(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has called for prayers in the wake of Monday’s deadly mass shooting at a Nashville elementary school, while noting that “there will be a time to talk about the legislation.”
“I am calling on the people of Tennessee to pray. For the families of victims, for the Covenant family, for those courageous officers, for the family of the shooter, for those who are hurting and angry and confused,” Lee, a Republican, said in a video address on Tuesday evening. “Prayer is the first thing we should do, but it’s not the only thing.”
A shooter gunned down three children and three adults at the Covenant School in Tennessee’s capital city on Monday morning. Responding officers shot and killed the suspect — identified as Audrey Hale, 28, of Nashville — about 14 minutes after the initial 911 call came in, according to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department.
“Law enforcement officials and educators across our state have been working for years, especially in the last year, to strengthen the safety of schools. That work was not in vain — the courage and swift response by the teachers, officers and this community without a doubt prevented further tragedy,” Lee said in his video address. “There will be a time to talk about the legislation and budget proposals we’ve brought forward this year. And clearly there’s more work to do.”
“But on this day after the tragedy, I want to speak to that which rises above all else,” he added. “The battle is not against flesh and blood, it’s not against people. The struggle is against evil itself.”
A candlelit vigil will be held in Nashville Wednesday evening in honor of the victims of the shooting. First lady Jill Biden is scheduled to attend, the White House said.
Police have identified the slain children as 9-year-old students Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney and Hallie Scruggs. The adult victims were identified as 61-year-old custodian Mike Hill, 60-year-old head of school Katherine Koonce and 61-year-old substitute teacher Cynthia Peak.
In his video address, the Tennessee governor revealed that his wife, Maria, has been friends with Peak and Koonce “for decades.”
“Cindy was supposed to come over to have dinner with Maria last night after she filled in as a substitute teacher yesterday at Covenant,” Lee said.
The Covenant School, a private Christian school for children in preschool through sixth grade, has about 209 students and 40 to 50 staff members. It does not have a school resource officer, according to police.
In a statement released Monday night, the Covenant School said its community “is heartbroken.”
“We are grieving tremendous loss and are in shock coming out of the terror that shattered our church and school,” the school said. “We are focused on loving our students, our families, our faculty and staff and beginning the process of healing.”
The suspect was a former student and Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake told reporters on Tuesday that it appears that, while the school was likely targeted, “students were randomly targeted.”
Drake had told reporters on Monday that Hale was female and identified as transgender but didn’t immediately provide more details. A police spokesperson later told ABC News that the suspect was assigned female at birth but pointed to a social media account linked to Hale that included the use of the pronouns he/him.
The suspect was armed with two assault-style rifles, a handgun and “significant ammunition” at the time of the attack, police said. Investigators have since searched Hale’s home in Nashville, where they seized “a sawed-off shotgun, a second shotgun and other evidence,” according to police.
Drake said the suspect had legally purchased seven guns from five different local stores and hid some of those weapons at home. Hale was under a “doctor’s care for an emotional disorder,” the police chief said, and Hale’s parents “were under the impression that was when she sold the one weapon” they believed Hale owned.
Hale also had a detailed map of the school as well as “writings and a book we consider to be like a manifesto,” Drake told ABC News in an interview Tuesday on “Good Morning America.”
“We have not been able to determine a motive as of yet,” the police chief said. “The investigation is very much still ongoing.”
Video from the school’s surveillance cameras shows the suspect arriving in a vehicle and parking in the parking lot at 9:54 a.m. ET. Minutes later, the suspect is seen shooting through a door on the side of the school and entering the building. Hale allegedly went from the first floor to the second floor, firing multiple shots, according to police.
Police received a 911 call about an active shooter at the school at 10:13 a.m. ET. As officers responded to the scene, the suspect fired on police cars from a second-floor window, police said.
Video from two of the responding officers’ body-worn cameras shows them entering the school, following the sound of gunfire to the second floor and finding the suspect in a lobby area near a window. After an officer shouts “reloading,” officers Rex Engelbert, a four-year veteran, and Michael Collazo, a nine-year veteran, both fire at the suspect.
President Joe Biden and other Democrats have once again called on Congress to take action on gun legislation, including passing a nationwide ban on assault weapons. Meanwhile, Republicans have once again slammed Democrats for trying to exploit a tragedy for political purposes.
An ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted in September 2019 found 89% of Americans support universal background checks and 86% support red flag laws. The poll found broad bipartisan support, as well; mandatory background checks and red flag laws won support from at least eight in 10 Republicans and conservatives, and as many or more of all others.
Another ABC News/Washington Post poll released in February found the public more divided over assault weapons with 47% supporting such a ban and 51% opposing it — reflecting a nine-point drop in support since 2019.
ABC News’ Libby Cathey, Alex Faul, Matt Foster, Ben Gittleson, James Hill, Doug Lantz, Molly Nagle, Darren Reynolds, John Santucci and Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Former Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday he’s weighing how to proceed after a federal judge ruled one day earlier he must testify to a grand jury investigating efforts by former President Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 election.
Pence, who is considering running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said he’s unsure whether he’ll appeal the order for him to reveal more details about his conversations with Trump while vowing he has “nothing to hide” about Jan. 6.
“I’m limited in what I can say about grand jury proceedings, but I am pleased that the judge recognized that the Constitution speech and protection clause applies to my work as vice president,” Pence said in Iowa. “I’m serving as president of the Senate on January 6. We’re currently talking to our counsel about the balance of that decision and determining the way forward, but I have nothing to hide.”
“Again, I’m pleased that federal judge recognizes that constitutional protection applies to me as vice president, but now we’ll evaluate the best way forward and make our intentions known in the days,” he added.
Pence told reporters he will discuss whether to appeal the ruling when he meets with his attorneys in Washington, D.C., later this week.
“Again, I have nothing to hide. I believe we did our duty under the Constitution on Jan. 6. And I truly do believe that preserving the constitutional protections enshrined in the speech and debate clause was very important,” he repeated. “I’m pleased that the federal judge recognized and agreed with our argument that that provision does apply to us reviewing how he sorted that out, but at the end of the day, we’ll obey the law. Right now, we’re evaluating what the proper course is moving forward.”
On Tuesday, D.C. Chief Judge James Boasberg rejected Trump’s claim of executive privilege to prevent Pence from testifying, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
The judge also issued a ruling that narrowly upheld parts of a separate legal challenge brought by Pence’s attorneys, who have argued the former vice president should be exempt from providing records or answering certain questions that align with his duties as president of the Senate overseeing the formal certification of the election on Jan. 6, 2021.
The judge ordered Pence to provide answers to special counsel Jack Smith on any questions that implicate any illegal acts on Trump’s part, according to sources.
Pence’s team had argued that such communications could run afoul of the speech and debate clause that shields members of Congress from legal proceedings specifically related to their work.
The rulings came just four days after his and Pence’s lawyers appeared at the district court to argue their challenge to Smith’s subpoena.
Pence has previously vowed to fight the subpoena all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary, most recently telling ABC Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl, “We’re going to respect the decisions of the court, and that may take us to the highest court in the land.”
