(NEW YORK) — Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Sunday that he opposes a national ban on abortion because it would take away the authority of a state like his that is poised to immediately ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned by the Supreme Court.
“I think that’s inconsistent with what we’ve been fighting for for decades, which is that we wanted the Roe vs. Wade reversed and the authority to return to the states,” Hutchinson told ABC’s “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz. “So, as a matter of principle, that’s where it should be.”
Hutchinson appeared on “This Week” just days after an unprecedented leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion on abortion cast a new spotlight on what could happen if the high court overturns Roe v. Wade.
The document, obtained by Politico, though not final shows the Supreme Court’s conservative majority of justices are ready to overturn nearly 50 years of established abortion rights precedent through its decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health case out of Mississippi that the court heard last year. A ruling is expected by the end of June.
Raddatz noted that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told USA Today that it’s possible Republicans will pursue a national ban. Raddatz pressed the two-term governor, asking, “Will you oppose that?”
“If you look at a constitutional or a national standard, that goes against that thrust of the states having prerogative,” replied Hutchinson, chair of the National Governors Association. “And secondly, I think there’s some constitutional issues of a national standard as well as to what is the authority of the Constitution to enact that.”
In March 2021, Hutchinson signed a bill that prohibits abortion in all cases except to save the life of the mother. Cases involving rape and incest are not considered exceptions under the law, something Hutchinson said he did not completely agree with at the time.
The bill also charges anyone who performs a non-approved abortion with a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The measure, however, has not been enacted into state law. A U.S. district court judge in Arkansas issued an order in July 2021 temporarily blocking Arkansas’ near-complete abortion ban while a lawsuit against the measure proceeds. Currently, abortions are allowed in Arkansas up to 22 weeks gestation.
The law would only go into effect if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
Arkansas is one of 26 states certain or likely to impose abortion bans if the landmark case is overturned, including 13 with trigger bans tied to the decision, according to an analysis by the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research and policy organization. Arkansas and four other states have proposed near-complete bans on abortion, according to the institute.
A U.S. district court judge in Arkansas issued an order in July 2021 temporarily blocking Arkansas’ near-complete abortion ban while a lawsuit against the measure proceeds.
“What would you tell those women in your state who cannot afford to travel to get an abortion, who cannot afford to raise a child or those who have been raped or the victims of incest?” Raddatz asked.
Hutchinson replied that “in terms of Arkansas law, our law simply expresses the will of the people of Arkansas.”
“In Arkansas, it’s a policy of Arkansas that we protect the life of the unborn,” said the 71-year-old Hutchinson, who is exploring a 2024 run for president. “And so yes, if Roe v. Wade is reversed, then we will have a trigger law in place to protect the life of the unborn.”
Raddatz pushed back, saying, “I want to go back to my question about those women.”
“What would you say to those women who seek an abortion, who don’t have the money to travel, who don’t have the money to raise a child. What would you say to them?”
Hutchinson responded, “Well, first of all, that’s where your heart goes out to them.”
“I’ve had to deal with those very difficult circumstances of rape and incest as governor and it’s difficult. And so, you have to understand that,” Hutchinson said. “You have to provide services. And I believe that we would want to increase the services for maternal health, to increase the services for adoption services as well. So, we want to invest in those areas that will help those women with very difficult circumstances of the pregnancy.”
When he signed Arkansas’ near-complete abortion ban, Hutchinson issued a statement saying he “would have preferred the legislation to include the exceptions for rape and incest.”
He told Raddatz on Sunday, that “even though we have the trigger law, I expect those exceptions to be a significant part of the debate in the future, even though we’re going to immediately go to restrict abortions with the exception of the life of the mother.”
“Why do you support those exceptions?” Raddatz asked.
The governor responded that “those exceptions are what generally the public has insisted upon as being reasonable exceptions to abortion limitations.”
(NEW YORK) — A leaked draft opinion showing the Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade sparked nationwide outrage and panic among abortion rights advocates. And for women who already experienced challenges and restrictions in accessing reproductive care in their states, the prospect of a world without federal processions is daunting.
Valerie Peterson said that learning about the leaked draft opinion was “triggering” because it reminded her of her own “agonizing” experience.
Peterson, a single mother with two daughters, said she traveled from Texas to Florida in 2015 after finding out her baby would likely not survive and facing restrictions obtaining an abortion.
“After the leak, one of the things that I really thought about were the other women that would be impacted by this decision,” Peterson told ABC News. “If Roe v. Wade is indeed overturned, this will be a traumatic experience for a lot of people across the United States.”
The Supreme Court’s 1973 decision on Roe v. Wade determined that a woman’s right to have an abortion is protected under the Constitution as part of a right to privacy. Without that federal protection, the decision will be in the hands of the states.
In the leaked draft opinion Justice Samuel Alito argues that there’s no explicit right to privacy, let alone the right to an abortion, in the Constitution.
“It held that the abortion right, which is not mentioned in the Constitution, is part of a right to privacy, which is also not mentioned,” Alito writes, calling the Roe decision “remarkably loose in its treatment of the constitutional text,” and arguing that stare decisis “does not compel unending adherence to Roe’s abuse of judicial authority.”
Chief Justice John Roberts released a rare, written statement to address the leak, saying, “Although the document described in yesterday’s reports is authentic, it does not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case.”
