any reduction in refining capacity since 2020.
While acknowledging that “Putin’s war of aggression” has dwindled the world supply of oil, Biden also pointed out that oil company profit margins are at the highest levels ever recorded.
“The last time the price of crude oil was about $120 per barrel, in March, the price of gas at the pump was $4.25 per gallon. Today, gas prices are 75 cents higher, and diesel prices are 90 cents higher. That difference — of more than 15% at the pump — is the result of the historically high profit margins for refining oil into gasoline, diesel and other refined products. Since the beginning of the year, refiners’ margins for refining gasoline and diesel have tripled, and are currently at their highest levels ever recorded,” Biden wrote.
Biden blames on the companies for “worsening” the pain the war has imposed on Americans.
“I understand that many factors contributed to the business decisions to reduce refinery capacity, which occurred before I took office. But at a time of war, refinery profit margins well above normal being passed directly onto American families are not acceptable. There is no question that Vladimir Putin is principally responsible for the intense financial pain the American people and their families are bearing. But amid a war that has raised gasoline prices more than $1.70 per gallon, historically high refinery profit margins are worsening that pain,” he wrote.
He hinted his administration is prepared to take action if the companies don’t boost production, although the consequences of not complying are not clear.
“I am prepared to use all tools at my disposal, as appropriate, to address barriers to providing Americans affordable, secure energy supply,” he wrote. “The crunch that families are facing deserves immediate action. Your companies need to work with my Administration to bring forward concrete, near-term solutions that address the crisis and respect the critical equities of energy workers and fence-line communities.”
Asked on CNN Wednesday morning what “tools” are at Biden’s disposal, Granholm did not answer directly, but said his use of the Defense Production Act in other contexts has been on the table and that Congress can also take a variety of actions to address the issue.
She said he first wants to hear from the companies why “we are seeing these massive profit-taking on the part of refiners.”
When pressed repeatedly if a proposal from Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, to impose a 21% surtax on excess profits form the oil companies is something Biden would consider supporting, Granholm nervously said “no tool has been taken off the table” but did not directly say whether he’d back the idea.
“I’m saying no tool has been taken off the table and he wants to hear from the refineries, the companies who are doing refining to see what is the bottleneck and how we can increase supply. And he’s also asking, of course, for the oil and gas industry to increase supply as well, by drilling more.”
Biden’s letter was sent to the Marathon Petroleum Corp; Valero Energy Corp; ExxonMobil; Phillips 66; Chevron; BP and Shell.
An industry group, The American Petroleum Institute, responded by trying to shift blame back to the White House, saying the administration’s “misguided policy” in reducing domestic oil and gas production has added to energy costs.
“While we appreciate the opportunity to open increased dialogue with the White House, the administration’s misguided policy agenda shifting away from domestic oil and natural gas has compounded inflationary pressures and added headwinds to companies’ daily efforts to meet growing energy needs while reducing emissions,” API President Mike Sommers said in a statement.
It urged the president to “prioritize unlocking U.S. energy resources” to reduce costs instead of increasing reliance on countries like Saudi Arabia.
ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs contributed to this report.