ABC News’ Katherine Faulders contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East have all avoided taking sides on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — but India’s size and power make it the most influential nation to remain neutral, a year into the war.
The world’s second-largest country and sixth-largest economy will continue to maintain ties to both Russia and the West with a posture of “strategic ambivalence,” experts say, resisting a U.S. push to directly oppose Moscow while calling for “peace” and cooperation on what “common ground” there is.
Indian officials echoed that at this year’s Group of 20 foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi, which ended earlier this month.
“The G20 has the capacity to build consensus and deliver concrete results. We should not allow issues that we cannot resolve together to come in the way of those we can,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a video message at the gathering. “As you meet in the land of Gandhi and the Buddha, I pray that you will draw inspiration from India’s civilizational ethos — to focus not on what divides us, but on what unites us.”
Later, India’s external affairs minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, alluded to the divisions over the war.
“There were issues and I think the issues, I would say, very frankly, concerned the Ukraine conflict on which there were divergences,” Jaishankar said.
Western leaders have been disappointed in India’s reluctance to condemn Russian aggression, but they know India’s reliance on Russian energy and weapons, paired with past problems with the U.S., present the country with a tempting option for neutrality, said Sahar Khan, a research fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute’s Defense and Foreign Policy Department.
At the same time, India is working to diversify its military supply, which is one of its major links to Russia, and has been sending humanitarian aid to Kyiv.
Rick Russow, a senior adviser and chair in U.S.-India policy studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank, said that India is one of the only countries amid the war in Ukraine that is able to “pick up the phone and talk to leadership in both the United States and Russia on the same day.”
What India has said about staying neutral
India currently holds the rotating presidency of the G20 and so hosts an annual slate of events with some of the key nations from around the world, where they focus on economic issues and international relations, emphasizing cooperation.
Western officials have been looking to India to explicitly condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin through this global platform, but they have been met with disappointment.
India has long signaled its ambivalence — decrying the fighting but, for example, declining to participate in U.N. resolutions against Russia.
Jaishankar said in October that “we have been very clearly against the conflict in Ukraine. We believe that this conflict does not serve the interests of anybody. Neither the participants nor indeed of the international community.”
At the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting this month, Prime Minister Modi’s message also conveyed his government’s insistence on highlighting domestic issues — and India’s top priorities — pertaining to the Global South, a category of countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America with similar socioeconomic characteristics.
The multi-day meeting included sessions on food security, development cooperation and terrorism, among other topics.
But the topic of Ukraine was unavoidable. Russia and China were the only states who refused to condemn the war, and India maintained its call for a peaceful solution without backing a specific country.
Even before it was selected to host the G20, India had positioned itself as an impartial party to the war.
In September, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that India was supportive of the territorial integrity of both Ukraine and Russia.
“India has repeatedly emphasized on the immediate cessation of hostilities and the need to resolve the ongoing conflict through dialogue and diplomacy. India’s position has also been clear and consistent in so far as respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of the countries concerned,” Bagchi said then.
Since Russia’s attack on Ukraine began, the U.S has put pressure on India to take a stance, with President Joe Biden acknowledging early in the conflict that India’s position on joining anti-Russia efforts was “shaky.” And in May, Biden appeared to reference the countries’ split on Ukraine during a meeting with Modi and others when he said, “This is more than just a European issue. It’s a global issue.”
Despite that lack of alignment, the U.S. and India have still maintained a solid partnership in matters of commerce, technology, security and education.
Why India has relied on Russia
While India seems impartial to the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, especially in its reluctance to condemn Putin, it is acting on a history of reliance on Russia and past sidelining by the West, according to Harsh Pant, vice president of studies and foreign policy at the Observer Research Foundation, an Indian think tank.
In 1998, in response to a series of nuclear weapons tests India conducted near neighboring Pakistan, countries including the U.S. imposed sanctions, leaving India unable to trade in high-end technology or, in the view of Indian officials, defend themselves against Pakistan — with whom there is a history of sectarian conflict.
Instead, at the time, India found defensive support from post-Cold War Russia, based on a relationship that stretched back to the Soviet Union.
Pant said that much of India’s weaponry has for years been manufactured by the Russians, who have also supplied India with energy.
“If you look at India’s big platforms like aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, they are all of Soviet vintage, because the Soviet Union was willing to share technology with India,” he said.
Russia remains a major supplier of weapons to India and Russian equipment still makes up a large portion of the Indian Armed Forces’ force, experts said. And India’s dependence on Russian defense materials have been crucial for the country amid a protracted border dispute with China.
India’s declining dependence on Russia
But recently, India has attempted to diversify its supply of weapons and develop its own defense industry, resulting in declining Russian arms deliveries to India.
Pant said India previously acquired approximately 80% of its weapons from Russia. That number has dropped down to about 55%.
“It’s quite a serious decline in the share of Russian equipment, as it gets diversified to the West,” Pant said, noting India has started to buy defense weaponry from the U.S. and Australia, two other countries in the so-called “Quad” that also includes Japan.
That has led to some distance in India and Russia’s relationship. Such relationships “don’t really change overnight,” Pant said. Rather, multiple factors can add up to major changes.
“India and Russia have been drifting apart gradually and that is something that I think needs to be brought out: With or without the Ukraine war, India-Russia relations have been going in a negative direction,” Pant said.
The country is updating its defense industry, making it less manpower-heavy and more technology-heavy. Against the backdrop of China-India tensions, Russia’s position as China’s emerging partner has also made it harder for Russia to preserve its partnership with India.
“China is already threatening India from multiple sides. If Russia also joins the bandwagon, then I think there is a problem. There is going to be a big issue for India, given its defense relationship, given its security environment and given the mismatch between Indians’ and Chinese military capabilities,” Pant said.
Russow, with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, also said that though India is definitely more involved with Russia, the country believes its future lies closer to Western powers.
“Things are working out for India,” said Khan, at the Cato Institute. “They’re getting some criticism, but they’re fine.”
(WASHINGTON) — A staffer for Sen. Rand Paul was stabbed and seriously injured in Washington, D.C., on Saturday and a suspect has since been arrested, police and Paul’s office said Monday.
On Wednesday, victim Phillip Todd’s parents said in a statement that he was in “stable condition” after surgery and “is expected to make a full recovery due to his young age and good health.”
“He was randomly and brutally attacked by a person armed with a knife, who, according to the police report, attempted to kill him. The intervention of our son’s friend helped prevent the wounds from being fatal,” Chuck and Helen Todd said.
Phillip Todd is the chief economist for Paul on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, on which Paul sits as the ranking member.
Phillip Todd’s Leadership Connect profile lists him as having been with Paul’s office since 2021.
“This past weekend a member of my staff was brutally attacked in broad daylight,” Paul, R-Ky,. said in a statement to ABC News on Monday, adding, “I ask you to join [wife] Kelley and me in praying for a speedy and complete recovery, and thanking the first responders, hospital staff, and police for their diligent actions.”
According to a police report obtained by ABC News, officers first responded Saturday around 5:15 p.m. to a call about a stabbing on the 1300 block of H Street Northeast in the district.