For Vikki Brown, who traveled from Louisiana to Washington, D.C., to get an abortion in 2019, learning the news was “jarring” experience because that evening she was scrambling to help a friend schedule an abortion in Louisiana — a state that only has three abortion clinics.
“I’ve been trying to help her figure out what her best option is. She hasn’t been able to get an appointment anywhere within the state of Louisiana that can see her this month,” Brown told ABC News, adding that the closest appointment they were able to find was five and a half hours away by car.
“[The news] really, for me, solidified how awful this is going to be for so many people,” Brown said.
And for Rebecca Turchanik, who said she traveled four hours from Nashville to Atlanta in 2019 to get an abortion, the news was “devastating.”
“I had been scrolling Twitter and saw it and I am honestly – I’m just devastated,” she said.
“I just had a very visceral reaction to it because I feel like there are so many impacts and waves that this impacts,” she added, “and people don’t really necessarily understand the effects of it.”
If Roe is overturned, abortions bans are certain to go into effect in more than a dozen states, including Texas, and are likely to go into effect in more than a dozen more, according to The Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights research organization.
‘A logistical nightmare’
Turchanik said that repealing federal protections will exacerbate the challenges of accessing reproductive care, which is already “a logistical nightmare” in states like Tennessee, where about 96% of counties had no clinics that provided abortions in 2017, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
And in the U.S. overall, 89% of counties had no clinics that provide abortions in 2017, per the study. This disproportionately impacts low-income women and women of color, who do not have the financial means to travel or to cover medical costs – many of which are not covered by insurance.
Turchanik said she and her partner at the time in 2019 called multiple clinics in various states and finally found an appointment in Georgia, but they had to leave early in the morning and take time off work to be able to make it.
“I don’t feel like anyone should have to add that layer of complexity to an already complex thing,” she said. “Because I don’t think that an abortion is an easy thing.”
Turchanik added that if she was not able to get a ride to Atlanta, she may not have had enough funds to make the trip.
In 2019, Brown was living in Louisiana. Should Roe be overturned, patients seeking an abortion there would have to travel over 650 miles on average to Illinois, North Carolina or Kansas — the closest states where abortion would not be restricted, according to Guttmacher.
“I’m very lucky that I had the resources to go and leave Louisiana,” Brown said of her experience.
While abortion is legal in Louisiana, she would have had to contend with a long, multi-step process in New Orleans to get an abortion when she was about five weeks pregnant. Instead, Brown said she traveled to Washington, D.C., where she stayed with a friend and was able to get an abortion in one day.
“What will happen when Roe is overturned is that women will be forced to make decisions that put their health at risk and women who have less means will suffer the most,” she added.
Peterson expressed concern in particular for low-income women, as restrictions add up costs to obtain an abortion. This can include travel, taking time off from work, medical expenses not covered by insurance, lodging, childcare and more.
“Funding abortion is really difficult,” Peterson said.
When she traveled from Texas to Orlando, Florida, for her procedure, she said she had to pay for a flight, a hotel, a rental car and other expenses.
“A lot of women don’t have the opportunity or the capacity to come up with that amount of money, which was close to $5,000 for me,” she said.
‘Mental anguish’
For Peterson, there was also an emotional cost to restricting care. When she found out she was pregnant in 2015, she was surprised and excited as she “really thought I couldn’t have any more children.”
“I already knew that I was going to keep the baby,” she said.
She found out after visiting her doctor at six weeks that her pregnancy was classified as “high risk,” which could involve health risks for the mother and fetus and requires more frequent monitoring and ultrasounds.
Initially everything seemed fine, Peterson said, but at her 13-week ultrasound she found out that fetal anomalies have been detected. Two weeks later, she received what she described as a “devastating diagnosis.”
“I found out through ultrasound that my baby’s brain had not developed,” she said.
The fetus was diagnosed as having alobar holoprosencephaly, a rare disease that leads to structural anomalies early in the gestational development, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as the brain fails to divide into right and left hemispheres. “The affected fetus is usually stillborn or dies soon after birth, or during the first 6 months of life,” according to the NIH.
After she was shown photos of the fetus’ brain and had the disease explained to her, she said she was given “two devastating options.”
“Option one, to continue to carry the baby. Eventually, I would miscarry, but we wouldn’t know when that would be. Or, I could terminate the pregnancy,” she said. “And based on the information that I had and the education that my doctor provided for me, I decided to terminate the pregnancy.”
Peterson was 16 weeks pregnant and in Texas, which then allowed abortions up to 20 weeks. She had to be referred by her doctor to an abortion provider and undergo mandatory counseling.
“Emotionally, I was not doing well. Mentally, I was not doing well, it’s very difficult to hear your baby — his brain is incompatible with life,” she said.
“Not only was there a three- to four-week waiting list, there was also a three- to four-day process to get the [appointment],” Peterson said, adding that the wait time caused her “mental anguish, as I was carrying the pregnancy, knowing now that there was no chance of survival.”
Peterson, who reflected on her experience in a book, “The Blue Lotus,” said learning of the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion was “heartbreaking” and took her back to the moment she learned her pregnancy would not be viable.
“To really think now that your body is being legislated by men who don’t know what it feels like to carry a pregnancy, to know that our bodies are being legislated with the lack of education and information on abortion is a problem,” she said.
After her abortion in 2015, Peterson became an advocate for abortion rights, testified before the Senate in 2019 and shared her story with women across the country.