Phillip Todd was treated on the scene for “stab wounds” and was seen by a witness “bleeding from the head,” the report states.
According to one of two witnesses cited in the report, the suspect had “popped out of the corner” and stabbed Phillip Todd multiple times as he and the witness were walking. He “was able to grab [the suspect’s] arms” and the witness with him tackled the suspect, “leading to a struggle between the parties,” the report states. Then, he and the witness ran as the suspect fled.
The first witness shouted to another about what was happening and that person called the authorities while they aided Phillip Todd, according to the report.
On Monday, D.C. police said that 42-year-old Glynn Neal, a D.C. resident, was arrested later on Saturday and had been charged with assault with intent to kill, wielding a knife, in connection with the attack. Court filings state that he has told officers he heard a voice was going to get him before the attack occurred.
Phillip Todd was hospitalized “for treatment of life-threatening injuries,” police said on Monday. His parents said in their statement Wednesday that he had “trauma surgery to address the wounds in his body. He also has a fracture on his skull, which will be treated with non-invasive neurosurgery.”
Chuck and Helen Todd said they were grateful for Paul and his chief of staff for visiting their son and praised the work of police and first responders while asking for privacy going forward.
“Most of all, we are impressed with the love and support of Phillip’s many friends, the Antioch Church, Washington D.C., his current and former colleagues, and even those Phillip doesn’t know personally,” they said.
“Our hope is that Washington D.C. continues to be the safe and beautiful city our son loves so much,” they said.
In his own statement, Paul said Monday: “We are relieved to hear the suspect has been arrested. At this time we would ask for privacy so everyone can focus on healing and recovery.”
Neal, the suspect, will appear in court Thursday for a preliminary hearing.
A public defender representing him did not respond to a request for comment.
(NEW YORK) — Thirteen states are on alert for strong winds and heavy snow as a major storm moves east.
A major storm hitting the California coast brought damaging winds, heavy rain and heavy snow. The western storm will bring rounds of showers and thunderstorms from the Bay Area to Los Angeles Wednesday.
The rain will arrive in LA in the morning, with thunderstorms possible in the evening and overnight. Some of the thunderstorms could produce gusty winds and small hail.
Wind gusts at the Mammoth Mountain Ski resort reached 98 miles per hour. In Oakland, wind gusts reached 52 miles per hour and at the San Francisco airport, they reached 44 miles per hour.
Northern Bay area and extreme northern California got the most rain, with some areas reporting more than 3 inches. The highest snowfall total so far was near Mount Shasta, California, where 25 inches fell.
The snow was so heavy on I-80 over Donner Pass, California, that the interstate was temporarily shut down. An additional 1 to 2 inches of rain is possible in parts of California through Wednesday night.
Additional 1 to 2 feet of snow is expected in the California mountains in the next 24 to 36 hours. Up to 18 inches of snow are expected in southern California mountains outside of LA and San Diego.
This storm will then cross the Rockies on Thursday and Thursday night with 1 to 2 feet of snow possible there.
On Friday, 47 million people could face severe storms, with damaging winds, tornadoes and huge hail.
On Friday afternoon and evening, the storm system will reemerge over the Plains and will bring a new severe weather outbreak from Iowa and Wisconsin, all the way to Mississippi and Alabama, which were hit with deadly tornadoes last weekend. Cities in the bullseye this Friday will be Des Moines, Iowa; Chicago St. Louis; Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee; Little Rock, Arkansas; and just north of Jackson, Mississippi.
(WASHINGTON) — Starbucks’ former CEO Howard Schultz on Wednesday denied breaking the law in response to sharp criticism from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who accused the company of “the most aggressive and illegal union busting campaign in the modern history of our country.”
In response to questions from Sanders during a Senate hearing, Schultz affirmed the right of workers to choose whether to unionize and defended the company’s actions.
Starbucks “has not broken the law,” Schultz said. “Let me set the tone for this very early on.”
Schultz, who served as Starbucks CEO for over 20 years across three stints, said Starbucks has negotiated in “good faith” with employees as they’ve sought to unionize and obtain collective benefits.
More than a dozen decisions from federal officials have found that the company violated labor law in its response to a wave of union campaigns at its stores, according to the National Labor Relations Board, a federal agency.
Roughly 290 of almost 9,000 company-owned stores in the U.S. have voted to unionize. However, workers have yet to sign a union contract at a single location.
Earlier this month, an administrative judge ruled that Starbucks had committed “egregious and widespread misconduct” in its effort to prevent unionization at some of its stores.
The judge, Michael A. Rosas, mandated the company reinstate several workers and Schultz read a notice to employees, among other remedies.
More than 500 formal allegations of labor law violations have been filed against Starbucks with regional offices of the NLRB, the agency said this month.
In all, 13 decisions have ordered remedies for unfair labor practices committed by Starbucks, including the reinstatement of 22 employees, the NLRB said. Some of those decisions have been appealed, the agency added.
Schultz characterized the findings against Starbucks as “allegations,” adding that the company is “confident that those allegations will be proven false.”
Workers United, the labor organization organizing Starbucks workers, said in a statement that it welcomed the Senate hearing as a venue for Schultz to face accountability for his response to the union campaign.
“We’re hopeful for change,” a Workers United spokesperson said. “We’re hopeful that this hearing moves the needle forward for baristas and workers all across the country.”
“We look forward to Howard Schultz being held accountable for his actions and being forced to answer to his unprecedented union-busting campaign under oath,” the spokesperson added.
Starbucks workers achieved an unprecedented wave of unionization at the company last year but the pace of union victories fell significantly over the course of last year.
Over the first half of 2022, the National Labor Relations Board received union election petitions from an average of 47 Starbucks stores per month; but over five months ending in November, that election rate dwindled to 11 stores per month, according to data from the NLRB.
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the overdose reversal drug Narcan for over-the-counter use on Wednesday — a milestone decision that advocates said will make it easier to save lives amid the ongoing opioid epidemic.
(NEW YORK) — When Candace Henley, 55, was diagnosed with colorectal cancer 20 years ago, all she wanted was to see her youngest child turn 18.
“I wouldn’t ask [God] anything, but in return I would do what I needed to do to save someone else from going through the trauma that I and my family went through,” Henley told ABC News’ Good Morning America.
Now a cancer survivor, Henley is making it her mission to educate others about the disease and save lives.
What is colorectal cancer?
Henley was 35 years old when she was diagnosed with the disease.
She told GMA that she recalled being in “so much pain.”
“I couldn’t stand up,” she said. “Finally, one of my cousins said we’re going to the emergency room.”
According to the Colorectal Cancer Alliance, colorectal cancer or CRC is a “disease of the colon or rectum.”
Signs include abnormal growths in the colon or rectum that can turn into cancer if not removed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, someone could have polyps or colorectal cancer and not know it, according to the CDC.
The disease typically occurs in people ages 45 and older, but is on the rise among younger people, according to the CCA.
Earlier this month, the American Cancer Society reported that one in five cases of the disease in 2023 occurred in people under 55. Colon cancer is also the most common cancer and the second most common cancer death in the U.S., according to the ACS.
“Colorectal cancer is one of those things that people really don’t like to talk about,” Sophie Balzora, a gastroenterologist and clinical professor of medicine at New York University, told GMA. “And it does prevent people from going to the doctor to talk about their symptoms or even just talking about screening.”
Health experts like Balzora have stressed the importance of getting screened regularly for colorectal cancer as a way to reduce the risk of it. Screening for colorectal cancer should begin at age 45, according to the CDC, but if you have a family history of it, you should get screened earlier for the disease.
The Blue Hat Foundation
Henley is now using her story to raise awareness about the disease, especially among those in the Black community, where rates are the highest of any racial or ethnic group in the U.S., according to the ACS.
Henley founded The Blue Hat Foundation in 2015, with the goal of raising awareness about CRC. It began at her church and has since expanded into a thriving organization.
“We’re trying to make sure that we connect the patient to what they need,” Henley said.
“I don’t want anyone to go through what I did,” she added. “Communities of color will continue to be left behind in research if we don’t participate willingly this time. We have to do our part to help improve our community’s health outcomes and it’s not enough to complain and wait. We must be proactive, educate ourselves and make informed decisions about our health.”
For more information and resources on colorectal cancer, visit Colorectal Cancer Alliance online where you can take a screening quiz. Colorectal cancer patients and caregivers can also receive free support at CCA’s BlueHQ website.
(NEW YORK) — Angelina Cubero said she spent nearly a decade of her life going to doctors, trying to find out why she experienced migraines, brain fog numbness and pain in her legs, and other unexplained symptoms.
“I would go to the doctor, I would go to the ER, I would go to urgent cares, I would go to my primary doctor, I’d go to a specialist, another specialist, and I wasn’t really getting any answers,” Cubero, 27, told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “They would say, ‘You look fine. You don’t look sick. All your tests seemed normal to me.’ … The only reason they told me was anxiety.”
Cubero, who lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, said it was only three years ago, in 2020, that she underwent a second brain magnetic resonance imaging scan, or MRI, where doctors discovered multiple lesions, or plaques, in her brain.
The discovery led to a diagnosis of a disease Cubero said she had never heard of, multiple sclerosis.
“I’d never heard of MS,” Cubero said. “I had to do my own research to figure out what is MS, and that was scary.”
Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disease in which the immune cells in the body body injure myelin, the tissue that surrounds nerves, including those in the brain and spinal cord, according to the National Institutes of Health. It is a chronic disease, with no known cause and no known cure.
It is also a disease that can be unpredictable, causing differing symptoms with variable timing and frequency, from fatigue, numbness or tingling, weakness, dizziness and vertigo to, in the most severe cases, rendering a person unable to write, speak or walk, according to the NIH. Even individually, MS symptoms can vary, ranging from mild to extreme pain during a flare-up of the disease.
Cubero said that as a Hispanic woman who was 24 years old when she was diagnosed with MS, she struggled to find anyone who looked like her talking about the disease.
“There were so many questions I had, and it was really hard to find those answers,” Cubero said. “I didn’t really find much information on how it affects the Hispanic community … and I didn’t know how it affected young people.”
Cubero was a senior in college when she was diagnosed, and said she decided to write her senior thesis on either MS and young people or MS and Hispanics.
“I was like, ‘I’ll do one or the other,’ and I couldn’t find research for either,” she said. “So that was the tricky part, not only for my project, but also for personal knowledge on how this new disease that I have affects me.”
Why Hispanics have been overlooked in MS research
Though Cubero struggled to find representation after receiving her MS diagnosis, she is not alone.
Symptoms for people with MS usually first start between the ages of 20 to 40, and the disease is estimated to be three times more common in women than men, according to both the NIH and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, a nonprofit organization focused on raising MS awareness and increasing research.
In addition, people of Hispanic or Latino descent are more likely to be diagnosed with MS at younger ages and have earlier onsets of symptoms, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Julie Fiol, the organization’s associate vice president of health care access, told GMA that Cubero’s experience of struggling for years to get a diagnosis is not uncommon among MS patients, especially for people of color.
“It can be challenging for anyone to receive a diagnosis because there is no one, easy-to-access confirmatory test that says that you have MS,” Fiol said. “There are several tests, like an MRI, that can be done that can help rule in and confirm a diagnosis of MS, but before even getting that, it requires someone to be connected with a physician who takes them seriously, acknowledges that their symptoms are real and can put together that the person who is sitting in front of me could potentially have MS.”
She continued, “For far too long, MS was viewed as a disease that affected white people, so if you didn’t fit that mold of what that clinician was expecting to see for MS, they may not have even considered MS as a possibility.”
In Cubero’s case, she said it was only when she found an MS specialist who is also a psychiatrist that she began to receive the treatment she needed.
“He understood what was anxiety and what was MS, and he heard me out and he said, ‘No, you actually have relapsing-remitting MS. Those are MS symptoms,'” Cubero said. “That was when I finally felt validated and secure, like, OK, I can trust my doctor moving forward and we can come up with a plan that works best for me.”
With relapsing-remitting MS, the most common type of the disease, symptoms occur in attacks, called a relapse or exacerbation, followed by a period of remission that may last for weeks, months or years. People with secondary-progressive MS have usually had a history of MS attacks and their symptoms and ability to function worsen over time. In the two more severe and rare forms of MS — primary-progressive MS and progressive-relapsing MS — people’s symptoms progressively worsen from the beginning, with no remission, according to the NIH.
People of Hispanic and Latino descent often have more severe symptoms of MS, with a faster severity of disease, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. In addition, optic neuritis, or swelling of the eye’s optic nerve, which can impact vision, is twice more common in Hispanic people with MS.
Exactly why Hispanic patients are hit younger and more severely by MS remains to be seen because research has been so limited, according to Dr. Lilyana Amezcua, who is considered one of the pioneers in researching the impact of MS on the Hispanic and Latino communities.
“Is that all an issue of access to care and what we call social determinants of health, or are there other environmental factors and genetic predispositions that do not allow for better recovery of the disease? Those are all questions that are unanswered at this time,” Amezcua said.
Amezcua, a neurologist and Multiple Sclerosis Fellowship Program Director at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, said she began studying the connection a decade ago as a practicing neurologist in Los Angeles. At the time, she said less than 1% of MS scientific literature focused on Hispanics or African-Americans.
“One of the things that I was observing was that with Hispanic patients, there was a delay of diagnosis,” she said. “When I would compare them to what I would expect for white people, it was about one to three years delay of getting that diagnosis, so from there we started with our first initial studies to better understand this population.”
As she began her research — founding the Alliance for Research in Hispanic MS, a collaboration between multiple universities — Amezcua said she and her colleagues discovered that Hispanics had been vastly underrepresented in clinical trials. When it comes to clinical trials on medications to treat MS, for example, just 7% of participants are Hispanic, according to Amezcua.
“We know probably that the drugs do work, but we don’t know to the extent, particularly if the disease in [an Hispanic patient] is starting a bit more worse,” she said. “What is the possibility that we’re going to sort of calm [MS] down more effectively with one drug?”