She said after speaking at a rally outside the Supreme Court, several women told her they had abortions but told people they had a miscarriage because of the stigma abortion carries.
“That in itself is the reason why I use my name. I am a human being. I am a person,” she said.
“One of the things that I do want to say to people that may be in this situation, is that self care matters. You matter,” she added. “We all have to make sure that in our advocacy, that we are also taking care of ourselves, and working to change the laws that do not work for us.”
ABC News’ Keara Shannon, Karolina Rivas and Sabrina Peduto contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — When the Volkswagen ID. Buzz goes on sale in the U.S., consumers may be seduced by the microbus’ nostalgic design and electric powertrain. They may also become enamored with its three passenger rows.
“It’s a family hauler, a people mover … a majority of our buyers will probably be coming from mid-size or large SUVs,” Jeffrey Lear, product manager of electric vehicles at Volkswagen of America, told ABC News. “We know this from doing research — families want three rows.”
He added, “Three rows were a necessity.”
Only the U.S. version of the ID. Buzz comes with three rows that can seat seven. Americans have been increasingly asking for larger SUVs that can accommodate their active lifestyles and growing families and carmakers are listening. Many have expanded their lineups to cater to this “supremely important” segment, according to Ed Kim, president and chief analyst of AutoPacific.
“The fact that there are so many three-row SUV entries in the marketplace is really a reflection of millennial consumers needing a large family vehicle,” Kim told ABC News. “Millennials are approaching their peak income years. If you’re not playing in the three-row space, you’re not addressing a huge part of the marketplace.”
Three-row, mid-size SUVs are replacing what families drove years ago — the minivan, according to Tony Quiroga, editor-in-chief of Car and Driver.
“The minivan segment has been declining steadily and that space has been picked up by all the three-row SUVs and crossovers,” Quiroga told ABC News.
German carmaker BMW found new customers when it introduced its three-row SUV, the X7, in late 2018.
“A little more than half of the customers who are buying the X7 are not previous BMW owners,” according to Michael Baxley, U.S. product manager at BMW. “The X7 has been very successful.”
Last month BMW showed off the 2023 X7, which now features a redesigned dashboard and center console, a new curved display and a revised kidney grille. The 48-volt battery-assisted hybrid technology in the new inline 6-cylinder and V8 engines improve performance and efficiency, said Baxley. What hasn’t changed? The capacious cargo space. The X7 offers 33.3 inches of legroom for third-row passengers – “plenty of room for most adults,” he noted.
Three-row variants in the full-size SUV segment total about 70% of sales. Mid-size SUVs with three-rows account for 10% of the U.S. vehicle market, up from 6% in 2016, said Tyson Jominy, vice president of data and analytics at J.D. Power. That percentage is likely to rise as capacity constraints from the global chip shortage ease, he said.
“The real truth is that we may not have reached true potential,” Jominy told ABC News. “Three-row SUVs can do everything a two-row can but just much more. It’s a critical segment to be in.”
Land Rover and Jeep have recently launched three-row SUVs to steal sales from competitors. The 2023 Range Rover, Land Rover’s flagship luxury SUV, will now be sold with a seven-seat configuration — an addition specifically designed for U.S. customers.
“The U.S. market will be one of the largest for this seating configuration and addresses the top request from owners and shoppers,” Rob Filipovic, director of product planning at Jaguar Land Rover, told ABC News. “While the U.S. did request a seven-seat variant on the previous generation, the platform did not support the premium expectation of comfort and space expected on a Range Rover. With the New MLA-Flex body architecture, the requirements were designed from the start, resulting in no compromise for all passengers.”
Filipovic said he expects the longer wheelbase Range Rover with three rows to make up 30% of sales. And adults seated in the rear can travel comfortably: The third row easily accommodates a 6-foot-tall individual, he said, and there are HVAC vents, charging ports, heated leather seats and LED lighting.
“When the third row is folded, it provides the largest trunk behind the second row that we have ever had on a Range Rover,” he added.
Jeep now offers three SUVs with seating up to eight: the Grand Cherokee L, Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer. Kim of AutoPacific said the move was necessary to stay competitive.
“Given how important three-row SUVs are, it’s actually amazing Jeep has had incredible growth over the last 10 years without one,” he said.
Jeep spokesperson Ron Kiino said the addition of three rows has increased Grand Cherokee owner retention.
“The Grand Cherokee L has boosted Grand Cherokee sales … 2021 was the best sales year in total and retail sales for the Grand Cherokee since 2000,” he told ABC News.
He added, “Customer response has been extremely positive.”
According to Kiino, the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer offer best-in-class overall passenger volume (179.2 cubic feet) and third-row legroom of 36.6 inches.
Adults, however, will have to squeeze, bend, squish and contort their arms and legs to sit in some three-row SUVs.
“There’s a massive amount of variability and diversity in three-row spaciousness,” said Kim. “In the Mitsubishi Outlander and Volkswagen Tiguan — you really couldn’t fit anyone more than 10 years old back there. The Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer L — adults can easily be comfortable in a third row for hours.”
Jominy argued that the third row was designed specifically for young children.
“Most adults would never for a second ride in the third row,” he said. “In a lot of cases they’re temporary or an expansion row. In fact, for many automakers, even if you get leather seats, the third row is vinyl. There is no expectation that an adult will ever sit back there.”