Amezcua said the group is now leading a global study that is researching one specific drug targeted for Hispanic and African-American populations, which were both underrepresented in other clinical trials.
The group’s research over the past decade has also shown that many of the genetic risk factors present in white people diagnosed with MS are also present in the Hispanic population, according to Amezcua.
“We’re hoping to dig deeper to see if there’s additional risk factors that are both genetic and environmental that could help us understand … MS, and help not just Hispanics but everyone else,” she said, adding that while there are barriers, more and more Hispanic people want to participate in MS research.
“We find that there’s a high interest of wanting to participate because they’re interested in understanding what does MS look like in them, what are the best treatments out there and what services are out there?” Amezcua said.
Both Fiol and Amezcua noted that in addition to scientific research, a large part of the work being undertaken by researchers and patient organizations like the National Multiple Sclerosis Society is to educate both medical professionals and the general public about all the populations MS may impact.
In the Hispanic community, that means working to increase access to MS specialty centers and educating people about MS as a “silent disease.” The education includes sharing information about the signs and symptoms of MS both so that people can get medical care earlier, and so families and caregivers understand more about the disease.
“In MS you have those symptoms that are visible, like walking with a cane, but you also have the silent symptoms and the silent symptoms can culturally be an issue,” Amezcua said, noting that fatigue, for example, may be perceived as laziness to people unfamiliar with MS. “MS is not as common as, let’s say diabetes and hypertension is in this population, so many of [a patient’s] family members may not have heard about MS.”
Fiol said a large part of her work at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society is focused on recruiting MS specialists like Amezcua, who are Hispanic.
“We know that people feel more comfortable seeking care from doctors that they feel they can trust and can relate to, and sometimes that has to do with just finding someone that looks like them,” Fiol said. “And only 7% of the neurology workforce in the U.S. is Hispanic, so we have a lot of ground to cover and a lot of work to do.”
Becoming a voice for Hispanic people with MS
Nearly two years after she was diagnosed with MS, Cubero said she began sharing her journey publicly on social media in hopes of raising awareness of the disease and how it can impact Hispanic people as well as young women.
“Having a diagnosis leads to treatments, which leads to a better experience,” Cubero said of the importance of people knowing the signs and symptoms of MS. “I’m just grateful to have a diagnosis because it led me to an MS center, which has a lot of resources for me to improve.”
Cubero also began to use her voice literally to help raise awareness, singing about her journey in order to help educate people and make others with MS feel less alone.
“I wish I had that when I was searching for answers,” said Cubero, who performs under the stage name Lina Light. “It’s bittersweet for me, but I’m really happy to help others because I feel like I’m going through this for a bigger purpose. It wasn’t just my story, it was to help others to get through their diagnosis too and to support each other.”
Cubero said she has met other “MS warriors” through the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, which last year hosted its first-ever Hispanic LatinX Experience Summit that brought people together to connect virtually with each other.
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society is now also establishing an Hispanic-Latinx Collaborative, an initiative designed to increase outreach and engagement with those communities, according to Fiol.
Throughout her years-long health journey, Cubero said she has learned to advocate for herself. It’s one of the lessons she said she hopes other people take away from her story.
“I really want people to be their best advocate, to speak up,” she said. “I know that it can be intimidating. I know that it can be hard, but you have to speak up. You deserve the best care.”
(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:
Mar 28, 4:45 PM EDT
US will support special tribunal to try ‘crime of aggression’ against Russia
The U.S. will support the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute top Kremlin officials for Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine, State Department officials said Tuesday, marking a significant shift for the Biden administration and a notable step toward outlining what accountability on the international stage might look like after the conflict.
A department spokesperson said the administration envisioned the tribunal would take the form of an international court that is “rooted in Ukraine’s judicial system” but ideally located in another European country.
The spokesperson added that such a mechanism would work to “facilitate broader international support and demonstrate Ukraine’s leadership in ensuring accountability for the crime of aggression” as well as “maximize the chances of achieving meaningful accountability for the crime of aggression.”
Ukraine and other Western countries have long called for a special tribunal, but until now, the U.S. has not publicly declared if it would support the creation of a new structure.
Mar 27, 12:21 PM EDT
Two dead, 29 hurt in Russian missile strike on Sloviansk
At least two people were killed and 29 were injured Monday morning when a pair of long-range Russian missiles slammed into buildings in a city in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said.
The two S-300 Russian missiles hit administrative and office buildings, and private homes in Sloviansk, according to Pavlo Kyrylenko, the regional governor.
Sloviansk is in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, where heavy fighting has been waged since the start of the war.
The missiles struck the city around 10:30 a.m. local time, Kyrylenko said.
He said the town of Druzhkivka in the Donetsk region was also targeted in Monday’s missile attacks. Kyrylenko said a Russian missile “almost completely destroyed” an orphanage in Druzhkivka, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
“Another day that began with terrorism by the Russian Federation,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine “will not forgive the torturing of our people.”
“All Russian terrorists will be defeated,” Zelenskyy said. “Everyone involved in this aggression will be held to account.”
Mar 26, 1:47 PM EDT
Ukrainian drone injures 3 inside Russia
Three people were injured in an explosion in the Kireevsky district of the Tula region on Sunday, Yekaterina Makarova, press secretary of the region’s Ministry of Health, told Interfax.
Russian authorities and law enforcement agencies said a Ukrainian drone with ammunition caused the explosion in the town far from the two countries’ border.
Kireevsk is about 180 miles from the border with Ukraine and 110 miles south of Moscow.
The Russian state-run news agency Tass reported authorities identified the drone as a Ukrainian Tu-141. The Latvia-based Russian news outlet Meduza reported that the blast left a crater about 50 feet in diameter and 16 feet deep.
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva
Mar 24, 2:03 PM EDT
Russia says Slovakia handing over fighter jets unfriendly step, violation of international obligations
Russia called Slovakia’s transfer of MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine an unfriendly step and a step aimed at destroying bilateral relations.
“We are talking about another gross violation by the Slovak side of its international obligations to re-export Russian-made weapons and military equipment,” Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation said in a statement.
“We regard these actions of Slovakia as an unfriendly act against the Russian Federation, aimed at destroying bilateral relations,” the FSMTC said.
Ukrainian troops, on the defensive for four months, will launch a long-awaited counterassault “very soon” now that Russia’s huge winter offensive is losing steam without taking Bakhmut, Ukraine’s top ground forces commander Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi said Thursday.
“The aggressor does not give up hope of taking Bakhmut at any cost, despite the losses in manpower and equipment,” Syrskyi said.
Adding, “Without sparing anything, they lose considerable strength and exhale. Very soon we will take advantage of this opportunity, as we once did near Kyiv, Kharkiv, Balaklia and Kupyansk.”
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Mar 23, 11:51 AM EDT
Slovakia hands over 4 fighter jets to Ukraine
Slovakia has handed over four MiG-29 fighter jets to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, according to Slovakian Defense Minister Jaro Nad.
The remaining aircrafts promised to Ukraine will be handed over in the following weeks, Nad said.