Kia and Toyota are also bolstering their three-row offerings. The third-generation Toyota Sequoia will be available this summer with a twin-turbo V6 hybrid powertrain and a sliding third row with an adjustable cargo shelf system. The feature allows the third row to slide with 6 inches of adjustment range, according to Toyota.
Kia, which has won industry awards for its Telluride SUV, revamped the 2023 model to include two new trim levels, a larger navigation screen and new exterior and interior package colors. Seventy-five percent of Telluride buyers are new to the Kia family, according to the Korean automaker.
Kim said automakers could do even more to boost sales of these prodigious vehicles: Build electric ones. The Vietnamese automaker Vinfast is entering the U.S. market with a three-row EV called VF 9. The only other three-row EV available right now is the Tesla Model X. The ID. Buzz goes on sale in the U.S. in 2024.
“Three-row SUVs are unrepresented in the electric vehicle market,” Kim said. “Young people with families and who are really into tech would be interested in buying an EV.”
Could Americans’ obsession with jumbo SUVs also signal the arrival of four rows?
“If you don’t need a steering wheel [in an autonomous vehicle], you can potentially turn the front seat around and have a couple of rows in between,” Jominy of J.D. Power said. “But I don’t see four rows ever being a thing.”
Kim pointed out that Kia sells a four-row Carnival minivan in South Korea. “That actually exists,” he said.
(NEW YORK) — The move to add new abortion bans “will be swift” if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Sunday, adding that the Senate will do everything it can to codify a woman’s right to choose.
“With this leaked opinion, the court is looking at reversing 50 years of women’s rights and the fall will be swift. Over 20 states have laws in place already,” Klobuchar, D-Minn., told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz.
“I think the question that voters are going to be asking when 75% of people are with us on this, is who should make this decision,” Klobuchar said. “Should it be a woman and her doctor or a politician? Should it be Ted Cruz making this decision or a woman and her family? Where are women’s equal rights?”
On Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed a leaked draft opinion of a Supreme Court ruling indicating that five conservative justices, three of whom were appointed by former President Trump, are poised to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The bombshell that the high court could soon overturn the landmark 1973 ruling sparked outrage across the country among people, including elected leaders, who support abortion rights.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that the Senate would hold a vote Wednesday to codify federal abortion protections by way of the Women’s Health Protection Act, but not enough votes are expected for the measure to pass. To overcome a filibuster, the bill — which passed the House but has stalled in the Senate — needs support from 60 senators.
“If we are not successful, then we go to the ballot box,” Klobuchar said of the bill. “We march straight to the ballot box, and the women of this country and the men who stand with them will vote like they’ve never voted before.”
All House Democrats except for Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, voted for the Women’s Health Protection Act.
Raddatz pressed Klobuchar on whether the Democratic Party should only back members and candidates who support abortion rights.
“Do you believe there should be a litmus test?” Raddatz asked. “The Democrats have several candidates who do not support abortion rights.”
“You have people who are personally, personally pro-life, but yet believe that that decision should be a woman’s personal choice, even if they may not agree with them,” Klobuchar responded. “So I think it’s important to note that we have people in our party that vote to uphold Roe v. Wade that may have personal opinions that are different.”
The Minnesota senator added that the Democratic Party is “clearly pro-choice.”
“That is the position of our party and I think you see in primary after primary, that matters to our voters — certainly now more than ever,” she said.
While she said abortion will not be the “only issue” for Democrats in the midterm elections, noting voters are also focused on the economy and Ukraine, she said “a new generation of women” are seeing their rights pulled back and saying, “Wait a minute, my mom and my grandma are going to have more rights than I’m going to have going forward?”
Raddatz pressed Klobuchar on public polls showing that while a majority of Americans support the right to an abortion in most cases, within the states that would almost immediately ban abortion if Roe is overturned, a majority of adults believe abortion should be illegal in most or all cases, a New York Times analysis found.
“Why should a woman in Texas have different rights and a different future and a different ability to make decisions about her body and her reproductive choices than a woman in Minnesota?” Klobuchar responded. “How can that be in this country, that we’d have a patchwork of laws?”
Klobuchar added that a reversal of Roe v. Wade would disproportionately affect poor women and women of color.
“This is just wrong, and that is part of why Justice [Harry] Blackmun, who is a Republican-appointed justice, no less, made that thoughtful decision, looked at the Constitution and said, the right to privacy includes the right for women to make a choice like this.”
(EXUMA, Bahamas) — An investigation is underway after three American tourists were found dead at a Bahamas resort on Friday, officials said.
The guests were staying at the Sandals Emerald Bay in Exuma, Sandals confirmed.
Resort staff contacted the George Town Police Station shortly after 9 a.m. Friday that a man was found unresponsive in a villa, and while en route it was reported that another man and women were found unresponsive in another villa, police said.
Police found the man in the first villa lying on the ground with no signs of trauma, authorities said. In the second villa, the man was found “slumped against a wall in a bathroom” and the woman was found on a bed, the Royal Bahamas Police Force said in a statement.
“Both individuals showed signs of convulsion,” police said. No signs of trauma were found on either bodies.
Police are working to confirm the identities of the deceased.
Bahamas Minister of Health & Wellness Dr. Michael Darville told ABC News that some hotel guests went to a clinic Thursday with nausea and vomiting, were treated and left. Three were later found dead, while a fourth, a woman, was flown to a hospital in New Providence and is in stable condition, he said.
Environmental health scientists, physicians and others are investigating to ensure there was not a public health hazard, said Darville, who called it an “isolated incident.”