In response to the news, Russia accused NATO and the EU of continuing to escalate the conflict in Ukraine and seeking to prolong it.
“The Russian Federation considers the transfer of four fighter jets by Slovakia to Ukraine a destructive step that runs counter to the EU’s rhetoric about seeking peaceful solutions,” Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said in a statement.
Adding, “The Russian Federation will measure its reaction with the specific military activities of NATO on the territory of Finland.”
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Mar 22, 9:34 AM EDT
Zelenskyy visits troops after night of Russian strikes
Chinese President Xi Jinping hadn’t even left Moscow when the drones started exploding. It came a matter of hours after Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed they were the ones who wanted to make “peace” in Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials say 21 lethal attack drones were launched overnight and into this morning by Russia, with 16 shot down by the Ukrainians.
An apartment block was hit in a town southeast of Kyiv, killing at least four people and injuring others, officials said. Russian officials claim Ukrainian soldiers were based there. The Ukrainians are calling it a “civilian” building.
Russian missiles later hit an apartment block in the heart of the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia.
And in an apparent repost to the geopolitical theatrics in Moscow, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited his troops on Wednesday in the eastern Donbas, not far from the embattled city of Bakhmut, according to his officials.
Bakhmut has become a potent symbol of Ukrainian resistance and sacrifice and, despite being surrounded on three sides, Ukrainian forces inside the city are, after months of fighting there, still holding on.
Zelenskyy’s office released video of him addressing troops and also visiting injured soldiers in a military medical facility in the region. He told troops their “destiny was difficult but important” because they were fighting to save the motherland.
Mar 22, 8:32 AM EDT
Missile strikes residential building in Ukraine
A Russian missile struck an apartment building in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Wednesday, injuring at least 18 people, officials said.
“This must not become ‘just another day’ in” Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Twitter.
“The world needs greater unity and determination to defeat Russian terror faster and protect lives,” he said.
The victims included two children, secretary of the City Council Anatoly Kurtev said. Eleven adults were hospitalized, with four in serious condition, he said.
Mar 21, 6:09 PM EDT
Explosions reported in several Ukrainian cities
Explosions were heard and felt in the cities of Odesa and Kherson and the regions of Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk on Tuesday evening, officials and people on the ground in Ukraine reported on social media channels.
During the attack on Odesa, Ukraine’s air defense shot down two X-59 guided missiles launched by Russian fighter jets, the Ukrainian Air Force said on its Telegram channel.
Russia fired four missiles at Odesa, Andriy Yermak, the head of the presidential office, said on his Telegram channel. Two rockets were shot down by Ukrainian air defense, and two rockets hit the city, he said.
Three people were wounded, and a three-story building on the complex of a monastery was damaged, Yermak said.
Three people were killed, and four were wounded as a result of Russian shelling in the Donetsk region, the Ukrainian Office of the Prosecutor General reported on Facebook.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman
Mar 21, 4:29 PM EDT
Ukrainian Patriot missile training at Fort Sill nearly complete
The Patriot missile training for Ukrainian troops at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, is wrapping up soon, an Army spokesman said Tuesday.
Sixty-five Ukrainian soldiers have been training at Fort Sill since mid-January in an expedited training cycle on using the Patriots — training that typically can last up to a year.
The Ukrainians will depart the Army post in the coming days for Europe, where they will receive additional training, before heading back to Ukraine “in the coming weeks,” Col. Marty O’Donnell of U.S. Army Europe/Africa told ABC News.
“In Europe, the Ukrainians training here will meet up with Ukrainians training in Europe, and with U.S., German, and Dutch equipment donations to validate the systems and ensure interoperability,” O’Donnell said.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Mar 21, 12:48 PM EDT
US to speed up delivery of Abrams tanks to Ukraine
The United States is going to speed up the manufacture and delivery of the 31 Abrams tanks President Joe Biden approved sending to Ukraine, a U.S. official confirmed Tuesday.
Instead of making new tanks from scratch, the Department of Defense will now refurbish the hulls of several older models that will be equipped with more modern equipment, according to the official.
The new delivery target date is fall 2023, the official said; previously the anticipated delivery time was believed to be mid-2024.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby hinted at the accelerated timeline on Tuesday.
“We’re working on that,” Kirby said on MSNBC. “There’s some changes that you can make to the process to sort of speed that up.”
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez and Teresa Mettela
Mar 21, 11:49 AM EDT
Japanese PM visits Ukraine for 1st time during war
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Ukraine on Tuesday for the first time since the start of Russia’s invasion.
In Kyiv, Kishida laid a wreath at the memorial for fallen Ukrainian soldiers. In Bucha, where Ukrainian officials said more than 400 civilians were killed last year by Russian forces, he laid a wreath outside a church before observing a moment of silence and bowing.
“The world was astonished to see innocent civilians in Bucha killed one year ago,” Kishida said. “I really feel great anger for all the atrocious acts.”
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman
Mar 20, 6:33 PM EDT
Ukraine claims it destroyed Russian cruise missiles in Crimea drone attack
Ukrainian forces destroyed Russian Kalibr-NK cruise missiles in a drone strike in Crimea as the weapons were being transported by rail, the Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate said on their official Telegram channel Monday.
Sergey Aksyonov, an adviser to the head of the Republic of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, confirmed a drone attack on his official Telegram channel.
Debris from the aerial object damaged a household and a shop and one person was injured from the explosions, Aksyonov said.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman
Mar 19, 6:44 PM EDT
Indications China could be supplying electrical components to Russia military use, senior Ukrainian official says
Ukraine has been monitoring multiple flights between Russian and Chinese cities during which the aircrafts’ transponders are temporarily switched off, according to a senior Ukrainian official, who called it a cause for concern.
The official said the belief is that China could be supplying Russia with electrical components that Moscow needs for military equipment, thus diminishing the impact of Western sanctions.
The senior official, who spoke exclusively to ABC News on the condition of anonymity, added that Ukraine currently has “no proof” that China is supplying weaponry or ammunition to Ukraine.
The official also dismissed the notion of a Chinese-brokered peace plan in the near future and said Ukraine is focused on retaking more land from Russia and is preparing for a fresh offensive “in the spring or early summer.”
-ABC News’ Tom Burridge
Mar 19, 1:13 AM EDT
Putin arrives in Mariupol, marking first visit to newly annexed territories
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Mariupol to inspect a number of locations in the city and talk to local residents, the Kremlin press service said on Sunday.
Putin travelled by helicopter to the Ukrainian city, which has been occupied since last year by Russians. He drove a vehicle along the city’s streets, making stops at several locations.
The visit was Putin’s first to newly annexed territories.
Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin reported to Putin about construction and restoration work. In the Nevsky area, a newly built residential area, Putin talked with residents. He went inside a home at the invitation of one of the families.
Putin also inspected the coastline of the city in the area of a yacht club, a theater building that was heavily bombed with civilians sheltering inside and other memorable places of the city.
-ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova
Mar 18, 11:04 AM EDT
Putin visits Crimea on anniversary of annexation
Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Crimea to mark the ninth anniversary of the Black Sea peninsula’s annexation from Ukraine on Saturday, one day after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader accusing him of war crimes.