“There’s no potential risk to any of the residents on Exuma as well as residents at the resort or any other resort on the on Exuma,” he said.
Acting Prime Minister Chester Cooper said in a statement Friday that the cause of death is unknown but no foul play is suspected.
Sandals said it was “actively working to support both the investigation as well as the guests’ families in every way possible.”
“A health emergency was initially reported and following our protocols we immediately alerted emergency medical professionals and relevant local authorities,” the company said in a statement. “Out of respect for the privacy of our guests, we cannot disclose further information at this time.”
ABC News’ Jason Volack, Caroline Guthrie and Alexandra Faul contributed to this report.
(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) — Vice President Kamala Harris gave a sobering look at the “unsettled” world students are heading into as she delivered the commencement speech at Tennessee State University on Saturday.
The vice president discussed the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as the looming possibility Roe v. Wade will be overturned by the Supreme Court after a draft opinion leaked earlier this week.
“The world that you graduate into is unsettled,” Harris said. “It is a world where long-established principles now rest on shaky ground. We see this in Ukraine, where Russia’s invasion threatens international rules and norms that have provided unprecedented peace and security in Europe since World War II.”
“We believed that the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity had for the most part prevailed, that democracy had prevailed,” she continued. “But now the certainty of fundamental principles is being called into question, including the principles of equality and fairness.”
The crowd erupted in cheers when Harris remarked that the students were facing an unsettled world where Roe v. Wade may be overturned.
“In the United States, we are once again forced to defend fundamental principles that we hoped were long settled — principles like the freedom to vote, the rights of women to make decisions about their own bodies, even what constitutes the truth, especially in an era, when anyone can post anything online and claim it is a fact,” Harris said.
Harris congratulated the students on succeeding in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Class of 2022, you made it through and it cannot be denied also that your class has traveled a stony road — a pandemic that took away so much of the college experience that you once imagined,” she said.
Shifting to a more optimistic tone, the vice president said that each student is well-equipped to tackle the “biggest challenges of today” by drawing from their lived experiences and personal attributes.
“Most importantly, you have the ability to see what can be unburdened by what has been,” she said, drawing from her stump speech on the campaign trail.
As a fellow graduate of a historically Black college and university, she expressed “there is no limit to your capacity for greatness.”
“I want you all — each and every one of you — to always remember that you are not alone, that you come from people, that you come with people,” she said. “Because I promise you, there will be a time when you will walk into a boardroom or a courtroom or maybe even the Situation Room, and you will walk into the room and find you are the only person in that room who looks like you or has had your life experience.
“At that moment, you must remember you are not in that room alone. Always know that you carry the voices of everyone here and those upon whose shoulders you stand.”
Harris is also scheduled to give the commencement speech at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy on May 18.
(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 last month launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, attempting to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and to secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
May 07, 1:02 pm
All women, children evacuated from Mariupol steel plant, Ukraine deputy PM says
All women, children and the elderly have been evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol which has been long besieged by Russian forces, Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, said Saturday.
“The president’s order has been carried out: all women, children and the elderly have been evacuated from Azovstal. This part of the Mariupol humanitarian operation has been completed,” Vereshchuk said in a statement posted on telegram.
-ABC News’ Jason Volack
May 07, 11:46 am
Jill Biden meets with refugees, humanitarian organizations on visit to Romania
First lady Jill Biden met with Ukrainian refugees on Saturday and was briefed on humanitarian efforts from United Nations agencies, nongovernmental organizations and the Romanian government during her trip to Romania.
Biden also visited a Romanian public school, Școala Gimnazială Uruguay, that is hosting Ukrainian refugee students, with Romanian first lady Carmen Iohannis.
Biden spoke with Ukrainian and Romanian educators and met with Ukrainian refugee students and Romanian students in classroom settings.
Biden met with Ukrainian and Romanian children who were making “hands” out of pieces of paper decorated as the Ukrainian and Romanian flags. Some of the children wrote messages on the hands.
Madalina Turza, the senior coordinator of humanitarian assistance for Romania told Biden they are working with the country’s Association of Psychologist to train educators in trauma-informed teaching. She also noted that they are working to make sure that all students are integrated and not segregated from Romanian children, saying that while the refugees may want to stick together at the moment, in time they will need to be with Romanian kids.
Biden also participated in a listening session with Ukrainian educators and mothers.
One mother explained that she escaped Kharkiv with her 8-year-old daughter just two weeks ago and narrowly avoided death when she chose to take one route out of the city over another that was shelled that day. She had been hiding in a basement with her daughter for over a week when they decided to flee.
-ABC News’ Allie Pecorin and Armando Garcia
May 07, 9:05 am
Italy freezes $700 million yacht allegedly belonging to Putin
Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance on Saturday impounded the Scheherazade, a yacht said to be worth $700 million, which allegedly belonged to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The superyacht has been under investigation for months for possible connections to Putin and other Russians sanctioned by the EU. The Scheherazade was being refurbished in the Tuscan port of Marina di Cararra.
The investigation conducted by Italian authorities found significant economic and business connections between the owner of the Scheherazade and prominent people in the Russian government and other Russians sanctioned by the EU.
Italian officials also recommended to the EU Council that the owner of the boat be added to the list of Russians sanctioned for the war in Ukraine.
May 07, 8:41 am
Ukraine war taking heavy toll on some of Russia’s most capable units: UK defense ministry
The war in Ukraine is taking a toll on Russia’s military, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Saturday.
“The conflict in Ukraine is taking a heavy toll on some of Russia’s most capable units and most advanced capabilities. It will take considerable time and expense for Russia to reconstitute its armed forces following this conflict,” the ministry said in a statement.
Adding, “It will be particularly challenging to replace modernized and advanced equipment due to sanctions restricting Russia’s access to critical microelectronic components.”
At least one T-90M, Russia’s newest tank, with its strongest armor, has been destroyed in the fighting, the Ministry of Defense said.
The Russian military has approximately 100 T-90M tanks currently in service, including those in Ukraine, but the system’s upgraded armor “remains vulnerable if unsupported by other elements,” the defense ministry said.
May 06, 7:16 pm
FLOTUS visits US troops, NATO military leadership in Romania
First Lady Jill Biden kicked off the first day of her overseas trip by visiting Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base in Romania, where she met with U.S. troops and NATO military leadership.
The U.S. deployed troops to the base, which is about 60 miles from the border with Ukraine, in the leadup to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Prior to departing the U.S. last night, the first lady told reporters, “It was so important to the president and to me that the Ukrainian people know that we stand with them.”
Biden drew cheers Friday when she greeted soldiers with a bottle of ketchup in hand — a commodity that has been in short supply on the base, according to her spokesperson.
Wearing a Beau Biden Foundation hat, the first lady helped serve mac and cheese and potatoes and shook hands and took photos with the service members. She also participated in a special story-time with United Through Reading, an organization that connects military families with a deployed service member through video recordings and virtual book readings.
Biden also met with members of the Delaware National Guard before departing the base for Bucharest.
May 06, 6:47 pm
Biden announces new security assistance package
The U.S. has announced another package of security assistance that will provide “additional artillery munitions, radars, and other equipment to Ukraine,” according to a Friday afternoon statement from President Joe Biden.
The U.S. will provide up to $150 million in new security assistance for Ukraine, according to a memorandum from Biden.
“With today’s announcement, my Administration has nearly exhausted funding that can be used to send security assistance through drawdown authorities for Ukraine,” Biden said in the statement. “For Ukraine to succeed in this next phase of war its international partners, including the U.S., must continue to demonstrate our unity and our resolve to keep the weapons and ammunition flowing to Ukraine, without interruption. Congress should quickly provide the requested funding to strengthen Ukraine on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.”
The package includes 25,000 155mm artillery rounds, counter-artillery radars, electronic jamming equipment, field equipment and spare parts, according to Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby.
“Capabilities in this package are tailored to meet critical Ukrainian needs for today’s fight as Russian forces continue their offensive in eastern Ukraine,” Kirby said in a statement.
This marks the ninth drawdown of equipment from Department of Defense inventories for Ukraine since August 2021, according to Kirby.
May 06, 4:11 pm
UNSC adopts resolution supporting ‘peaceful solution’ in Ukraine
The United Nations Security Council has unanimously adopted a statement voicing “deep concern regarding the maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine,” the first such message issued by the body since the war began.
The statement reminds all U.N. members of their responsibility to “settle their international disputes by peaceful means” and express “support of the efforts of the Secretary-General in the search for a peaceful solution.”
The text was drafted by envoys from Norway and Mexico and was agreed upon by all members of the council, including Russia.
The permanent representative from Mexico, Juan Ramón de la Fuente, said it demonstrated all members of the Security Council were “united” in the pursuit of “diplomatic resolution,” although he acknowledged it took over two months to reach this point.
Pressed on whether he thought Russia was earnestly seeking a peaceful end to the war, Ramón de la Fuente said the country demonstrated “a willingness to move in that direction.”
However, the UNSC’s statement is already drawing criticism from those who say it fails to hold Russia accountable for the violence.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement: “I welcome this support and will continue to spare no effort to save lives, reduce suffering and find the path of peace.”
May 06, 1:30 pm
Zelenskyy to join Biden, German chancellor in G-7 virtual leaders meeting
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will join President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a G-7 virtual leaders meeting on Sunday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
Psaki noted that imposing new sanctions on Russia may also be discussed during the meeting.
“They will discuss the latest developments in Russia’s war against Ukraine, the global impact of Putin’s war, showing support for Ukraine and Ukraine’s future and demonstrating continued G7 unity in our collective response, including building on our unprecedented sanctions to impose severe costs for Putin’s war,” she said.
The meeting will happen the day before Russia’s “Victory Day,” a celebration of the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany. Western officials have warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin may ramp up his attacks on Ukraine in the lead up to the day and may want to claim a new victory.
Psaki hinted the administration was intentional about meeting before that day.
“I think it should not be lost the significance or –on anyone the significance of when the timeline when his — when this G-7 meeting is happening, which is the day before Russia’s Victory Day, which President Putin has certainly projected his desire to mark that day as a day where he is victorious over Ukraine. Of course, he’s not,” she said.
May 06, 1:18 pm
US shared intel with Ukraine that helped sink Russian flagship Moskva last month, officials say
The U.S. shared intelligence with Ukraine that helped it sink the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, the Moskva, last month, according to two U.S. officials.
The Ukrainians, who have their own intelligence capabilities, had tracked the Moskva independently, though, and the U.S. did not provide “specific targeting information,” according to one of the officials.