Putin visited an art school and a children’s center.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world denounced as illegal. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has demanded that Russia withdraw from the peninsula as well as the areas it has occupied since last year.
Putin has shown no intention of relinquishing the Kremlin’s gains. Instead, he stressed Friday the importance of holding Crimea. “Obviously, security issues take top priority for Crimea and Sevastopol now,” he said, referring to Crimea’s largest city. “We will do everything needed to fend off any threats.”
President Joe Biden called the arrest warrant issued for Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday by the International Criminal Court “justified,” though acknowledged it might not have strong teeth.
“Well, I think it’s justified,” Biden told reporters Friday evening. “But the question — it’s not recognized internationally, by us either. But I think it makes a very strong point.”
In a earlier statement on the warrant, the White House said it supports “accountability for perpetrators of war crimes.”
“There is no doubt that Russia is committing war crimes and atrocities in Ukraine, and we have been clear that those responsible must be held accountable,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in the statement.
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett and Davone Morales
Mar 17, 2:35 PM EDT
Turkey agrees to start ratifying Finland’s NATO bid
Turkey is beginning the process of ratifying Finland’s application to join NATO, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday, 10 months after both Finland and Sweden applied to become NATO members in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“At a critical time for our security, this will make our alliance stronger and safer,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.
The breakthrough came as Finnish President Sauli Niinisto was in Ankara, Turkey, to meet with Erdogan.
Erdogan said Finland fulfilled its part of the agreements and therefore he saw no reason to further delay the ratification process. Erdogan did not provide an update on Sweden’s bid.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement, “We encourage Türkiye to quickly ratify Sweden’s accession protocols as well. In addition, we urge Hungary to conclude its ratification process for both Finland and Sweden without delay. … The United States believes that both countries should become members of NATO as soon as possible.”
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Mar 17, 11:54 AM EDT
ICC issues arrest warrant for Putin
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying in a statement Friday that Putin is “allegedly responsible for the war crime of” unlawfully deporting children from occupied areas of Ukraine and bringing them to Russia.
The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s presidential commissioner for children’s rights, alleging she carried out the same war crime.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement that the arrest warrants “have no meaning for the Russian Federation” and “are legally null and void.”
Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, tweeted that the arrest warrants are “just the beginning.”
Mar 16, 12:15 PM EDT
Russia has committed ‘wide range of war crimes’ in Ukraine: UN-backed report
Russia has committed a “wide range of war crimes” and possible crimes against humanity in Ukraine, according to a new United Nations-backed investigation.
“The body of evidence collected shows that Russian authorities have committed a wide range of violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law in many regions of Ukraine and in the Russian Federation,” the human rights report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine stated. “Many of these amount to war crimes and include willful killings, attacks on civilians, unlawful confinement, torture, rape, and forced transfers and deportations of children.”
Additionally, Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy-related infrastructure and use of torture “may amount to crimes against humanity,” the report concluded.
The commission said it conducted interviews with nearly 600 people, inspected graves, destruction and detention sites and consulted satellite imagery and photographs as part of its investigation.
Mar 16, 11:51 AM EDT
Poland to deliver MiG-29 jets to Ukraine ‘in the coming days’
Poland plans to deliver four MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine “in the coming days,” Polish President Andrzej Duda said at a press conference on Thursday.
The latest news shortens the timeline announced earlier this week by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who had said they might send the Soviet-designed fighter jets to Ukraine in the next four to six weeks.
Mar 16, 11:08 AM EDT
225 Russians killed in last 24 hours in Bakhmut
Ukrainian forces have killed 225 Russian fighters and injured another 306 in the past 24 hours in the Bakhmut area, according to Serhiy Cherevaty, the spokesman for the Eastern Group of Forces of the Ukraine army.
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a brutal battle for the city in eastern Ukraine for months, with both sides seeing high rates of casualties.
Cherevaty said that in the last day, the occupiers in the area of Bakhmut and nearby villages — including Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Bohdanivka and Ivanivskoho — tried to attack Ukrainian positions 42 times. There were 24 combat clashes in the Bakhmut area alone.
In total, in the Bakhmut direction, the occupiers shelled Ukrainian positions 256 times with various types of artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, Cherevaty said. Of them, 53 shellings were in the area of Bakhmut itself.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Mar 15, 12:08 PM EDT
Putin says effort underway to increase weapons production
Russia is working to increase its weapons production amid an “urgent” need, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.
“Prosecutors should supervise the modernization of defense industry enterprises, including building up capacities for the production of an additional volume of weapons. A lot of effort is underway here,” Putin said at a meeting of the Collegium of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation.
Putin added that the weapons, equipment and ammunition are “urgently” needed.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Mar 13, 4:04 PM EDT
White House welcomes Xi Jinping speaking to President Zelenskyy
The White House is welcoming reports that Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to soon speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the first time since Russia’s invasion began, while cautioning that after speaking with Ukrainian counterparts, “they have not yet actually gotten any confirmation that there will be a telephone call or a video conference.”
“We hope there will be,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said during a briefing on Air Force One. “That would be a good thing because it would potentially bring more balance and perspective to the way that the new PRC is approaching this, and we hope it will continue to dissuade them from choosing to provide lethal assistance to Russia.”
“We have been encouraging President Xi to reach out to President Zelenskyy because we believe that PRC and President Xi himself should hear directly the Ukrainian perspective and not just the Russian perspective on this,” Sullivan continued. “So, we have in fact, advocated to Beijing that that connection take place. We’ve done so publicly and we’ve done so privately to the PRC.”
Sullivan said the U.S. has “not yet seen the transfer of lethal assistance of weapons from China to Russia,” after previously warning it was being considered.
“It’s something that we’re vigilant about and continuing to watch carefully,” he added.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Mar 13, 12:27 PM EDT
Russia agrees to 60-day extension of Black Sea Grain Initiative
Russia said Monday it will extend the Black Sea Grain Initiative after it expires on March 18, but only for 60 days. The announcement came after consultations between U.N. representatives in Geneva and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin.
“The Russian side, noting the package nature of the Istanbul agreements proposed by UN Secretary General António Guterres, does not object to another extension of the Black Sea initiative after the expiration of the second term on March 18, but only for 60 days,” Vershinin said, according to Russian media reports.
Russia’s consultations in Geneva on the grain deal were not easy, Vershinin said. Russia will rely on the effectiveness of the implementation of the agreement on the export of its agricultural products when deciding on a new extension of the grain deal, according to reports.
Ukraine, which is a key world exporter of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and fertilizer, had its shipments blocked in the months following the invasion by Russia, causing a worldwide spike in food prices. The first deal was brokered last July.
Mar 12, 4:13 PM EDT
More than 1,100 Russians dead in less than a week, Zelenskyy says
Russian forces suffered more than 1,100 dead in less than a week during battles near the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the focal point of fighting in eastern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday.
During his nightly address, Zelenskyy described the battles as “Russia’s irreversible loss.”
Russian forces also sustained about 1,500 “sanitary losses,” meaning soldiers were wounded badly enough to keep them out of further action, Zelenskyy said.