“We did not provide Ukraine with specific targeting information for the Moskva. We were not involved in the Ukrainians’ decision to strike the ship or in the operation they carried out,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement Thursday. “We had no prior knowledge of Ukraine’s intent to target the ship. The Ukrainians have their own intelligence capabilities to track and target Russian naval vessels, as they did in this case.”
The U.S. official also noted that: “We do provide a range of intelligence to help the Ukrainians understand the threat posed by Russian ships in the Black Sea and to help them prepare to defend against potential sea-based assaults. Many of the missiles fired at Ukraine have come from Russian ships in the Black Sea, and those ships could be used to support an assault on cities like Odesa.”
NBC News first reported this intel.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday downplayed the role of U.S intelligence.
“We did not provide Ukraine with specific targeting information for the Moskva. We were not involved in the Ukrainians’ decision to strike the ship or in the operation they carried out. We had no prior knowledge of Ukraine’s intent to target the ship,” she said. “The Ukrainians have their own intelligence capabilities to track and target Russian naval vessels, as they did in this case. And I’ve discussed this with both our national security adviser and the President and the view is that, one, this is an inaccurate over-claiming of our role and an under-claiming of the role of the Ukrainians who frankly have a greater level of intelligence and access to intelligence than we do.”
Still, she said that the U.S. is providing Ukraine with a range of intelligence, which they can use in conjunction with their own findings.
“We do provide a range of intelligence to help them understand the threat posed by Russian ships in the Black Sea and to help them prepare to defend themselves against potential sea-based assaults, but they take our intelligence and they combine that with what they have access to. And so on this specific report, it’s just not an accurate depiction of how this happened,” she added.
May 06, 8:28 am
Video shows explosions, smoke at Mariupol steel plant
Video circulating online shows explosions and smoke coming from the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant in Mariupol.
The footage was released Thursday by the Azov Regiment, a far-right group now part of the Ukrainian military that was among the units defending Mariupol and is holed up inside the Azovstal plant with others. In a statement alongside the video posted on Telegram, the group said that Russian forces were keeping the plant “under heavy fire,” using “aircraft, artillery and infantry.”
ABC News was unable to verify the date that the video was taken.
In recent days, Ukraine and Russia have offered conflicting accounts of what’s taking place at the Azovstal plant. Ukrainian fighters claimed that Russian forces started storming the plant this week, which Russia has denied and instead claimed that its troops have “securely blocked” the sprawling industrial site.
Hundreds of Ukrainian fighters and civilians are said to be trapped inside the Azovstal plant, the last pocket of resistance in Mariupol as Russian forces declare full control over the strategic Ukrainian port city.
May 06, 7:51 am
Russia says war in Ukraine is ‘going to plan’
Russia’s so-called special military operation in neighboring Ukraine is going according to plan, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“The operation has been going to plan,” Peskov said during a press briefing in Moscow on Friday.
When asked about reports that Putin’s inner circle was not informed about the start of the operation, Peskov told reporters: “As you understand, naturally, information about the special military operation cannot be shared widely the day before it begins.”
“That is because, clearly, such classified information is always shared with a rather limited circle of persons. This is an absolutely normal practice,” he added. “The very essence of this operation does not imply that information about it will be shared widely.”
May 05, 10:49 pm
US shared intel with Ukraine that helped sink Russian flagship Moskva last month, officials say
The U.S. shared intelligence with Ukraine that helped it sink the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, the Moskva, last month, according to two U.S. officials.
The Ukrainians, who have their own intelligence capabilities, had tracked the Moskva independently, though, and the U.S. did not provide “specific targeting information,” according to one of the officials.
“We did not provide Ukraine with specific targeting information for the Moskva. We were not involved in the Ukrainians’ decision to strike the ship or in the operation they carried out,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement Thursday. “We had no prior knowledge of Ukraine’s intent to target the ship. The Ukrainians have their own intelligence capabilities to track and target Russian naval vessels, as they did in this case.”
The U.S. official also noted that: “We do provide a range of intelligence to help the Ukrainians understand the threat posed by Russian ships in the Black Sea and to help them prepare to defend against potential sea-based assaults. Many of the missiles fired at Ukraine have come from Russian ships in the Black Sea, and those ships could be used to support an assault on cities like Odesa.”
NBC News first reported this intel.
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson
May 05, 9:05 pm
US ambassador to UN calls out countries for remaining neutral
Presiding over her first open meeting of the United Nations Security Council since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield implored representatives still clinging to neutrality to speak out against Russian aggression.
“The truth is well known. Russia is the only perpetrator of this war. So it’s hard to understand why some council members continue to call on all parties to desist,” Thomas-Greenfield said, calling out countries like Brazil, India, and to some extent — China.
“Let’s call a spade a spade. Members should call on Russia explicitly to stop its aggression against Ukraine,” she said.
Speaking in her capacity as the United States’ permanent representative and not as the temporary president of the council, Thomas-Greenfield lamented that Russian envoys had repeatedly used the body to spread disinformation.
“Three months ago, Russian representatives told this council they had no intention to invade Ukraine. Now, Russia claims the attacks aren’t real or never happened,” she said. “Russia even claims that Ukraine is attacking itself, that they bombed their own buildings, attacked their own people and assaulted their own democracy. These lies defy all logic, all evidence and common sense.”
(HAVANA) — At least 18 people are dead, including one minor, from an explosion at a hotel in Havana, Cuba, apparently caused by a gas leak, officials said.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel was at the scene of the Saratoga Hotel in Havana with other officials.
Search and rescue work continues to see if people are trapped, according to Luis Antonio Torres Iribar, first secretary of the Party in Havana.
The president’s office said Friday evening that 64 people hospitalized, including 14 minors.
“It wasn’t a bomb or an attack, it’s an unfortunate accident,” Diaz-Canel said, in Spanish, of the explosion.
The hotel, a popular tourist destination in the capital city, had been closed for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to its Facebook page. It was currently working to get ready to reopen on May 10.
The five-story building is located in the Old Havana neighborhood and was remodeled as a hotel in the 1930s. It is located just across the street from Cuba’s National Capitol building.
Authorities said a nearby school was evacuated and no children were harmed.
(LONDON) — On May 9, Russia will celebrate Victory Day, its huge national holiday commemorating the anniversary of the defeat of the Nazis during World War II with a military parade through the streets of Moscow.
Reports suggest that, in terms of firepower, it will be a less extravagant display, with fewer tanks and other military hardware set to take part, but this year’s event carries extra significance.
“The original significance of V Day was the same for the USSR as for the other allies,” Catriona Kelly, a professor of Russian and Soviet Culture at Trinity College, Cambridge, told ABC News. “In the 1990s, on the other hand, commemoration became much less important, and was revived again, on an unprecedented scale, in the Putin era.”
What to expect
Under Putin, Victory Day has become Russia’s central national holiday and veneration of the Soviet victory a cornerstone of his regime. Putin revived the military parades marking the holiday, and they have grown in size almost each year since 2014, becoming a showcase of Russian military might.
War commemoration serves as a “basis of an aggressive patriotism based on the perception of an external threat to the country’s survival,” Kelly said.
An estimated 27 million people from the Soviet Union died during the Second World War, an enormous death toll that dwarfs that of other countries, and memory of the war still holds deep personal significance for many Russians.
Putin’s avowed goal to “de-Nazify” Ukraine is directly linked to the Kremlin’s efforts to cultivate that history for its political ends, according to Mark Galeotti, a security expert on Russian affairs.
“Largely the whole point was exactly to try and wrap this war in the mantle of what they call the Great Patriotic War,” Galeotti said. “Remember, Putin expected this to be a quick and easy victory in two weeks. I think this was going to be his kind of claim to historical fame. You know, this is going to be his moment, he wanted it to be comparable to victory over Nazis.”
Ukraine and Western countries, as well as independent experts, believe the Kremlin had hoped to set Victory Day as a deadline to achieve a military victory in the war with Ukraine or at least to declare the conquest of the Donbas region.
But the disastrous course of the war so far for Russia — that has seen it retreat from Kyiv and its current offensive on east Ukraine now stalled — has forced the Kremlin to approach the day differently.
The British armed forces minister recently said that Russia will “probably” use Victory Day as an opportunity to formally declare war on Ukraine, but the Kremlin has denied this.
“That would be a great irony if Moscow used the occasion of Victory Day to declare war, which in itself would allow them to surge conscripts in a way they’re not able to do now,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters recently. “In a way, that would be tantamount to revealing to the world that their war effort is failing, that they are floundering in their military campaign and military objectives.”
Controlling the narrative
During the past ten weeks of war, many analysts have pointed to May 9 as a key marker, a date where Putin will have to show the Russian people a “prize” from the war, which is only referred to in the country as a “special military operation.”
That “prize” could be Mariupol, the beleaguered port city that has been the site of some of the worst fighting and bombing since the war began, though there is no hiding that the war has not gone to plan.
“Any Russian victory that can be proclaimed at this stage will look like an approximation at best, though the onslaught on Azovstal in Mariupol in recent days suggests that complete capture of the city will be represented as a prize” on May 9, Kelly said.
Ukraine’s military has claimed that the streets of the city, where tens of thousands are feared to have been killed under the Russian assault, are being cleared of debris in preparation for a parade there on Victory Day.
Russian intelligence assessments initially said that the capital of Kyiv would fall within a matter of days of the invasion, but stiff Ukrainian resistance and a united front in the West have now changed the kind of Victory Day the Kremlin will be commemorating. Even so, Putin retains a tight control of the narrative around the war, and so far, the impact that could reverberate at home when news of the thousands of Russians killed emerges, has not been felt.
“I’m sure Putin would have loved to have had the victory to announce for Victory Day,” Galeotti told ABC News. “But … when you have all the state media under your control and you’ve squeezed out every element of independent media, in some ways you get to write the narrative, and then the narrative will be that Mariupol is won, that this was never about taking all of Ukraine.”
From the information available, public opinion seems to be narrowly in favor of the war in Russia, though Galeotti said the image projected of the “special operation” in the Russian media has “nothing at all to do with the reality of what’s happened.”
Whatever Putin says in his speech on Victory Day, there has been no suggestion that Russia will be winding down its war anytime soon, even if their war aims have now changed to create a land corridor to Crimea.
“Putin has to ‘win’, or to put it differently, he has no reverse gear,” Kelly said. “That means his only means of reacting to a miscalculation is to fight back. All the evidence suggests that he expected a rapid collapse of the Ukrainian armed forces of the kind that happened in Crimea in 2014. And he didn’t expect pushback from Western countries on the level there has been. Ukraine has been a shock from both points of view and is the biggest challenge of his political career.”