Dozens of pieces of enemy equipment were destroyed, as were more than 10 Russian ammunition depots, Zelenskyy said.
-ABC News’ Edward Seekers
Mar 10, 3:17 PM EST
Russia says Nord Stream explosion investigation should be impartial
The investigation into who was behind the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline explosion should be “objective, impartial and transparent,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian news agency Interfax.
“I do not want to threaten anyone. I do not want to hint at anything either. I just know that this flagrant terror attack will not go uninvestigated,” Lavrov added.
Russia also said it will distribute its correspondence with Germany, Denmark and Sweden on the investigation of the Nord Stream explosion among the members of the United Nations Security Council soon.
Russia claimed the three countries are denying Russia access to information and participation in the investigation, first deputy permanent representative to the U.N. Dmitry Polyansky said in an interview, according to Russian news agency TASS.
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva and Tanya Stukalova
Mar 10, 3:03 PM EST
Russia says Nord Stream explosion investigation should be impartial
The investigation into who was behind the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline explosion should be “objective, impartial and transparent,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian news agency Interfax.
“I do not want to threaten anyone. I do not want to hint at anything either. I just know that this flagrant terror attack will not go uninvestigated,” Lavrov added.
Russia also said it will distribute its correspondence with Germany, Denmark and Sweden on the investigation of Nord Stream explosion among the members of the United Nations Security Council soon.
Russia claimed the three countries are denying Russia access to information and participation in the investigation, first deputy permanent representative to the U.N. Dmitry Polyansky said in an interview, according to Russian news agency TASS.
Mar 10, 9:46 AM EST
Zelenskyy says Ukraine had nothing to do with Nord Stream explosions
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied that Ukraine had anything to do with the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions last year.
“As for the Nord Stream, we have nothing to do with it,” Zelenskyy said Friday.
The New York Times published a report that U.S. intelligence suggests that a pro-Ukrainian group sabotaged the pipeline.
Zelenskyy also suggested that the information being spread about the involvement of pro-Ukrainian groups in the attack could be done to slow down aid to his country.
-ABC News’ Natalia Shumskaia
Mar 09, 2:45 PM EST
Power returns to Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after attacks
Electricity supply has been fully restored in Kyiv after Russia’s overnight barrage of missile attacks on Ukraine, Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said in a Telegram post Thursday.
Also, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is now “receiving electricity for its own needs from the Ukrainian grid after power supply was cut,” Russian news agency Interfax reported.
-ABC News’ Tatiana Rymarenko and Natalia Shumskaia
Mar 09, 7:25 AM EST
Russia ‘brutalizing’ Ukrainian people, White House says
Russia’s overnight barrage of missiles aimed at civilian infrastructure may have knocked heat out to as much as 40% of Ukrainians, the White House said on Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is attempting to “brutalize” the people of Ukraine, John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America on Thursday.
“It also appears, George, that they were definitely targeting civilian infrastructure,” Kirby said. “I would agree with the Ukrainians. He’s just trying to brutalize the Ukrainian people”
Russian forces early on Thursday launched 81 missiles from land and sea, Ukrainian officials said. Eight uncrewed drones were also launched in what officials described as a “massive” attack.
Eleven regions and cities were targeted in an attack that lasted at least seven hours, officials said.
Kirby said on Thursday that the White House expects to see more fighting on the ground in Ukraine for at least the “next four to six months.”
“We know that the Russians are attempting to conduct more offensive operations here when the weather gets better,” he said.
Mar 09, 3:59 AM EST
Zelenskyy decries Russia’s ‘miserable tactics’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday said Russian officials had returned “to their miserable tactics” as they launched at least 81 missiles at Ukrainian sites overnight.
“The occupiers can only terrorize civilians. That’s all they can do. But it won’t help them,” he said on Telegram. “They won’t avoid responsibility for everything they have done.”
He added, “We thank the guardians of our skies and everyone who helps to overcome the consequences of the occupiers’ sneaking attacks!”
Mar 09, 3:34 AM EST
81 missiles launched in ‘massive’ Russian attack, Ukraine says
Waves of missiles and a handful of drones were launched overnight by Russia, targeting energy infrastructure and cities across Ukraine, officials said.
The attack on “critical infrastructure” and civilian targets lasted throughout the night, Verkovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, said on Twitter. Energy was being gradually restored on Thursday morning, the body said.
Ukraine’s parliament and military said at least 81 missiles were fired from several bases. Eight Iranian-made drones were also launched, the military said.
Ukraine destroyed 34 cruise missiles and four drones, military officials said on Facebook.
“Russia’s threats only encourage partners to provide long-term assistance to Ukraine,” said Yehor Chernev, deputy chairman of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence.
Russia “will be sentenced as a terrorist state” for its attacks, Ruslan Stefanchuk, Rada’s chairperson, said on Twitter.
Mar 09, 12:35 AM EST
Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant now running on diesel generators, energy minister says
The last line that fed the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been damaged following missile strikes, and the plant is now working on diesel generators, according to the Ukrainian energy minister, Herman Galushchenko.
Mar 09, 12:16 AM EST
Emergency power outages nationwide due to missile attacks, provider says
DTEK, the largest private grid operator in Ukraine, said emergency power outages are in effect due to the missile attacks in the Kyiv, Odesa, Mykolaiv and Dnipro regions.
Mar 09, 12:27 AM EST
Multiple missile strikes reported across Ukraine
Multiple explosions have been reported in city centers all over the country, including Dnipro, Odesa, Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi and Kharkiv.
Residents in multiple areas are being asked to shelter in place, and communication and electricity has been impacted.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said multiple explosions were reported in the Holosiiv district.
The governor of Kharkiv, Oleh Syniehubov, said Russia struck the city at least 15 times overnight.
The head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration said there had been no casualties and that the power supply is being restricted.
Mar 08, 2:05 PM EST
Ukraine says it was not involved in Nord Stream Pipeline bombings
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov denied Ukraine was involved in the bombing of the Nord Stream pipeline, which carries natural gas from Russia to Germany. While the pipeline was not active at the time of the bombing last September, it was filled with fuel.
The denial comes after The New York Times reported that intelligence reviewed by U.S. officials suggests a pro-Ukrainian group carried out the Nord Stream bombings last year.
After the story broke, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius warned against “jumping to conclusions” about who carried out the explosion, suggesting it could have been a “false flag” operation to blame Ukraine.
German authorities were reportedly able to identify the boat used for the sabotage operation, saying a group of five men and one woman using forged passports rented a yacht from a Poland-based company owned by Ukrainian citizens. The nationalities of the perpetrators are unclear, according to a separate report by Germany’s ARD broadcaster and Zeit newspaper.
“We have to make a clear distinction whether it was a Ukrainian group, whether it may have happened at Ukrainian orders, or a pro-Ukrainian group [acting] without knowledge of the government. But I am warning against jumping to conclusions,” Pistorius said on the sidelines of a summit in Stockholm.
A Russian diplomat said Russia has no faith in the U.S.‘s “impartiality” in the conclusions made from intelligence.
